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Fridge stopped working
I called a repair man from a pretty large name to come out and take a look. He found out in about 10 minutes that it was a bad capacitor. The quote he gave me was $75 for the part and $175 labor. I tried my best not to laugh and tell him no thank you. He did have to charge me for him to show up, which was only $98. So I used what he told(minus the "scrap it") and opened it back up. Although he had left wires everywhere and the broken pieces laying inside, I thought it was enough for me to order the part. PartSelect was very easy to navigate and ordering was a breeze. Took about 4 days to get the part and I ordered in the X-mas craze. Fixed it in about 15 minutes.
First step, call the repair man. He listened, and then said to get a new refrigerator, since this one is 28 years old and the repairs could amount to a significant part of the price to buy new. Even if he fixed this, it could develop other problems, yada. So we went out to buy and discovered nothing suitable that would fit in that slot of our kitchen! We'd need new counter top and cabinets to fix this problem! So we went to the Internet and searched to find the likely source of the problem and the parts schematic at PartsSelect.com. Yah! We ordered the part, and then found we had no idea how to install it. Sooo, back to the Internet, and eventually got some good clues - it goes in the kick space under the front, and just plugs in, once you can get to it by removing the bracket that holds it. Working underneath a refrigerator is not complicated but it's awkward. The form of the new timer was not exactly the same, but it does function correctly. We have no experience whatsoever with appliance repair, so pretty amazed at our success. This old Amana looks very good inside and out and is now working perfectly again. If it lasts a few more years, we will be thrilled to have spent $15 to save $500. We can always buy new later on.
Just replaced the switch, but unfortunately that was not the problem; nor was it the bulb....so I am back to square one. But Parts Select is a great place to order from. Thank you.
I removed the panel in the back of the freezer and found the evaporator to be a complete block of ice. I defrosted it with a hairdryer. Following advice from the Partselect web site, I measured the resistance through the defrost heater. It was about 30 ohms, so I decided that it was OK. Next, I advanced the defrost timer manually with the compressor on until it turned off. The defrost heater did not operate. I concluded that the problem was the defrost thermostat. After installing it, the freezer worked properly.
Light switch rocker broke, disabling freezer internal light, water dispenser, and ice dispenser
Very simple. Matched female plugs with respective male color coded prong; pushed together then inserted unit in slot of freezer sidewall and rotated into position...job done.
R & R Icemaker Assembly. Took out 3 screws and unpluged Icemaker & replaced with new part. very easy and the service from PartSelect was fantastic. Very Satisfied, Ron Martin
Overall, replacing the ice maker wasn't too bad but it wasn't nearly as easy for me as it seems to have been for some. In my case, the fridge was an Amana and the ice maker was mounted in such a way that disconnecting the power connector was difficult. The ice maker had to be completely dismounted before any access to the power connector was even possible. The short power cables made it very difficult to get the ice maker into a position where I had a good view of the power connector enabling me to see how to release it. The only other challenge was the cup that the water line goes into. The replacement ice maker did not come with the right cup - the instructions said to replace the provided one with the old one. No instructions for this procedure were provided and it looked to me like it might involve significant disassembly, something I wanted to avoid for fear of breaking a plastic part on the new ice maker (something I had already done when disassembling the old ice maker). So instead of replacing the cup, I modified the new one to match the old one. This involved removing a cutout on one side and covering a hole on the other. Installation of the new ice maker went fine and the water leak problem was fixed.
It turned out the water valve was not the problem but I think it works a bit better with the new one. I had replaced the main part of the icemaker inside the freezer which had lost the smooth finish in the ice tray. It worked for awhile but quit. What had happened was the large approx. 1/2 inch tube going from the back of the refrigerator to the icemaker tray became plugged with ice. It was difficult to get it out due to the ice but once I did it was easy to melt it and put it back together. All's well that ends well and avoid the cost of a repair call. Working great now.
Refrigerator worked, Freezer only getting to 29 degrees
Because the refrigerator worked (38-40 degrees) and the freezer only got down to 29 degrees, I thought that the freezer thermostat had gone bad. Changed it out but results are the same.
I just unscrewed the plate that locks in the light switch (screwdriver) and unplugged the old faulty part and plugged in the new switch, screwed the cover back on and I was done!
First it required defrosting since the cooling area was solid ice. Note that I replaced the defrost timer first and no difference. I pulled the icemaker and racks out, then removed the door by removing the 4 screws with 1/4" nut driver. One of the sliding drawer tracks must be removed in order to get the back panel in/ out easily. The 4 screws were easily removed with my nutdriver. The screws are not all the same so keep track! Next remove the 4 screws that hold in the vent assembly where the cold air shoots out (center). Remove all of the remaining screws in the panel in the rear of the freezer compartment and pull it out. The themostat is on the right side with 2 wires and a clip that holds it on to the coolant pipe. Pull it off of the pipe and locate the connector - 5-6" from the thermostat. Pull connector apart without damaging the wires inside. Install new part the same way the old one came out and reassemble in reverse order.
My icemaker started leaking water into the catch basin and turning my ice into one big ice burg.
Well folks I put up with an ice burg all summer when I really should have took the time to fix it. You know how it goes though. You get so busy you just put it off. Well don't put this one off because this is just how easy it went. I came home one evening and wanted to make a drink to relax but that big glob of ice was there waiting for me. I took a crewdriver and beat it down so I could pull the catch basin out. Having looked it over for a minute I grabed a nut driver and took three of the screws out that held it in. I unpluged the wire and bingo it was out. Maybe five min. had elasped. After taking the unit out I notice how the non stick surface was coming off of the tray and that explains the black pieces that were getting into my ice. Getting the model number off the back of the fridge and writing it down I went to my trusty lap top and did a quick search for a ice maker for my Jenn Air refrigeraton and blamo...! Part Select came up and I put the part number in their search engine and bingo again there it was, my part. One quick order and in three days it was right there by my door when I got home. Now i'm so excited. I went into the house and didn't even chage out of my dress clothes. Within five minutes it was in. Now I just had to wait for the timer to do it's thing and sure enough, I awoke the next morning to a whole tray of beautiful ice cubes. Wow no more ice burgs. The moral of my story is I spent so much time hacking out that glob of ice and for fifteen minutes of my time, I could have been siping on cold ones by the pool but now old man winter is pressing down on me and I guess a lesson learned was a lesson earned. Fix it!