Defrost Thermostat

SIMPLY WATCHED THE PARTS SELECT VIDEO AND READ THEIR INSTRUCTIONS. SO EASY MOST PEOPLE CAN DO. REPLACED ALL 3 PARTS FOR ALOT LESS THAN A SERVICE CALL AND LABOR.

I bought both the Defrost Heater Kit and Defrost Thermostat because the parts weren't that expensive and I had the same problem 8 years ago and needed both and had to do the fix twice because I only bought one part at that time.
Remove the top shelf of the frig section and place a pan toward the back center on the shelf that is stil ... Read more l there. take a couple bottles of hot tap water to have ready.
Mine had the Ice Maker so I used a 1/4 or 5/16 Nut driver on an extension and just loosened the two screws on the side. Unplug Fridge first! Gently push the ice maker up and pull away from the side and the disconnect the Plug with tabs.
If the back panel is frosted up pour the hot water along the area that the center drain and panel is. Remove the two screws and gently work the panel loose. If frost is not releasing panel use more hot water. You can also use low heat on heat gun moving back and forth. There is a plastic fan blade you do not want to warp with the heat. When you get it free and tip the top of the panel toward you you will have to remove another tabbed connector upper left.
Set the panel with fan assembly and aside so it dries.

The coils will need some more hot water, I used about four 16 oz bottles and poured them across the top of the iced up mess to get the main part of it melted so everything became visible. All of the frost has to be gone to access parts being removed. Once that most of the frost was gone I used the heat gun to get the rest so it would fall loose. Do not melt the plastic panel of the back of the compartment, use caution and something to shield from heat gun. When frost starts falling loose you can use a popsicle stick to break it up gently and push it to the left back corner and pull it out and slide into a pan that you can hold under front edge. Wipe up excess water.
The Defrost Heater has two sharp aluminum zip ties with a slot that you have to very carefully loosen and pull the ends out so as to reuse. You can leave them in place and just re-secure them to the new heater. Note that the heater is marked with red on one end. Unplug both ends and gently pull it free. The new part has a red marking and should plug to the same side as the old which on this Model on mine is plugged to right side plug. Place the new heater back where the old one was and secure it gently and don't get cut.

Next you can use a Multimeter and check across both ends of the old one for Resistance. if it is open throw it away, mine had about 41 ohms so I kept it as a spare

It is time to remove the Defrost thermostat. Clip the wires close to the part and carefully remove the snap on clip from the pipe and note the position so that you can put the new one in the same place. Strip about 1/4" from each wire going into the barrel connector. Slide shrink tubing over each wire before assembly. The Dark blue wire are butted together at right side. The light blue wire is butted with the loose wire from the white plug. Crip firmly all butt splices then Heat shrink carefully. Now position the clip with the new part back on the pipe in the same position. Tuck and Zip tie if the wires dangle down to keep them up out of the coils. Do any necessary cleanup. Gently take the back panel and insert bottom first plug white plug in firmly. The Ice Maker Fill tube if you have one will need to be lifted and guided thru the hole as you push the panel in place. Insert the two panel screws. Ice Maker can then be put back on its screw heads and the Plug for it inserted. Tighten screws .
Time to turn on the fridge again and listen for fan noise because the panel may have bent while you disassembled it from frost that was clinging to it, don't ask how I know LOL!

If all goes well the refrigerator should cool down gradually over the next 8 - 12 hours, some say 24 but mine didn't take that long. I hope this helps somebody!

Better than buying another Refrigerator!

Removed back panel in freezer. Cut the 2 wires on old defrost thermostat. Used wire nuts to connect new thermostat. Connector sent with new thermostat wouldn't hold. Used supplied shrink tubing on wire nuts to keep connection water tight.

removed bake plate in freezer and let it defrost for 24 hours. Located thermostat, removed and cut both wires. Stripped wires and crimped new thermo with sta-kon butt splices and shrink tubed the splices. Put everything back together in reverse order, plugged the refrig in and let it eat for 24 hours. Excellent job if I do say so myse ... Read more lf. Blue sta-kon butt splices and shrink tube that is supplied with part are to large so I used red butt splices and my own shrink tube.

"GREAT" I watched a u tube by Bill Newberry,he explained the whole process and showed you what all the parts looked like. THIS SITE DID THE BEST JOB ON DELIVERING THE "RIGHT PARTS QUICKLY"!!

I watched the video supplied by this site . An easy part replacement. The hardest part was removing the food and shelving, and that wasn't really hard, just time consuming.

I followed the instructions in the video.They were very easy to follow .The only problem I had was with the parts I orderd. The thermal shrink material was to short.When it was heated it shrank so much that it only covered the connector.I believe the purpose of the shrink material is to help seal moisture out of the connection.I have to ... Read more get some longer shrink tubing and do it over again.The repair did solve the problem.

I followed the install instructions video

I followed the video instructions and defrosted the coils. I first installed the defrost timer and then put the appliance back in operation. After about a week I could see frost buildup on the rear freezer panel. I then repeated the defrosting process and installed the defrost thermostat. The fridge was plugged into a GFI outlet which ... Read more then started tripping each time the defrost thermostat would come on. I then had to replace the GFI receptacle which was getting old. That was over a week ago and so far so good. Just follow the video instructions and the installation process is really quite simple.

Removed freezer back cover, unplugged electricity, cut the two wires from old thermostat, installed new thermostat, plugged electricity back in, replaced back cover and started the refrigerator.