RB21EA-3A (5C49A) Magic Chef Refrigerator - Instructions

The video of the repair is a helpful guide, but my refrigerator has the compressor very close to the condenser fan motor. With the compressor comes the copper tubing that is all in the way. I had to carefully bend them now and then to allow me to get my hands in position. The how to is easy, but the working with tools in cramped quarters was difficult. I think my Maytag side by side model makes for this job to be difficult, maybe yours may not be so bad. I took a couple of hours to complete. After the first hour, I covered the bare wires, and plugged the frig back in so it could do some cooling. I placed a small in front on the condenser to blow across it. Had a little break, then finished the job.

I unpluged the refrig, removed the shelves and the back panel on the freezer side of the unit. This exposed the fan motor and fan blade. I removed two screws holding the fan unit in place, unpluged the wires connecting the fan unit to power, and then removed two other screws securing the fan motor to the bracket. I removed the fan motor blade from the old unit and installed it on the new fam motor. I replaced the fan unit into the bracket, pluged the wires back into the fan motor and secured the motor to the refrig. Replaced the back panel and shelves, pluged the refrig into the wall.....easy.

I have an Amana freeze and I followed the procedure in the video. Which is very good! However on the Amana Model there two slight differences in the procedure that I felt I needed to do. The first one is, the condenser fan bracket is attached to the Freezer chassis with 4 screws, not three. The removal and installation of the back screw by the fan is a bear. I removed the other three and it allowed me to rotate the fan slightly to get more access to the fourth and did same on installation by just starting the 4th screw and then tightening it later. The second issue was my new fan hit the housing when I spun the fan. When I looked at the old one. It had a phenolic washer, between the fan and motor which spaces the fan out about a washer thickness from the motor. When I tried to remove the old one it broke in four pieces due to age. So, I made my own with a washer that I super glued to the motor housing after carefully centering it on and clearing the motor shaft . Seemed to work with out any more noise or balance issues...Thanks, your delivery was blindly fast and video was great!

First, watched video on Part Select Website. Very good. Pulled Appliance out from wall, Pulled the power plug, and removed the back shield covering the working parts of the unit. Found the fan and it was almost the same setup as on the video except that I could not get to one of the screws holding the motor in place so had to remove the entire bracket with the fan. Not too hard. Cleaned away dust and gunk around the site and noticed that the fan pulled air through a tunnel-like condenser coil that was packed with gunky lint...this is what probably killed the motor. I cleaned out the tunnel with the bottle brushes and vacuum and installed the new motor / bracket assembly. Then replaced the shielding around the fan and the back cover .panel. This is important because these form the channel that guides air flow throughout the condenser coils. This particular refrigerator has a barrier underneath which guides air flow from the front left to the condenser, through the fan, over the evaporator drip pan and out the right front. I cleaned all the lint and gunk from this area as well. I also made an air filter (cut from a furnace filter) and wedged it in front of the air entry section. This should keep the condenser coil cleaner over time but you have to remember to change the filter once a year. Probably should clean the condenser coil every 5 years as well. This unit has been very reliable over 20 years and may well go for another 20. Good luck with your repair.

Viewed the viedo - it showed what to do

Unscrewed the right control knob. Removed the left temperature control knob (there is no screw holding it), removed one screw to rear of small panel then pried open from the rear of the small panel, there are two plastic tabs in front of the small panel holding it in place. Unscrewed the failed control unit and replaced it with the new one. Replaced the small panel and screw then the left side control knob, making sure of the alignment in the "off" position as the knob has to be pressured into a clamp arrangement on the cold control thermostat. Re-screwed the right knob into place, as well.