Fridge barely cooling, evap coil freezing

Refrigerator & Freezer Repair
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1

Fridge threw breaker. On reset, compressor wasn’t working. Short story is, I replaced starter relay w/ one w/ start capacitor and repaired frayed wire (freakin mouse), which was the real problem.

Fridge works now, but is on highest setting. Compressor is quiet; no clicks, chirps or whines; fan is working. Compressor seems to get pretty hot. Low side out of compressor is barely cooler than room temp, but evaporator coil (visible part on bottom of freezer) has ice on it.

I got an opinion that concurred with my thoughts that it was either low on freon or compressor is on its way out.

I’m looking f/ a second opinion. Don’t really want to buy a new fridge, but that might be reality. Is it possible to get an inline tap and just add some freon, or am I just grabbing at straws?

3

Remove the evaporator cover from inside the freezer so you can see the evaporator coils.

If they are heavily iced/frosted over you have a defrost problem.

If there is just frost in one area (usually where the freon enters the coils) or it is very blotchy, then you have a low freon problem.

Make sure the unit has run for a couple hours without a defrost cycle before checking.

Probably would not hurt to check the freezer temperature, should be 0 to 5 degrees F.

4

Looks like I have a defrost problem; the entire coil is frosted. I understand there’s a heater and thermostat. Can you help locate the parts and how to test??
Thanks

5

I cannot find info on the given model number, please check it.

I am going to assume (the parts are probably the same) that the unit is an FHSS01.

Here are your parts
http://www.appliancepartspros.com/partsearch/model.aspx?model_id=251085

I am assuming that your coil was heavily frosted to the point that the evaporator fan could not pull air through it.

Here is the tech sheet,see attachment.

First remove the evaporator cover in the freezer so you can see the coils.
Do not let them de-ice.

Manually force a defrost cycle, see the tech sheet. The fans and compressor will turn off.
Now check the defrost heater to see if it is on.
Be careful you do not want to burn your fingers.
If the heater is on then the adaptive defrost board (Item 6 in Section 10) needs replacing.

If not on.
Unplug the unit.
Remove the wire for one side of the heating element (Item 33in Section 11) from the wiring and measure it for continuity, usually around 20 ohms or so.

If the heater is OK
Remove one wire to the defrost thermostat (Item 35 in Section 11) and measure it, should be 0 ohms when frozen. Note: that it opens just above freezing so must be frozen to check it. Also inspect it, if it is bulged at all replace it even if it measures OK.

If both the above are OK then odds are the defrost relay contacts are toast.
Best way to test this is a live test to see if you have 120 volts across the heater/defrost thermostat combo.

If you do not own a meter, I would suggest you purchase a one. You can get a decent digital multimeter for under $20.00. You do not need fancy though it is nice if the leads are a couple feet long.
If it saves ordering one unnecessary part it has paid for itself and you end up owning a useful tool.
Most places will not let you return electrical parts so if you order it, you own it.
A couple things to watch when measuring ohms and continuity

  1. Always remove power from the machine otherwise you could blow your meter.
  2. Always disconnect at least one side of any device you are checking. This eliminates the possibility of measuring an alternate/parallel circuit path.
  3. When checking for closed contacts and continuity use the lowest scale (Usually 200 ohms). Then try higher scales. This scale is 0 to 200 ohms so if the device you are measuring is 300 ohms this scale would show an open circuit which it is not, you are just measuring outside the scale’s dynamic range.

There is a good STICKY at the start of this forum about it’s use.