ARB2117BW Amana Refrigerator - Instructions

Cut old fill tube into pieces, removed and replaced with new tube. Extremely easy.

First of all I want to thank Michael from Carlisle,PA and this site for publishing Michael's info on the wiring specifics on the new 3 connector Start Relay ( WP2262185 ). The original relay only has 2 connectors The 2 orange wires which are combined to one female connector need to be clipped and separated each to its own connector. Refer to Michael's blog as to which wire goes to which connector on the Start Relay. I replaced the Run Capacitor, Start Relay and Overload just to be safe. The Start Relay was the actual culprit.Thank you for an excellent website!

The repair went very well. Once the sockethead cap screws were taken out of the seal and the ripped seal was removed, the door panel separated from the door itself allowing me to see that ice had already been forming within the insulation. I was fortunate to have decided to replace the seal when I did or further damage would have occurred. After thoroughly cleaning the refrigerator and freezer I replaced the seal using a hair dryer as suggested to tighten the seal into place. Everything is working as it should once again.

first thing i thought was the condenser was plugged so pulled out and cleaned with shop vacum backwards so it became a blower not a vacum cleaned it good and put together. wife noticed cracking noise inside freezer. took all freezer food and shelfs out. took 1/4 inch hex nut screws out and found complete condenser solid ice. did some research on internet and found parts select stories. i buy passed thermostate and hooked heating coils direct which then thawed condenser. checked timer by turning of and it worked fine until i got part and installed.

Referencing the info/schematics you have on your website, I unscrewed/unattached top-front panel (carefully), from behind the panel you have to detach the wires (2) from the switch, pushed "in" the switch to remove, put in new switch and attach wires to test BEFORE remounting panel. Tada!! Thank you PartSelect! You saved me at least $80...would have been at least $100 to have a repair person come to the house!

I was told to order the run capacitor and the technician thought it would repair the refrigerator; but it did not. The appliance technician had to take the run capacitor off and install what he called a "hard start" and the refrigerator is operating right now.

After unplugging the appliance I needed to thaw a large ice buildup off the evaporator cover panel before I could even remove the panel. The freezer being on the lower part of the appliance has the evaporator mounted vertically and it was 100% encapsulated in rock hard ice. It took over an hour to thaw the ice and collect all the water with a shop vacuum, since the condensate pan began to overflow.
One thawed, I checked all wiring for good connection, checked heater, defrost thermostat, timer unit with multimeter. The defrost thermostat checked out fine after putting it into another freezer for a 15 minute cooldown, but I noticed a crack in the seal and suspected internal moisture and decided to replace that part. A simple plug in of two leads to the new part after clipping it to the evaporator, replacement of the panel, and the appliance was up and running problem free.
A workbench disection of the old part confirmed my assessment, it had internal rust and water and had failed causing the defrost cycle failure.

Part received was what I needed. There was one issue--the 'feed' opening to receive water and direct it into the ice tray was a side feed and what I needed was a back feed. That means I had to do some exchanging of parts to make it work. That exercise took more time that the actual installation.

The refrig seemed warm so I checked the temp of some liquid with a thermometer. Readings were above 60 degrees and I knew food would spoil soon. I vacuumed the dog fur off the cooling coils underneath the machine to see if that would help. Nope. I realized cold air from the freezer was not reaching the refrig. The fan was working but no cold air was coming out. I figured a blockage either in the air duct from the refrig or in the return duct to the freezer. I didn’t see any blockage in the refrig section. I took everything out of the freezer and removed the back wall. The cooling coils were completely frozen solid with frost. Being a frost free machine, I knew there were heaters that were controlled by a timer that melted this frost away periodically and that this cycle was no longer working. I found a schematic on the web, maybe your site, and educated myself on the heater circuit. The circuit consisted of a timer, thermostat near the coils, and a cal rod heater all wired in series. The timer was easy to get to and being a mechanical device I figured it must be the culprit. I ordered one online. I checked its operation and it worked fine. Realizing time was short, I hot wired the cal rod around the thermostat and rotated the timer to its heat position. The frost melted quickly and I put the freezer back together and ordered a thermostat. I canceled the timer order. When it arrived, I installed the new thermostat and it has worked fine for the past month. A little colder than usual as I don’t yet have the settings back to where they were. I have checked the operation of the old thermostat. It’s supposed to close at 30 degrees and open at 45. I have done a continuity check on it by putting it in the freezer, letting it cool down, take it out, let it warm up and it seems to work fine. So I have doubts if I really solved the problem. Wire connections were tight and not corroded. Maybe the timer was hung up on debris that I freed by cycling it. I don’t think this is the end of the story.

