Defrost Heater Harness Kit

So our food was not staying frozen or cold so as usual i was thinking huge bill. I deceided to take a look for myself not knowing anything about a freezer. After removing all the food I noticed ice on the back part of the fridge so I just started to remove the back panel and as soon as I did that I heard the fan breath a sigh of relief. So I defrosted the block of ice and put it back together.

a few days later same thing. So on to the trusty Internet. I found partselect and helped me discover the problem of a faulty defrost heater ( who would think a heater in a fridge) Anyway I ordered the part and it was at my door in 2 DAYS!!

Thanks to PartSelect for saving me a ton of money and time. Great site! and company!

Had some knowledge of freezers and located Parts Select Web Site. Excellent advice and illustrations. Took four days to determine fault, locate part, order, receive and repair. Price was very reasonable and response was more than acceptable.

Good Job Parts Select.

1. Found Compressor and coils obstructed by
heavy dust: Cleaned
Re: No change

2. Check defrost timer for recycle. Good

3. Defrost freezer and initialize
Re:No Change

4. Check heater by setting timer for defrost:
Re: Not heating. Disassembled assembly and
found heater burned with open coil.

Located parts on web site exactly as depicted, Ordered part and Parts select did all the rest very responsively. Recieved the part in just over two business days. Fridge has been operating fine since.

Better than any service man.

I removed food, then removed shelves.
The light bulb and shade had to be taken out.
removed two screws from interior back panel.
defrosted cooling coils
removed two screws from defrost heater
took off two wires ...done
reversed procedure to finish installation

After a little research I realized my problem could be one or possibly two components of three that caused the problem. Instead of changing one at a time, I took another approach. I just bought and changed all three to save time and prevent having to do the job all over again. Each time I would have to melt the ice off of the cooling coils and this is time consuming and annoying having to melt the ice repeatedly. I put a very accurate thermometer in the fridge and have been monitoring it since I changed the components. After one week it seems to be working fine keeping the fridge at 34-38 degree F.

Unplugged the refrigerator and removed inside back panel from the freezer compartment and left doors open to allow all ice to thaw. I chose not to use a hair dryer and speed up the process as this could possibly cause more damage if not done with caution. After all ice was melted i took both screws from heat element assembly and followed the simple instructions that came with the new part. Since meters an i dont really work well together and since defrost thermostat and temp sensor were so inexpensive. I opted to purchase those as well in my initial order. They were as simple to replace as a lightbulb. Unscrew the wire nuts from existing sensors and screw wire nuts back on to the new sensors. Buy purchasing all three items at once i felt it just ensured the fiz was complete and the unit has been operating for 7 days like new. One thing i would pass on. If it is the heating element that is burned out, the glass tuve on mine was very black and charred looking. Also when you take it out of the assembly the element was actually in two pieces. Did something cause the element to stay on until it burned out or just old age i dont know. Again, for less than 20 bucks i purchased the additional parts that would seem most obvious to replace and i would recommebd the same. Part select saved us a lot of money not only in parts but in allowing someone with no considerable knowledge in this areato make repairs without hiring an expensive repairman.

Unplug the appliance. Removed back panel inside freezer compartment to find the freezer coils covered in ice. Defrosted freezer area with hair dryer and towels. Removed the old defroster heater (one bulb) and replaced withe the improved two bulb unit. I had to splice an extension wire included into the one wire as the old wire wasn't quite long enough to attach to the new defroster. Put it all back together and plugged it in. It's been two weeks and working fine.

After unplugging refrigerator and allowing freezer section to defrost completely I removed the lght cover in the freezer section and the green ground wire that is clipped to the panel. I was then able to get to the 2 screws needed to remove and pull out the back panel. I removed the failed heater from the bottom by disconnecting the blue and pink wires from the heater. I was replacing a single heater with a double heater so I needed to dress the blue wire down the right side of the evaporator. I positioned the double heater with the yellow jumper wire on the left and continued to connect the blue and pink wires into either socket on the heater. Be sure not to touch the bulbs with your fingers as they could be damaged by the oils on your fingers. Secure the heater by re-inserting the 2 mounting screws. Re-attach the green ground wire with clip to the back panel before you screw the panel back on. Restart the refrigerator and you are done. This was so easy and I saved over $120.00 doing it myself!!!!

