CST20KABGAD Hotpoint Refrigerator - Instructions

replaced lights in refrigirator and freezer

First let me remind you my husband is disabled so it was up to me to do the repair. I'm 70 yrs old. I first removed everything from freezer and then removed the back cover removimg 4 screws,then i removed the old defrost unit which held 2 screws replaced with the new one then i had to put cover back in place..then put everything back in freezer and so far its working...Only time will tell.But the part was so reasonable that if if i have to i will get another..but not for a while i'm hoping,

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!

The most difficult part of the repair was the melting of the ice and preparation. I did change a single element heater for a dual element heater, which required a little manual flexing of the sub-frame, but it assembled with little issue. I was lucky, I did not have to splice the extended harness connection. Rerouting my existing gave sufficent length.
Not sure if the single elements were changed for dual, but it did have the same PN as the unit I replaced.

I took the glass plate off the top of the drawer, then removed the draw. I then removed the two screws holding the slide rail. I put the new slide rail in place, put the screws back in it, slide the drawer back in place and replaced the glass top. nothing to it.

Fit perfectly, took 2 seconds to install.

installed 3 of 4 shipped parts. ended up with 2 upper right hand slide rails, even though ones package said upper left.

i unplugged the fridge, first i removed the racks, then unhooked the grounding clip. the i tool off two 1/4 nut screws holding the backplate. then i used my wifes hair dryer to thaw out the ice. after it thawed out i unscrewed the element bracket which is secured by two philips screw. after taking the screws off, its just unplug one end at a time and plug it to the new one to avoid confusion. then reverse install to put back together.

By the time this failure (failed defroster heating element) is evident (top of freezer starts thawing), the entire freezer coil is encased in a block of ice & frost is visble on the back freezer panel.
Empty the freezer & unplug (or turn circuit breaker off) then remove all racks and the light bulb then remove the two lower drawer guides using a phillips srewdriver (2 scrwes each). Use a 1/4" nutdriver to remove the two panel screws on either side of the light bulb socket and pull the panel out, unclip the green grounging wire and set panel aside. this exposes the freezer evaporator coil which is probably encased in ice. If so, use a heat gun or hair dryer to melt the ice away. This takes a half hour of heat application and a bowl or other catchpan should be placed under the coil to remove some of the resulting melting runoff so the evap. pan under the fridg/freezer unit won't be overwhelmed with the excess water.
Replacing the defrost heater & bracket assembly itself is just a matter of removing two phillips screws on either side of the bracket assembly, pulling the bracket free and then uncliping the two electrical terminals. Clip in the new unit to the eletrical terminals & replace the screws, reinstall the rear panel (don't forget to reconnect the ground wire), install the drawer backets, light bulb, shelves and drawer & reapply power. Replacing the bracket itself w/o the defrost proceedure takes about 15 minutes.

Note: If this symptom occurs and is diagnosed (the heater tube will be black and electrically read as "open" using an ohmmeter) and you cannot get the heater assembly & bracket assembly immediately, you can use the heat gun (hairdryer) manual defrost proceedure noted above to get the the unit running while you await the parts arrival. I used the manual defrost procedure and there was just some moderate frost on the coils after five days when I was able to install the replacement part.

Removed cover in freezer over evaporator,unbolted element ,plugged ,and replaced, very simple. Should be first thing checked when theres a problem.

I called the repair tech who obviously did not want to come out, thank god. He told me to remove the back panel of the freezer and also check fan on back side. Told him there was alot of ice on freezer condenser and he advised that defrost heater was probably shot, and referred me to partselect.com. I unplugged the frig/freezerer, and removed the heater and saw it was blackened and cooked. I used a hairdryer to thaw the condenser, and the new part arrived the next day. I reattached the 2 plugs, 2 screws, and put the back panel of the freezer back on. I plugged the appliance back in, checked it 6 hours later and the frig is cold again. It was a VERY easy repair and took less than 30 minutes from start to finish. I was quoted between $40-$78 for the part at 3 different places in the phone book, which would have also required a 45 minute drive. I got it here for $38 including shipping and it arrived in 24 hours !
With the "blow-up view" appliance feature on this web-site, and simply being guided to the correct part by entering the model number, it was a very easy ordering process and repair.

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!

Followed the video on the computer. Was fixed in no time. Works great.

After viewing on Youtube I knew exactly what to expect in the repair process. It was easy, easy and saved me a 90 dollar service call plus an over priced replaement part. Time to repair was 25 minutes and included my kid taking the screwdriver.

0. As a safety precaution, unplug the range or hit the relevant fuse breaker before you start. You might also want to grab a flashlight. Definitely do not try to do this while the oven is hot.
1. Pinch the wire over the light bulb cap to remove it. This is inside the oven at the back.
2. Pop off the hemispherical glass cap.
3. Unscrew the old light bulb, and screw the new light bulb in its place.
4. Put the cap back.
5. Secure the cap by putting the wire back in its slots on the cap.

No tools needed, the cap is just held in place with pressure from the wire.