HMG2176A Admiral Refrigerator - Instructions

unplug refrigerator. remove contents from freezer. remove shelves, trays, icebucket, light cover & bulb. defrost back panel w/hair dryer. remove screws from: ice dispenser motor housing, back cover. remove back cover. defrost evaporator w/hair dryer. remove heater leads from connector on feedthru. remove heater mounting screws. pull leads down thru evaporator while removing heaters. install new heaters on mounting plates. feed leads up thru evaporator. connect to feedthru. install everything else.

part was exact fit. same resistance as on schematic, leads were long enough. no problems encountered.

Tips from internet forums helped me figure out the problem: The defroster heaters were not working and the freezer side would frost up and prevent cold air from entering the refrigerator side. I removed the drawers, drawer slides, ice maker, then the back panel to expose the cooling coils. You can check the heaters for continuity before rempving them by disconnecting the two lead wiresonce you have the back panel removed. Not getting any continuity, I removed the old heaters after defrosting the coils. Removing the heaters was the most difficult part as they are a little "long" for where they fit, but with care it can be done, the same applies to installing the new heaters. I had to cut the connecting wire on one of the heaters to remove it, but got the new set installed OK. Works fine now, the bottom heater was defective, and since the are wired in series neither one will work independently. Everything works fine now, problem solved.

Unplugged refrig., emptied freezer, removed ice bucket drive, removed back wall of freezer, used blower side of vac to defrost coils, remvoed glass heaters and pulled a chase line thru as I removed old wires. Replaced heaters and chased new wires using chase wires.

Removed existing and installed the new part. The hard part is reaching to the back of freezer as it not very wide and is farily deep. Hard to get to arms in at the same time.

Turn off power. unscrewed and removed the panel in the freezer compartment exposing the defroster(6 screws). pulled off the two defroster wires from their lugs. Removed the two plates (4 screws) holding the two heater elements. unsnapped the two heater elements from the plates. installed new heater elements. attached the plates.attached the two wires to the lugs.done

Removing the old heater coil was a bit of a task as you need to take off all the brackets holding the heater coil and then remove the wiring from back of the coil. Installing the new heater coil assembly in the brackets and feeding the wirings back up to the top was a major task. Need to have long arms as the heater is located way back in the freezer compartment. The part was the exact match. The part was delivered in 2 days. Thanks alot. Will use your site again.

1. Removed food from freezer and unplug refrigerator or shut circuit breaker. 2. Removed freezer shelves 3. Unscrew all screws on inside back wall and removed back wall plate. Run a fan to defrost the coils. 4. Unscrewed 4 heater bracket nuts on front of cooling coils and removed heater elements. Mine were burnt so I knew I had the correct part. 5. Removed the heater wires from back panel. 6. Install new heater elements being careful not to leave oils from hands on glass tubes and connected 2 wires from heating elements to rear panel. Reinstall nuts to hold heater brackets. 7. Plug in and run refrigerator for 2 hours with doors closed. Remove upper rear panel on fresh food side then use a flat head screwdriver to turn red timer screw above refrigerator thermostat clockwise slowly until compressor shuts down. 8. Open freezer and waited a few minutes to watch defrost heater coils glow. If they don't glow you might need a new thermostat for the freezer which is located on rear panel or a new timer. 9. Unplug and reinstall rear panel and shelves. Plug in. It will take 24 to 48hrs. For temperatures to level out. Good luck.

Remove freezer contents, shelving, baskets, shelf brackets, basket rails. Then, remove the icemaker including the ice basket, the cube freezer and the motor assembly. Remove the back liner of the freezer compartment. Remove and replace the defrost heater assembly, using the old mounting brackets and connecting the wires to the same terminals. Reassemble. Discard excess screws :).

Removed ice maker bin,removed screws on back panel cover. Pulled out panel cover,thawed accumulated ice, unscrewed bracket holding defrost heater set, unplugged busted defroster, plugged in new defroster set,installed it back, installed back panel cover, ice maker and powered it on.More than a week after installation,I don't see any signs of ice accumulation on back panel cover.

