Posted by: mike on March 22, 2002 at 12:10:27:
In Reply to: re: Fridgieaire freezer fiasco Posted by: John C. on June 01, 2000 at 16:13:55:
First thing I would say to do would be testing the parts before replacing them. You can plug the heating unit into 120 VAC, if it heats up it is good. The defrost thermosat can be checked with a continutiy test light or ohm meter. When the temp is below about 22deg. F the switch closes the light will light up ablout 0 ohms. At aprox 40 degrees switch opens no light and lots of resistance. The fan you can see with your eyes if that is running. duhh and finally the defrost timer. The components are a motor which turns a cam which in turn switchs a contact between two poles. In normal mode the compressor runs once it gets to the end of the cam the defrost kicks in and the compressor stops. You can tell if the defrost timer is spining by marking its position on the outside of the little grey plastic piece come back an hour later and see if it changed. It makes one full revolution in about an hour. If it is rotating the contadts could be bad inside push the three plastic tabs to take it apart after unplugging it. You can carefully file the contact points with a points file. If they are to far gone the control will have to be replaced.