This is such an easy fix!
1-Unplugging the fridge and emptyi it. Remove all shelves.
2-remove the 2 screws at the top of the back panel with a 1/4 inch nutdriver. You'll have to tilt ithis panel forward and sideways to get it out.
3- DO NOT CHIP AT THR ICE COVERING THE COOLING COILS? Replace one shelf and rest a hair dryer on low heat on the shelf.. Plug the drain hole at the bottom with a rag so all the melted ice water doesn't flood the floor under the fridge. Soak up the water with a rag and bucket- this should take 20-30 minutes.
4-Remove the red and blue power cables from the element. Only 2 philips head screws hold the defrosting element in place. Once it's out you can tell it's burned out because it looks black like a burned out lightbulb.
4-Plug in the red and blue power cables to the new unit. You will need to reroute the blue power cable because the new unit has both power connections on the same end.
5-Replace the cover panel by sliding it in at an angle and replace the 1/4 inch screws.
6-Replace the shelves and plug in the fridge.
That's it!

Once you see pictures of what your looking for its SIMPLE . First turn the breaker off for the regrigerator (this way you don't have to slide nor unplug the unit). In the side by side model remove the four screws and the slide the back panel off. upon removal you will find the coils--make sure the unit is defrosted--plug the drain hole in the bottom of the unit. On either side of the coils you should see a blue on left and red on right wire going from the top to the bottom pluging into the heater brackett asm. Take the two screws out holding the bracket and slide out. Pull the connectors off. Look at the element and IF it is black thats your problem. The new heater bracket may have two tubes instead of one. If so no problem. Upon replacing the NEW heater bracket take the red and blue wire and slowly and carefully pull them out from the side of the coils til you reach the top of the unit where they plug in. Now take both wires together and run them down the right side of the coils back to the bottom where the heater bracket is. As taking the wires down the side of the coils take out any slack to have enough wire to plug the connectors back into brackett. Turn breaker back on and notice how the coils will start to chill while not OVER FROSTING. Once you have confirmed that unit is working 4-6 hours replace back panel and be happly as to HOW much you have saved by doing a VERY simple job.

Since the original part was a single element we had trouble locating the part we were replacing since it was replaced with a dual heater. Once located the repair went pretty well. We followed one of these wonderful postings that helped work through the difficulty.

remove screws in back panel and remove , defrost coils wit hair dryer,remove two screws that hold defrost heater unplug wire's.plug in new heater put screws back in ,put panel and screws in ...done

Removed two small phillips head screws at lower back of unit then unplugged old element and plugged in the new one. The thermostat defroster had two wires and clipped on to the coils so I simply cut the two wires and removed the old thermostat and wired in the new one. A local appliance repairman wanted 50 dollars just to look at the unit plust 60 dollars and hour plus parts. I fixed this myself with no experience in about 15 minutes for less than 70 dollars!

First I removed the freezer racks. Used a screwdriver to remove the two screws on the back panel and the two screws on the bottom rack holder. Then used a blow dryer to defrost the ice from the evaporator, removed the two screws for the heater and replaced with the new one. Took out the old Thermostat and spliced in the new one.

I ordered the sensor temp as well but did not install it yet because the location of this was awkward. I thought the instruction on this site was great! This was a very easy repair and so far it seems to have solved my problem.

I has only been a week but so far so good.

I will always use this site in the future. Parts and fellow stories saved a lot of money.

REMOVED COVER IN FREEZER OVER EVAPORATOR,UNBOLTED ELEMENT ,PLUGGED ,AND REPLACED, VERY SIMPLE.SHOULD BE FIRST THING CHECKED WHEN THERES A PROBLEM.

Removed the evaporator panel's cover. The ice covers up the defrost heater. Use heat gun to melt the ice on the defrost heater then removed the 2 screws, pull it out and check its resistance (it was open). After replaced the deforst heater, the refrig. works OK.