Frist pulled everything out of freezer put in refridge then took out ice maker box then removed ice maker motor removed back panel took hair drier defrosted the coil then removed bracket screws that hold heaters in place removed bad heater, the hardest part of the job was getting the wirers back around the coils when done just reversed the process.I have a side by side so there was not a whole lot of room to work with. I only weigh 160 lbs it was a tight fit for me. But all in all it went well.
Thanks

The can drinks in refrigerator were not as cold as usual. I opened the freezer and touched the back panel and noticed there was a frost buildup. Since I have had this problem before, I knew that the defrost heater must be bad. I removed all the shelves and the tracks. The back panel is held in by 8 small sheet metal screws. I removed the screws and pulled the back panel up and out. The refrigerator is in garage, so I put a fan in front of it and the fan melted the ice off the coils. I disconnected the wires and checked the the heaters (both wired together) with an ohm meter. The meter showed the heaters to be open. (bad). Actually only 1 of the 2 heaters were bad, but I replaced both of them since they are wired together as a set.

Found a tip online that said to check the resistance of the defrost coil, when I had none I knew the coils had burned out. Before pulling the old coil out I tied on some long pieces of string as was suggested, that made things go very quick! The hardest part was reaching to the back of the narrow freezer space, but fortunately I have long arms. So far all is working well, and I have a great deal of satisfaction knowing I did the repair myself!

evaporator coils were frozen solid and air wasn't flowing across them

read all directions first, then consider which steps you'd like to take

in any case...
- check for blockages in the upper and lower air vents that allow air from freezer side to cool the fridge-side
- inspect that the fan in the freezer side is actually turning and not blocked


- if no blockages and air is flowing between the sides...

- unplug the unit
- remove all goods from freezer and fridge
- remove freezer side racks
- remove rear panel on freezer side using philips screwdriver (note that the ice-cube tray motor housing must be freed by removing its screws. it can be pull out a bit to get to a single screw holding the top of the rear panel in place)
- allow the evaporator coils to evaporate all ice off, checking the drain pan under the fridge frequently - accelerate the process using a hair dryer or paint stripper (heat gun)
- disconnect the white wires from the connection block located about 2/3 of the way up the rear wall and check resistance using an ohmeter (see specs on back of fridge on circuit diagram)
- if you get a very high resistance reading, the heater element is likely broken. if so...
-- remove the 2 metal shields located horizontally across the evaporator coils (behind them are the two series-connected defrost heater elements)
-- visually inspect the elements - if they are discolored green or black, remove and inspect more closely (most likely they are blown, just like a light-bulb filament that shows black on the glass)
-- if you see nothing, remove them anyway (since high reading) and check connectors
-- replace them (likely only $30 to $75, depending on type)

- if coils seem ok, or if not suspect, check the defrost thermostat WHILE IT IS STILL IN A WORKING/COLD FREEZER.
- get the defrost thermostat into a coil chamber (other freezer or bucket of ice?) and check resistance using an ohmeter. It must be WELL-BELOW 40F to test it. When it is truly immersed in cold (as it would be in a working freezer), test the resistance. it should be 0-ohms when <<40F and some much higher resistance (>200KOhms) when > 40F.
- if not, replace it

-lastly, if neither the defrost heater elements are bad nor the defrost thermostat is bad, open up the defrost timer
-- the defrost timer is located in the fridge side, likely with the fridge thermostat knobs/controller
-- it is a 5-pin part that cannot be repaired. If all else is checked, most likely the defrost element is never coming on because the timer is not turning it on

Turned refrigerator and freezer controls to off, removed icemaker bin, unplugged icemaker plug and removed two screws holding icemaker in place and removed icemaker. removed screws holding auger motor and freezer compartment light plate, unplugged and set aside. Remover screws holding freezer coil cover in place and removed cover. Allowed coils to defrost completely and then removed screws that hold the two defrost heater coil mounting plates in place, unplugged the two wires that connect the defrost heater coils to the connector block that is located above the freezer coil. Remove the entire defrost heater by working the connecting wires out from along side the freezer coil. Remove the clips that hold the old defrost heater elements to the mounting plates. Install new heating elements into the two mounting plates with the clips. Reinstall the two mounting plates to brackets on freezer coil and reinstall connecting wiring up to connector block and reconnect them. Reinstall freezer coil cover, icemaker auger motor and freezer compartment light plate, and icemaker and bin to complete job. Due to the confined space in the freezer compartment, reinstalling the freezer coil cover and light plate was difficult as I could only use one arm at a time resulting in many dropped screws.

remove all tray,remove back panel,cut out out old heater adn replace with new heatger,refitted back panel and alll tray.