1065907890 Kenmore Refrigerator - Instructions

WARNING: REPLACING THIS PART REQUIRES CUTTING AND SPLICING ELECTRICAL WIRES. RISK OF ELECTRICAL SHOCK OR FIRE. DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS REPAIR IF YOU ARE NOT EXPERIENCED WITH ELECTRICAL WIRING.

Part Info:
The bi-metal strip is clipped onto the evaporator coils and is designed to regulate the defrost coil temperature. If it is not functioning properly you may notice ice buildup preventing air flow (and preventing proper refrigeration), or more rarely the freezer side may get too warm during the defrost cycle.

Materials:
* Replacement bi-metal strip
* Wire cutters
* Wire strippers
* Wire nuts
* Electrical tape
* 10MM socket

Steps:

1: UNPLUG THE FRIDGE! If there is ice buildup, wait until the ice has melted. A box fan blowing at the ice will help melt it more quickly.

2: Remove the panel covering the evaporator coils. It's located inside the fridge, on the freezer side.

3: Un-clip the bi-metal strip from the evaporator coils.

4: Unplug the wires from the evaporator fan, defrost coil and bi-metal strip, then disconnect the main connector that is plugged into the rear wall.

5: Clip both wires to the old ( bad ) bi-metal strip. Cut close to the casing of the bi-metal strip so there are long wires to splice onto.

6: Strip 1/4 to 1/2 inches of insulation off of the ends of the wires ( depending on the size of the wire-nuts you use). Twist the bare wires slightly to prevent fraying.

7: Do the same for the ends of the wires on the (new) bi-metal strip.

8: Take the ends of the wires belonging to the (new) bi-metal strip and the wires coming from the main plug. Take the like-colored wires, and twist the bare metal ends together.

9: Twist on wire nuts, for both sets of wires. Make sure they are snug, with no bare wire showing.

10: Tape over the wire nuts with electrical tape. Tape over the wires nuts in a spiral fashion, completely covering the nut and both wires that are now spliced together. This will prevent accidental shorting.

11: Plug the main plug back into the rear wall of the fridge. Also re-connect the connectors to the evaporator fan and defrost coil. Make sure the clips on the connectors are snug to ensure a good connection.

12: Clip the new bi-metal strip onto the coils, in the same spot as before. ( Usually just after the small incoming copper tubing that connects to the coils, known as the expansion valve. That is usually the coldest spot on the coils during operation).

13: Replace the panel that covers the coils.

14: Plug the fridge back in... Now you fridge should defrost correctly. If it does not, your defrost coil could be burned out, or the control board could be faulty.

Well first of all, I was afraid that the compressor was shot and I'd need a whole new refrigerator (ack $1000!!!). After googling/reading, I figured out that the starter relay mounted on the compressor was burned out. (loud click as thermal cutout shuts down compressor.) So, I ordered a replacement part, overnight shipping. Unfortunately, this was on a Friday night, so I had to figure out how to keep the fridge cold all weekend (til Tuesday). I'd already moved frozen stuff to a chest freezer, but the inside of the fridge compartment was now nearly warm at this point, so I got 10 lb of dry ice. That got things cooled down initially. Well, turns out that with a short piece of wire, you can momentarily jump across the terminals of the relay and kick start the compressor. It then runs until either the defrost cycle stops it or the thermostat kicks it off. Anyway, all weekend, every six hours or so, I turned off the fridge for a minute to cool down the overheated, stalled compressor, then turned it on and jumped the terminals to start it up. Kind of a pain, but saved lots of food. Overall, the $30+$30 (shipping) for the part saved me from having to get a new refrigerator, so I'm quite pleased. I've used Part Select many times now. Very fast service and shipping, great website/database. I shop around and every time end up buying from them again.

DISCONNECT POWER. Removed all shelves/baskets.Popped upper panel off (just clips in) Removed 6 screws in lower back panel ( 3 each side) slid panel in place but down. You can then easily see the defrost thermostat/defrost termination switch. Cut the wire connectors (pink n brown wire) stripped back wire, attached new defrost thermostat. Thermostat clips on. New thermostat ohm's at 5.5, old one was "open". Slid cover back up meeting the upper cover grooves. Screwed lower panel in. Put shelves etc back in. Plugged in. Turns on, put a bottle of water in freezer. Checked a while later, frozen. has been frozen for a week.
-James

