Hi My refrigerator and freezer stopped cooling on Saturday. The temps went from -2 in the freezer to 22 and the fridget went up as well. Later that day the temps were up to 70! We unplugged it and let it sit all day sat and sun. This morning we plugged it back in and it started working and cooling back to the temps it is suppose to be at. The fan never kicked in on Sat when the temp rose but this morning kicked right in. What could be wrong with it? I don’t want to call a repair man if it might be something simple.
Myfamof8 said:
Hi My refrigerator and freezer stopped cooling on Saturday. The temps went from -2 in the freezer to 22 and the fridget went up as well. Later that day the temps were up to 70! We unplugged it and let it sit all day sat and sun. This morning we plugged it back in and it started working and cooling back to the temps it is suppose to be at. The fan never kicked in on Sat when the temp rose but this morning kicked right in. What could be wrong with it? I don’t want to call a repair man if it might be something simple.
Sounds like it may have a defrost problem. When it happens again in a few days, look on the back wall of the freezer for frost or take the back cover off to see if the evaporator coils are iced up. Post your model number when you report back.
Here are your parts
http://www.appliancepartspros.com/partsearch/modelsearch.aspx?model=ZFSB27DYBSS
Your timer is Item 275 in Section 5.
There should be a hole in the cover to let you turn the timer cam and force a defrost. Note it only turns in one direction.
First remove the evaporator cover in the freezer so you can see the coils.
Not do not let them de-ice.
If they are heavily iced/frosted over you have a defrost problem.
If yes.
Manually force a defrost cycle by turning the defrost timer cam (Item in Section ) till the fans and compressor 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 timer needs replacing, re: it is probably stalling during it’s rotation so is never getting into a defrost cycle.
If not on.
Unplug the unit.
Remove the wire for one side of the heating element (Item in Section ) 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 in Section ) 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 timer 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
- Always remove power from the machine otherwise you could blow your meter.
- Always disconnect at least one side of any device you are checking. This eliminates the possibility of measuring an alternate/parallel circuit path.
- 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.
[COLOR="Blue"]today update
- after defrost the evaporator using water (now i can swim in my kitchen) i turn on the refrigerator , after 5 hours the tempeture on freezer drop to -0 , now 7 hours later is 10F, maybe the coils freeze again.[/COLOR]
The unit normally takes a couple days to get to a point where if there is a defrost problem the coils will ice/frost over badly.
But perhaps in this case there is so much water vapor in the freezer compartment that it is happening rapidly.
I would give it 24 hours before checking it, by then it should have gone through at least one defrost cycle.