RC20KY-2A Magic Chef Refrigerator - Instructions

Removed all screws in rear panel & removed (this was easy) . unpluged heater wires & fished out not easy. Used string and 3/8" nut for weight, droped behind evaporator to pull elect wire from heater. ( this was not easy) replaced rear panel & all screws.

The most difficult part was determining what the problem was, was it the defrost timer, the themostat or the heater. Once I diagnosed the heater the ordering was easy. Installing it took about 30 minutes but waiting for the frig to cool to the point where the thermostat opened took a little longer than I thought. When I saw that orange glow from the heater I knew I saved myself a hundred buck.

My husband took the plastic cover off and took out old bulb and screwed in the new one. Then put the cover back on.

1. Unscrewed glass cover on bulb
2. Removed old bulb
3. Screwed in new bulb
4. Replaced glass cover
5. Mixed drink & baked cupcakes

very easy

Screwed in light bulb and glass protector

Just like the video showed me.It still does not work. Have to turn it off and on to make it start up.I also replaced thermostat in freezer. Does not work.

I pulled down the wire around the glass cover. . . Released on end of the wire from its holder being careful to not let the glass cover drop. Unscrewed the bulb and replaced with replacement. Easy, easy.

Screw bulb in and place cover over bulb.

Removed the six screws holding the bottom access plate found at the rear of the refrigerator. This gives you easy access to the run capacitor that has a retaining clip. Remove the wire clip and pull out the capacitor (it has two quick disconnect terminals). Reverse the process using the new run capacitor to complete the repair.

removed back sheet from inside of freezer unit. removed upper and lower coil brackets. undid clips and replaced coils. reattached wires to top , replaced back sheet.

The old light fixture and socket were easily removed. This was done with the power connected, but I already knew the switch didn't need to be handled. The solderless connectors are all insulated, so I just had to be careful. The new socket would not accept the connector for the "hot" (red) wire in the fridge, due to a design change. This is, of course, why you furnished a loose 3/16 inch crimpon connector. Rather than cutting the red wire (remember, the power is still connected), I obtained an insulated 3/16 connector of the opposite gender, and a short piece of red-insulated wire from an old fluorescent tube ballast, and made a jumper. The connector I provided (male) did not fit tightly in the original fridge connector, so I put a layer of resin-core solder on my male connector. You need tight connections. If the solder layer is too thick, it's easy to file down. Make sure to heat the solder sufficiently that the solidified solder is shiny and not dull gray. I used a 100-watt gun. 20 watts would probably work too. DO NOT USE ACID-CORE SOLDER OR FLUX ON ELECTRICAL WORK! I knew the switch was good, because I had checked for voltage at the socket terminals using my voltmeter, before I ordered the socket. It read 120 volts every time the door switch was open, and zero volts every time the door switch was pushed closed. A simple voltage tester would work here, too. Be very careful if you do this test or this repair with the power connected to the fridge; there is considerable potential to find yourself touching 120 volts with one hand while your other hand is touching a perfect "ground". There doesn't seem to be any choice if you want to test the switch. You do have a choice with the socket replacement - - the jumper described above. If you're not going to use the jumper approach, cut the power! If you are going to make a jumper and are not comfortable working on a "live" circuit, cut the power.

After plugging in the new relay to no avail. I replaced the thermostat. That fixed the problem.

Unloading the freezer and removing the back panel were the most time consuming aspect of this repair. Many models only have 4 screws, but this one has 9, and being a side by side it was a tight fit to reach them. Once defrosted we tested the thermostat, found it "dead", and ordered a new one. The part came within 3 business days. Installing it took minutes, since we had not permanently screwed in the back panel again. We didn't want to reload everything until we knew things worked properly, so we didn't put everything back right away. We thought we had further problems as the freezer got really cold but the frig still didn't get down to temp. Turns out we just needed to reinstall the fan shield which we'd taken off along with other parts to access and check the vents. The fan shield must be in place to direct the cold air into the vent to the refrigerator. Duh! It was an oversight that once caught made total sense! Now all works fine on this 20 year old Maytag side by side!

Received the part the day after ordering. Appreciated the quick service and repair took less than a minute.