I have a side by side so in order to access the bi-metal switch I first had to empty out the freezer. The switch is clipped on to the top of the evaporator coil. I had to remove 8 screws to remove the back panel of the freezer compartment. The bi-metal switch was right there in plain view. There are two colored wires that come out of the switch. I tried pulling them out of the socket they were plugged into but gave up for fear of breaking something. I ended up cutting the wires and splicing them together. I used the plastic twist caps. I made sure when I closed everything back up that the open end of the caps were pointing down so no water can accumulate in them. It has been 3 days now and so far so good

I was about to waste $1000 on buying a Refrigerator. Took 1 mins to search on google "Refrigerator doesn't work". Found a video on youtube, showed a step and step video to solve my problem. Order the part $50 and it took me less then 5 mins to install it. =)

I just removed a few screews and took the cover out of the ice box. Put my voltage meter to the refrigeator and realized the the unit was not defrosting...I then got the part number and entered it in on your web site. A few days later my part arrived. I put the part on and in just about 20 minutes I was up an running again...Thank you Part Select for fast and great service. I own 35 rental properties and having a online appliance parts store really saves me a lot of time and money.

Thank you
Curtis Hall

First I installed a defrost timer, (the old timer had burnt out contacts in it) It seemed to work for a few days, then went back to not comng out of defrost cycle, I then installed a defrost thermostat. It seems to be working better than before. I found out that maybe I wasn't running it cold enough. So I turned it up colder. Now it works ok for 2 - 3 days, then I check the Temp in the freezer and its up to 6o. So I manually reset the timer and it works for 2 - 3 days. Don't know what to do now to fix it.

Approximately:

1. Unplugged refrigerator.
2. Emptied Freezer.
3. Removed Ice Maker.
4. Waited a few hours for ice to melt around back panel & nuts.
5. Removed back panel and the cover over fan and fan motor.
6. Waited many more hours for ice to thaw over fins, wiring, etc.
7. Easily replaced the bi-mental defrost thermostat.
8. Replaced panel, fan cover, ice maker.
9. Plugged in refrigerator and waited a bit.

This worked! Yahoo.

p.s. I am a 65+ year old mechanically minded woman. :-)

I followed your instructions , the only thing that was left out was that the freezer has a drain hole that had to be thawed out with a hair dryer,till the water went to the drain pan underneath the ref. your instruction were through enough, that's why I purchased the part from your company, I installed the part 2 days ago and its working like new again 23.00 for the part instead of 1200.00 dollars for another ref. thanks very much. 6 months ago I purchased the relay and compressor starter from your company at that time per your instructions I shook the compressor starter and like a light bulb it had something broke inside,I needed that thanks again oomk

where the wires crossed at the start relay, 20 years of vibration allowed them to short out and burn out the start relay ..since i have 2 identical fridges i switched the run capacitor to determine it was'nt bad too...ordered a start relay wednesday nite and got it friday morning...cold fridge by noon...good service and the part was exactly the same as the original....

Searched my issue on the internet then chose part select to see if bi-metal thermostat was available and it was so I ordered part which was under $30.00 incl. shipping. I then went to You Tube to watch how to replace the part but most importantly to find out where it was located and degree of difficulty. Replacement was rather simple and it fixed our 22 year old fridge. I must add that when I looked up the part it also told you what percent of the time that particular item actually fixed the problem based on others experience. I thought that was neat info. as I felt better about ordering something that may or may not fix my problem. Thank you,

Freezer worked great, refrigerator stopped getting cold and lots of ice formed around the condenser on the bottom of the refrigerator.
First I had a serious ice issue, ice build up around the bottom of the refrigerator and all through the cold air vents, condenser and cooling fan. I unplugged of the fridg and let defrost over night. I also took all the cold air vents out and cleaned them.
Then I followed the switch install video very simple switch install. Now the Refrigerator works Great nice and cold.

The Video on U tube was helpful. I have a side by side model and it was difficult to work in such tight quarters to attach the new part . I found that by removing the cable assembly it was much easier to attach (cut and crimp) the new part on the outside , then reinsert the assembly. The new part resolved my problem. Don't panic when you try and remove the cable assembly. Hope this is helpful.

Piece of cake. It took me longer to remove the food from the freezer, remove shelves and back panel than to do the repair. I heard the fan making some noises so I replaced both the fan and defrost thermostat. I used the instructions submitted by a another customer. My 20+ year old fridge is like new now.

I pulled off the panel covering the part in the freezer cut and stripped the wires. Used crimper and connectors put the new part on put the wires band panel back on and plugged the refrigerator back in. Everything works just fine now.