CNNS228K Norge Refrigerator - Instructions

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.

it went good

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

I removed all covers then removed screws from element and disconnected wires and removed it.
when installing the new heater I payed close attention to the routing of thw wires to insure that the terminals were connected properly. I then replaced all covers and turned the frig on and in a couple of hour it was working great again

Unplug the Frig and left the freezer side total defrost. Mine was so frozen up, it took about 6 hours with the door open. I had a towel in the botton to catch all the water and ice that fell.

Removed all the shelving units. There are 3 screws that hold the ice maker in place. Loosen the 2 screws above the ice maker about 3 or so turns. Then remove the screw under the ice maker completely. Then lift the ice maker off of the 2 screws that you just loosened. Then with a small flat blade screwdriver, push the plastic clip that holds the connector of wires that plug into the ice maker.

Then remove the screws that hold the back plastic cover that conseals the coil.

Now you should see the coils. There is one heater unit in the middle and one at the botton. There is a screw on each side of the heater unit that you need to take out. They are screwed into a metal bracket that is part of the coil system. Once the screws are removed, you simply remove the heater units. They are plugged in at the top of the coil system on a circuit board. Unplug them from there, (one of the spades connector was slightly bigger then the other, so I new where to plug them back in). Fish all the wire and heater untis out and you are ready to re-oinstall the new units.

Getting the wires back up through the coils was tricky, but I was able to do it.

The hardest thing was working inside the freezer unit. It is not very wide and was sometimes hard to get both hand inside to work.

I tilted the unit back enough to scew the new legs into the threaded holes.

I called a local appliance store in town to get a replacement shelf.They did call me back and stated they could not find anything. I found this web site and (had my husband re-measure the size) ordered it on line. I received it in 3 days, and would strongly recommend this web site to anyone.

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.

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.

Simply inserted the shelf. So easy to find just what we needed from the website. We really got great service and the shelf arrived in three days. Thanks so much.

Screw bulb in and place cover over bulb.

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!

Pull box out ""unplug box"" empty frezer including storage baskets,place ice maker in off remove ice cube box, do not remove ice maker, useing nut driver loosen side rail screws about 1/4"slide basket rails in or out and pull to center of box should slip off screws, remove light bulb cover & bulb, remove 4 screws holding ice worm drive motor "" hold "" will fall it is atached to a electrial plug un plug and lay aside,unscrew back panle screws 4 left 4 right on back cover, " remove hiden screw at top center of back panel and pull up and pry out at bottom silde out downwerds,remove cross plates one center one bottom these hold defoster bars, unwind wires center defroster bar somewhat difecult bottom one just slide down unplug from panel at top behind where ice cube drive was located, replace new defroster assm reasemble defroster bars into cross bars wind in & plug up new wires behind cooling fins being carefule not to cut or nick wires of bend cooling fins replace screws,wires are 1 small plug 1 large,reinstall back panle top center screw first don't tighten aline side screw holes replace side screws then tighten top screw. Replace drive motor being sure to conect,replace bulb,bulb cover,side railes,bens,ice cube box & put ice maker lever in on poss. Plug box in weight 8 to 10 hours with box set at mfg 's starting settings. Should work like a charm.