CSM25MRCEWW Hotpoint Refrigerator - Instructions

Replacing the heater is very easy. Remove the wire racks and the two lower rack bracket screws. Remove the two screws to the back panel, unclip the ground wire and remove the panel. Two screws hold he heater on and two wires for the connection.
However, this did not solve my problem. The story is this. The fridge was getting warm because the coils were freezing over. I called the local repair guys "poncho and lefty" and they came out and replace the themostat and charged me $150. It still froze over a week later. They came back and said it must be the circuit board and charged me just for the $125 part. Nope, it still froze over in a week. So I thought I would take things into my own hands and tell poncho and left to hit the trail. I then ordered a new heater because the old one looked bad even though it checked out okay with an ohm meter. Unfortunately, that didn't solve the problem either. The last thing is to replace are the temp sensors. But before I ordered anything I submitted my problem to a "fix it" forum and someone suggested to check the part number of the themostat that was put in. This turned out to be a brilliant observation. It seems poncho and lefty replace the thermostate with one that is used with a timer. This fridge has the timer built into the circuit board and has a very different temp range than the one they replace it with. Their first clue should have been that the wires were a different color than the one they were replacing and that the part number was totally different than the one they took out. So I ordered a new thermostat and the three temp sensors and replace all of this and the unit works as good as new. The forum also told me that the bullet shaped temp sensor were faulty and should all be replaced, which I did.
Now I have all new parts, so it should be good to go until the compressor takes a nose dive. Hopefully, that will not be for 5 or 6 more years.

The OEM auger pitted and rusted. My ice was coming out brown. I had cleaned it before, but in no time is was back to 'spiced' ice cubes. I cleaned the entire ice bucket and disassembled, ordered the part and re-assembled. Now the disassembly was a different day than the assembly. It's a good thing the parts diagram was on the web, I am no Thomas Edison when putting things back together. It is pretty general though. I sand blasted the tin cover and re-painted before buying a new one. That had rusted too. Before that expense, I thought I would try it. Be careful of the bucket as it can crack. I am not sure when mine was cracked, but I noticed it this time. If you are contemplating the purchase of a new auger - don't. The new one is stainless and the old steel and chrome is a joke. The inside of the freezer where the bracket spins the auger is rusty too and the old auger will rust again in no time. Buy a new one for under $50 shipped to your door. Another note, be sure to remember what screws came from what hole. It will eliminate the guess work when assembling. Also, the spring on the arm that controls the crushed ice function, note the position before tearing apart.

First I removed the face plate by lightly prying . Once removed noticed 4 screws. Removing the screws allows you to gain access to the two plugs, one for the solenoid and the other for the switch that energizes the solenoid . Unplug the connectors and carefully lower the piece enough to reach the 3 screws that hold the solenoid in place. The 4th screw in the center at the bottom of the solenoid is the ground wire. If it is rusted like mine was just re-attatch it to one of the solenoids holding screw. It must be grounded!
Just re-assemble, just dont forget to replug the connectors. Also a little hint, If you open the freezer door a little you wont trigger the solenoid.

The repair is easy, just pop the grill off around the ice and water door, then there are 4 screwws to take out so the touch pad can be moved out of the way to unsnap the old door assm. and snap in the new one and wait about a year and a hald to order another one!!!!!

Shut off power to the refrige. Removed old icemaker, using large hammer. Installed new unit.

This is a sibe-by-side refrigerator/freezer that needed a new lower hinge set for the fridge door.

First I removed everything from inside the fridge door, closed it, then loosened the top hinge bolts with an 8mm socket on a 1/4-inch ratchet. Using an 8mm nutdriver, I removed one bolt and loosed the other just far enough to be able to lift the hinge and swing it out of the way. (These bolts are long. The nutdriver is faster than the ratchet but you need a ratchet or a wrench to first break them loose.) Then I just lifted the door off the bottom hinge and set it aside.

The plastic lower front grill was covering the lower hinge but that grill is just held at the ends by spring clamps -- popped off easily so I could get to the hinge bolts. Again, 8mm bolts, just remove & replace hinge. I also had to replace the upper half of the door closer cam, which is screwed to the bottom of the door, being careful that the holes lined up: cam, shim, door holes.

Now the tricky part was lifitng the door back on the lower hinge. (It helps to have an assistant at the bottom to locate the hole for you.) Once the door was up, I swung the top hinge over, ran the two bolts in finger tight with my nutdriver, checked & adjusted the spacing* of the fridge door and tightened the bolts. This was all very easy! (*^_^*)

*On a side-by-side, you'll want the door to be straight up & down with a consistent gap top to bottom with the freezer door. The hinge has some slack for adjustment by positioning the door, then tightening the bolts. You'll see what I mean.

