Defrost Heater with Thermostat

After doing some research, I found that this problem is due to a defrost issue, and the easiest way to make sure you get it fixed is by replacing the defrost timer, defrost heaters, and defrost thermostat. The defrost timer is in the compartment in the fridge on the top level, behind the temperature settings panel. The defrost heaters were behind the back panel in the freezer section, and are long glass tubes that are only attached by a couple screws. When you buy the parts, dont buy the heaters and a defrost thermostat seperately, because the heaters come with a new defrost thermostat already wired to them. Once you get the back panel off, its pretty self explanatory how to remove the heaters.

First I turned the freezer off and took out all of the shelves in the freezer section. I then removed the guides that the shelves go into. I removed these only from one side of the freezer - the left side actually. Now I removed the plastic piece that keeps the bulb in the freezer protected. Removed the bulb. Removed the three screws on the top and the two in the bottom that keep the rear panel of the freezer attached. This exposed the header cable and the coils. The coils had ice on the lower section, I used a hair dryer to melt the ice. Removed the cable assembly that has the two heater elements and the thermostat. The thermostat had to be plucked off the the metal pipe of coils. Replaced the assembly with the purchased assembly. Clipped the thermostat onto the metal pipe of the coils. COnnected the wires at the white connector. Attached the real panel using the five screws, put the bulb back in, installed the bulb cover, installed the shelf guides, put the shelves back in.

Freezer freezes very well now.

First i unpluged the power then cleaned everything out of freezer and removed all the drawers and racks them removed the 2 screws at bottem of freezerand removed panel then removed 4 screws on the bulbs and unpluged the wire and took off the sensor and replaced with new one put everthing back. Then on the top of refigerator side on the top behind the adjuster is the defrost timer pulled handle out and off removed plastic shield and removed 2 screws and unplug the timer and change it then put everything back and pluged back in and everything worked in a few minutes

First remove all food from the freezer section, disconnect the power to the refrigerator and then remove all the shelves in the freezer.

Then remove the back panel inside the freezer by taking out the screws holding it in and then simply lifting it out. A Philips screwdriver and 1/4" driver was needed.

After the panel is removed, you can see the defrost heater screwed to the refrigerator coils. It's in two sections wired together. One section is screwed to the bottom of the coil and the top section is screwed half way up the coils.

Unplug the wires and thermostat (coming from the defrost heater) from the wire assembly located above the coils.

Next, remove the screws holding the old defrost heater (there are two screws for each element of the defroster)and lift the heater out. Pay close attention as to how the old heater is situated in the freezer in order to put the new one in the same way.

Attach the new heater by putting the bottom element on first and replacing the two screws to secure it. Be careful to keep the wires from tangling and attach the top element the same way.

Next, carefully connect the wires and thermostat from the heater back to the wire assembly the same way they were connected from the old defrost heater.

Place the panel back in place in the back of the freezer section, replace the shelves, and connect the power. You're finished!!

P.S. Don't forget to put the food back in the freezer.

I removed the back wall panel inside the freezer compartment(approx. 6 screws). The coils were very iced up. I manually defrosted the the coils with a hand hair dryer. I then removed the 2 screws from each heater element and the clip-on thermostat from the coil. I pulled the elements, thermostat and wiring harness(item 230 on parts diagram) out of the freezer compartment and installed the new assembly. Electronic self-check of the defroster indicated normal. Further checks indicated the lower heating element was open.

I began by turning off the refridgerator and then removing all of the drawers/bins and icemaker from the freezer.

I removed the three phillips-head screws across the top of the rear access panel. (same height as the light bulb) I then removed the two phillips-head screws from the bottom of the access panel.

I removed the access panel by swinging the left side forward to clear the drawer slides, while keeping the right side back against itsattaching points. (Like a door swinging on its hinges.)

I followed the wire harness from the upper heating element up to its connector and unplugged the defrosting heaters from the plug. I then gently removed the little (just smaller than a tea light candle) thermostat from the top of the coils. (Not far from where the wire connector was.)

I removed two phillips head screws for each heater unit and removed the whole thing as on big assembly.

I installed the new parts from the bottom up, careful not to damage anything. I installed the new thermostat carefully and then reconnected the wire harness. Next I reinstalled the access panel, starting twith the top center screw to hold it in place during the installation of the other 4 screws in the corners.

Lastly, I put the drawers / bins and icemaker back in and turned the refrigerator back on. DONE.

It corrected the problem. THANKS for the Great Customer Service, too!

1. Turned unit off and removed freezer shelving
2. Removed 5 screws on back pannel to expose heaters
3. Deforsted coils with a hair dryer and removed ice cubes
4. Compaired new defrost harness to the existing
5. Removed 4 screws holding the defective harness
6. Installed new heater harness with 4 screws and elec. plug
7. Reinstalled back pannel and shelving
8. Turned unit back on

**Before you order a new part make sure you get the FULL model number off of the back of the refrigerator**
To even get to the back panel I had to melt the ice in the back of the freezer with a hair dryer. Once the ice was gone I removed 5 screws that held the panel that covers the coils. I melted more ice from the coils. I disconnected the connector for the old heater wiring harness and pooped the thermosat off. Then, removed the screws that held the heaters (2 per heater). Installed new heaters and connected wiring harness. Snapped new thermosat on. Replaced coil cover and plugged it back in.

First I removed the light cover, one screw. Then I removed the rear coil cover, three Phillips screws and two hex head screws. I then defrosted the coils and removed the old defrost element and wiring harness, two hex head screws held in the element, wiring harness just unplugs. I the installed the new defrost coils ( new one had two coils but had a previously designed area for the second element ) and ran the wiring harness up to where the plug was. I then reinstalled the coil cover plate, and light guard and started the refridgerator. Frige runs like new. Thank you PartSelect for the extremely propmt delivery and the correct part. part

removed freezer racks and back panel. removed and relaced defrosting harness. reassembled compartment
PartSelect rocks! easy to locate needed parts. price is fair and quick shipping. saved me $$$$