HMG22494A Admiral Refrigerator - Instructions

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.

, to remove the inlet tube holder/guide gadget thingee: (1) remove the three Phlipscrews from the motor end of the housing. (2) pull the housing straight off the end. (3) remove two Philips screws in deep holes that hold the ice tray onto the motor housing. (4) this frees the ice tray assembly, which you have to pull out, freeing the rotating blades, from which (5) you slide the sxle out of the middle of the inlet-tube thingee, so (6) you can then remove the inlet gadget from the ice tray.

You then reverse these instructions to reassemble with the correct inlet gadget. The tricky part is the front cover that hides the ice-tray from view. That cover has a couple of ears that have to fit into mating holes in the motor housing before you replace the two deep-hole Philips screws that hold the tighten the ice-tray assembly back onto the motor housing.

So it's too bad they don't see the ice-maker assembly with all the knock-outs inplace, so you can knock out the one you want. Other than that, it would have been no more trouble than other people have reported in working in the tight space inside the freezer compartment.

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

There are basically three screws that hold the unit in place on the inside of the freezer. Removing them is relatively easy, and the unit is replaced with the same three screws. You do have to use the formed metal wire from your old unit, so don't throw it out! You also have to use the wiring harness from your old unit.

As per instructions. Removed parts from old ice maker, and installed them on new one, Then installed it in the freezer. Works good.

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

Followed the online PartSelect video instructions and it was very helpful. The ice maker has to cycle through before it starts making ice so don't be alarmed when nothing happens when you first hook it up.

Merely remove the front bottom screw that attached the ice maker to the refrigerator
Lift the ice maker gently off of the 2 top screws
Unplug the icemaker wiring harness from the back of the refrigerator, and remove
Snap off the end of the maker and remove the keeper for the wire arm
Remove the wire arm and install on new maker
Unplug the wiring harness from the old maker and plug into the new one
Plug the harness into the refrigerator, slip the new maker over the top screws, with the water feed tube inserted into the maker
Install bottom screw into the bracket that holds it in place.
This took less than 5 minutes.

Old ice maker leaking water and produced ice cubes with black inclusions. First, I removed old ice maker per video instructions. Transferred electrical cable, cover, and bail to new ice maker. First installation failed because I failed to make sure water tube correctly enter back of ice maker. No ice. Initially thought electrical cable wasn't firmly in place. Then I noticed frozen water dripping down back of freezer. A clue! Removed ice maker and reinstalled making sure water tube went through the hole in back of ice maker. Now the new ice maker works beautifully!

Loosen the screws on the sidewall (don't take them all the way out and drop them on the floor as I did) and remove the screw from the bottom bracket. Change out the electrical wires and the wire level sensor that does not come with the new unit. Put the new one in place and give it some time to cool down and make ice ( don't be impatient like I was and think the new unit was bad or that you replaced the wrong part)

I took out 1 screw , unplugged the icemaker and lifted it out and installed the new one and had ice in no time at all. can't get much easier.

Just kept working on it.

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

Repair done according to video and instructions. What you need to know is myself and my husband are adverse to all kinds of "simple" repairs because they never go well and we are not handyman kind of persons. This, I must say, was a delightful change in our typical experience of attempting to make our own repairs.
Thanks
Sandy