1. Unplug, remove control knob from both temp control sliders, remove upper light bulb and light shield from refrigerator compartment. 2. Remove screw holding top of bracket control mod in place. 3. Lift bottom tab from slot and remove control mod from ref compartment. 3. Unplug temperature control and defrost timer and replace. (Each are held in place with two screws.) 4. Replace control mod. This part took me the longest because the space between the top of the control mod and the top of the ref. compartment is very small and replacing the nut was difficult. Use a nut driver with a long shaft. 5. Use screw driver to turn control button of defrost timer to start cycle. 6. Replace bulb cover and light bulb. 7. Set temp control to initial setting. 8. Have a Margarita and celebrate. It's been over a week and the refrigerator/freezer is working perfectly.

The icemaker's valve is easy to inspect and test. First, gently pull the refrigerator away from the wall, and unplug it. Turn off the water supply to the icemaker by closing the shut-off valve in the copper waterline leading to the valve. Use a screwdriver or nutdriver to remove the rear lower access panel from the refrigerator's back.

Next, remove the fill tubing from the water valve. Use a wrench to loosen the flare nut on the brass fitting on the inlet side of the valve (above). Place a container or towel under the valve to catch the small amount of water that will spill from the valve and tubing.

Now use a screwdriver or a nutdriver to remove the screw holding the valve's mounting bracket to the refrigerator cabinet. Pull the valve out of the compartment and remove the tube (or tubes if both water dispenser & ice maker) on the valve's outlet. If plastic tubes don't come out with pliers and assuming there is enough extra tubing, then cut the plastic tubing with a even straight cut edge razor. Then, remove the solenoid's electrical contacts.

Push the plastic water and ice tubes int he appropriate holes in the new valve outlet, reconnect solenoids and remount new water valve.

Before installing the back panel on the refrigerator cabinet, test run the icemaker. Look for leaks, and tighten any leaky connections. If necessary, use Teflon tape or a similar product to ensure tight connections. Discard the first ice cubes that are produced because they are likely to have sediment in them.

I removed the shelf, unscrewed the slide rails and replaced them with new ones. I replaced the shelf, put the food back in and I was done. Thanks, john bowers

First pried off front panel, then removed 4 screws that hold dispensing unit in place, then rotated top of dispensing unit out, then pulled off electrical connector, then removed screw that holds switch in place and removed switch. Installed new switch by reversing above procedure. Only thing switch wasn't the problem. No ice problem was resolved later by replacing control printed circuit board which is located in the same area.

New ice maker only used 2 screws and the old one had 3. This was no problem. The old ice maker had already been removed. Just loosen the 3 screws and unplug the cord to ice maker. Only problem with ice maker was with the cord, which I had to use the supplied adapter. It was too long and in the way when reinstalling the ice bin. The ice bin had a small notch area on the bottom left. I used a plastic tie to bundle the cord into the notch. Carefully placed ice bin and no problem. The first part I received was damaged and was replaced 2 days later by a brand new part. Customer service charged for the replacement part but said they would credit my charge card within 2 to 3 weeks for the damaged part. Its been a week and if they follow thru like the said I woild give Part Select 5 Stars for service and Parts.

Removed old bucket/auger assy from frig. Removed 4 + screws from front cover. Put front cover on new bucket/auger assy. Reinstalled in frig.....done. now have clean ice.

Replaced several things: evaporator fan motor, defrost heater element & defrost timer. The motor was the key problem but did the other repairs because they are common failures and are easy to replace and are not that expensive. Changing the motor was tedious because of tight access to it. Took about 2 hrs for me. Fan is working properly but not have a problem with water to ice maker not shutting off. I'm researching that problem. (I replace the water valve 2 hrs ago. That was a simple task - took 15 mins.)

First unplug the refrigerator!

Removed the top shelf of the refrigerator. Pulled off the knobs from the temp slider controls. Popped the cover off of the light and temp control section. This Hotpoint model has both
thermostat and defrost timer easily accessible in the refrigerator compartment. Used a socket set
driver to loosen the screws and remove the
temp control section and unplugged the wire connectors. This freed the whole temp control
section. On the workbench removed the old
thermostat by unscrewing the screws with a socket driver. Unplugged the wires from the old thermostat then put the new one in. Then put the
new one in the same holes, reconnected the
wires and reassembled the everything. Then
simply put this temp control box back in the
original place (and reconnect the wire plugs)
and put the screws back in . The hardest part is re-aligning the holes and the control levers, but this is not too bad.

Plugged it back in and so far it has been turning
on and off normally. (The old thermostat contacts
were oxidized so I think this was the problem).

1) I removed the icemaker and placed on work table.
2) I pried the front plastic cover from the control box to expose the front base.
3) I removed the three mounting screws from the base (it is not necessary to remove the screw in the plastic gear) and removed the front base. This exposed the back base
4) Using an ohmmeter, I was able to isolate a bad contact on one of the three microswitches in the control box (the one that was mounted to the back base). Replacing this microswitch solved the problem.