ATB18 Refrigerator - Instructions

I looked on line to see what was causes of the problem and determined that it was probably the fan in the freezer not working. I took the back section of the freezer apart and saw the fan was not running. I checked the parts on line and found that it was availiable and ordered a new fan motor. The blade looked fine, but I ordered a gro ... Read more mmet anyway to ensure that there was no vibration problems causing the fan motor to go out. When the fan motor arrived, I began disconnecting the old one after unpluging the refridgerator and noting the terminals for the wires. The wire terminals were in a slightly different location, but reasoned out which wire belonged to the correct location. I pulled the old fan motor out, switched out the fan blade and grommet and re-incerted the new fan motor. I reconnected the wires and re-assembled the rear wall of the freezer. I plugged in the refridgerator and wa-la! It worked.

First I removed the 14.3 tons of freezer contents, closed the water valve, shut off the juice, and removed the freezer bins, the freezer door and the three screws that held the element in place. After bringing in 397 hand tools from my garage inventory, I loosened the unit and, after extensive evaluation, I finally disconnected the wiring ... Read more connector from its freezer rear wall connector counterpart. You ain't gonna believe the rest of my story--of total ineptitude by an experienced fix-it-yourself dummy.

I searched the internet for a replacement ice maker and found it at partselect.com. I called Sears to ask if I could add my refrigerator to my existing appliance repair account. Sears said sure--it would cost me only one arm, three toes and one grandchild. I abruptly declined their magnanimous offer—I don’t give up my arms and toes so easily.

I visited the local Maytag repair parts and service retailer, who advised they didn't do parts anymore. Expecting their repair price would be greater than Sears, I resorted to partselect.com. I called them to be assured what I was buying was not mistakenly a 747 Landing Gear. On the afternoon (West Coast) of 4/28/10, I ordered (via internet) one PS21215123 Ice Maker Assy. Much to my pleasant surprise, it arrived via FedEX on 4/30/10 (no freight charges to me).

My repair/replacement efforts were hampered by the effects of my right rotator cuff surgery a few months before and major left wrist surgery two months ago to remove fractured bones and torn ligaments.

Undaunted by my physical handicaps, I forged forward. After re-installing the unit, I turned the water supply and electricity back on. It was graveyard dead. I wisely then bought two bags of ice as an interim solution to the severe needs of my wife and me for our daily chilled evening cocktails. I removed the unit, checked it out and re-installed it. I bought two more bags of ice. All the while, I turned the water and electricity off and on as required by reasonable safety standards. High tediousness!

Several more home maintenance tasks then arose for Sergeant Super Fixer, but I returned to the ice maker problem on 4/8/10. Last chance--remove the device and insure there was no frozen ice in the inlet tube--or call the local partsless repairman. No ice found, but I did learn the wiring connector to the unit was awry--no contact! While explaining that to my wife, I realized the two upper mounting screws were intended to be partially installed into the freezer wall to accommodate the unit's slotted mounting holes! Then, tighten the screws. Oh my God! During my 143 installations and removals, I had installed those screws blindly--using the (handicapped) skills of my right and left hands without any benefit of direct eyesight.

I returned to my challenging project this morning (4/9/10), fully utilizing all the expertise I had gained yesterday. Fifteen minutes of amusing effort! Turn on the juice! Turn on the water!Two hours later, ice cubes were dropping into the bin like rhinoceros bisquits in the jungle.

Hallelujah! I now am free for the next challenge!

HINT: Put a bed pillow (an old one, or your wife's) in the freezer compartment to soften the harshness of its cold metal on your back, if you use the "crawl in on your back" approach.

I unplugged the fridge.Removed the thermostat casing located in the lower part of the refridgerator by removing a few screws. disconnected the wiring plug from the relay board-connected the new board-screwed the new board inplace-put the casing back and replaced those screws. turned fridge back on and HOORAY off we went. i want to add fri ... Read more nding the part and recieving it so quickly was also part of a great savings to me!

DISCONNECT POWER. Removed all shelves/baskets.Popped upper panel off (just clips in) Removed 6 screws in lower back panel ( 3 each side) slid panel in place but down. You can then easily see the defrost thermostat/defrost termination switch. Cut the wire connectors (pink n brown wire) stripped back wire, attached new defrost thermostat. ... Read more Thermostat clips on. New thermostat ohm's at 5.5, old one was "open". Slid cover back up meeting the upper cover grooves. Screwed lower panel in. Put shelves etc back in. Plugged in. Turns on, put a bottle of water in freezer. Checked a while later, frozen. has been frozen for a week.
-James

An easy job for smaller hands. Removed the two bolts holding the light cover. Removed two electrical connections from the old switch by pinching the retaining clip,removed the switch, snapped in the new one and re-attached the connectors. Your online illustrations helped me to know that the plastic housing for the light switch would only ... Read more swing down so far and was not intended to be removed. Saved me from breaking that plastic cover's tabs. This home repair saved me more than 5 times the cost of hiring a professional to do it. Very happy homeowner.

Pull out old module...
Remove 2 wires...
Tape to inside wall [don't want them to fall down into side panel]..

Order new switch..

Fed Ex pkg came on 2nd day..