Removed timer kit (this was the second time for this part)/ replaced - this is a fairly simple job and take 5 minutes. The defrost thermostat take about 10 minutes to get to and take out the old one, replacement is a 2 minute job, unplug and replace, the longest part of this job is getting the back of the freezer off and then replaced, but it is fairly simple to do. Total time to diagnose about 15 minutes, replacement parts arrived in 2 business days, replacement time 15 - 18 minutes total. Recommend getting the thermostat and timer together. The first time this happened, only order the timer but I think the problem was the thermostat all along and the time seemed to be operating but when it came on every eight hours it tripped the circuit breaker Not sure which was really the problem, but all working fine now.

I removed the old ice maker and during the short disassembly noticed a burned out connection to the heater element that allows the ice to be broken free of the tray and dumped into the bin. Part Select had a new unit to me next day! I had watched their short install video, and read some of the user comments, already. Re-installing the new unit was a snap, and just as the video had described except for the mount bracket. The only thing that concerned me was that the new unit did not immediately do anything. I began to investigate and found that the flexible water "chute" connection had ice in it! I unplugged the refer, unscrewed the water filter and drained it. I disconnected the water feed on the outside back of the unit as well to make sure water could flow easily to the ice maker port. I filled the water filter with boiling hot water and replaced it, I plugged in the refer, and reprogrammed the date and time. Several hours later I checked the ice maker and it was -- making ice!

First turned off the water and unplugged the refrigerator and then removed the old ice maker by first removing the side cover plate and then next removed the ice level detector. Remove the screws that hold the ice maker in place and rotating it somewhat soas to gain access to the wires and then unplugged them. Next I had to modify the way the water comes into the new icemaker by adapting a CPVC street ell to fit into the hole on the side and then hook up the water supply. Installation is just the reverse of removal.

I took a chance and ordered a switch that is next to the top of the door. looked for how to remove it easily done in ten minutes works fine last long time.

removed cover in back of freezer and observed that defrost cycle seemed to happen too often. In comparing the existing part # with the factory part, I determined that possibly the wrong part was installed previously. (it had a 6 hr cooling cycle with a 45 min defrost...spec said I should be 8 hr cool & 20 min defrost) I did research on applianceguru.com... well worth the 5 bucks! I ordered a timer & thermostat & purchased a special refrigerator brush to clean the coils on the bottom. Cleaned the coils, replaced the parts in about 15 minutes and WA-LA! the freezer started getting really cold, but the fridge wouldn't get below 55. but it FELT cold! I swapped thermometers with the freezer & found out the thermometer was faulty!!! I now have the cool control backed down to 5/7 & freezer to 6/7. temps are freeze 0 and cool 40. works better than since we bought home 5 yrs ago! research & troubleshooting took a bit of time, but by the time I ordered parts I felt very comfortable I had the right parts. All said, cost me about 40 bucks instead of probably $200 from tech... schematics from partselect.com were very helpful as well!!

replaced the entire ice make - 3 screws and a squeeze -off connector and it's out. Reverse to re-install... except that the fill tube had iced up. To thaw the fill tube: unload freezer section (leave food in fridge, but keep door closed), remove ice maker. Boil water, dip drill bit (dull end) into hot water, swirl around, insert (dull end) into to fill tube. Depending on how hot you got it, maybe a tablespoon of ice will melt. Repeat many times - fill tube is about 14" long! Do not use anything sharp - you will nick the tube and ice will form causing you to repeat this procedure. Do not try to break the ice - let the heat work. It took me about 30 minutes to thaw the whole thing - it made a nive gasping noise when the final plug opened up. Re-install ice maker.