Install wires on switch...
Press into opening...
Check door light on..[OK]
.. Done

I have a side by side so in order to access the bi-metal switch I first had to empty out the freezer. The switch is clipped on to the top of the evaporator coil. I had to remove 8 screws to remove the back panel of the freezer compartment. The bi-metal switch was right there in plain view. There are two colored wires that come out of ... Read more the switch. I tried pulling them out of the socket they were plugged into but gave up for fear of breaking something. I ended up cutting the wires and splicing them together. I used the plastic twist caps. I made sure when I closed everything back up that the open end of the caps were pointing down so no water can accumulate in them. It has been 3 days now and so far so good

Removed the old defrost heater screws and connected the new one. I have 46 apartment units here and have had about 15 defrost heater's replaced by service repair person at a very expensive cost. To my surprise it was extremly easy and a lot less in cost.

If the fan blade needs replacement you will hear a loud noise coming from the refrigerator while the refrigerator cycles on. It will go away when it cycles off. (Note: in many cases you only need to replace the fan blade and retaining clip. Purchase both parts together. I thought I could use my old clip just to find out that the fan b ... Read more lade design changed and the old retaining clip would not work.)

NOTE: My refrigerator has an ice maker. delete the steps for the ice maker if you do not have one.

- I call the evaporator cover the back panel.
- I call the tunnel assembly the fan cover.

1) Empty contents of freezer - Only freezer. (Note: leave refrigerator section alone) Remove wire rack by lifting and pushing in one side to free the other side. It may be a bit of a struggle but the holes that the wire rack sit in are recessed in the middle to allow removal. (Look at other wire rack holes to see where the holes exist.)

2) Set dial in refrigerator to "OFF" then unplug refrigerator (safety first)

3) Remove one screw below the ice maker holding the ice maker to the side of the cabinet.

4)Push up on ice maker - Slide Ice maker up and dismount from mounting bolts.

5) Once the ice maker is dismounted you will expose the ice maker wiring harness - Unplug ice maker harness from rear panel.

6) Remove ice maker.

7) Remove ice maker mounting bolt closest to rear of refrigerator to facilitate removal of back panel.

8) Remove 4 screws on back panel and slide panel toward you.

9) Un-clip wiring harness attached to back panel that serves the ice maker (this protrudes from the back panel.) and push it through the back panel -

10) Lay panel down and unclip fan housing (Tunnel Assembly) from back of panel (Evaporator Cover) (note other instructions will tell you to remove this before the back panel. I found it easier this way. (Note the fan is attached to the back panel (Evaporator Cover).

11) After the fan cover is un-clip it hinges from the top. Lift panel - unhinge fan cover and expose fan.

12) The fan has a clip on the end that looks like a compressed wire spring. Pry off with a flat tip screw driver.

13) Pull fan blades towards you and remove from motor shaft.

14) Inspect shaft and wipe it off.

15) Press new fan blade assembly on shaft with you fingers. you will be able to see the shaft from the front of the fan blade as the fan blades have a split in hub area. Seat the fan blade on the shaft as far as it will go.

16) Install new fan blade clip (I used a flat screw driver and pushed it on the fan blade by working different sides of the spring (be careful).

17) Reassemble in reverse order.

I hope this helps. The job is reasonably easy for the novice and will save on a repairman coming out to install a fan blade and clip which is really a 15 minute job for the professional.

change it

The tiny piece of plastic that holds the wire that shuts off the icemaker, broke early on with our fridge (after just a few months.) We superglued it, but last week it bit the dust for good.

Once I got this part, I removed the freezer door and trays, and pulled the icemaker out by removing 3 flathead screws and unplugging the c ... Read more ables. Laying in the freezer on the floor was a bit unconfortable, but not too bad.

Then I inspected the icemaker. There was no obvious way to remove the part without disassembling the front of the unit (where the motor is) to release the spindle and free the part, so I did that - 3 or 4 nuts was all that held it together. Once that was out, I removed the spindle, swapped out the part, and put it all back together and back in the freezer. Plugged it in and waited.

It took a while to start making ice. Like 5 hours. Now it's going pretty slow (much slower than before.) Haven't had time to look into it, but my suspicion is the rubber hose that feeds water into the icemaker is blocked with ice or kinked. In any case, we have ice now (but not a lot), and the unit shuts itself off properly. However, we went from having too much ice (thing never shut off) to too little (thing makes ice too slow), so I need to shoot for somewhere in the middle ;)

Once I saw the replacement part I understood how to pry out the switch with a small screwdriver. Then just unplug the old one, plug in the new one and pop it into place.

The PartSelect site made it easy to correctly identify the correct part, it was inexpensive, and the shipping was fast.

I'm very pleased!

The center hub of fan blade had cracked and had slipped off of fan motor shaft. I replaced fan and motor by pulling the shelf from freezer, removing 4 screws holding freezer back panel, tipped panel out and removed/replaced fan. Reassembled and it worked fine.

Replacement was very easy as new ice maker was identical to the old one. Took about 10 minutes.

First I removed the Ice bin, I then loosened the ice bin rail under the ice maker and removed the screw that attached the bottom of the ice maker to the side of the fridge. I unplugged the power to Ice Maker from the back of the fridge and unscreewed the two screws that secured the ice maker to the fridge. This allowed the Ice Maker to ... Read more be removed from the fridge. To replace the new ice maker I simply repeated the steps in reverse.