APPLIANCE TECHS! Need your help.

Hopefully this will be a quick one.

I just got a 17 year new fridge to replace the one that was leaking water all over my kitchen. A friend gave it to me when he was replacing his appliances. It worked great for him since he got it.

Fire it up and it works great. After a while it stops working. Both the fridge and freezer stop. After cleaning everything up underneath my wife found out that if you smack the thermostat housing it fires right back up. This has been a repeating process. This makes me think there is a possibility that the timer may be getting stuck in defrost, but I'm not familiar enough with how this would effect the fridge as a whole and how to differentiate a thermostat problem from a timer problem.

The thermostat and defrost timer are housed in the same area and I only want to replace what needs it. I really don't want to pull it apart twice, so I want an educated guess on what the problem is.

Thermostat or timer, or does the problem go deeper?

How often does it get stuck. How often does it defrost. If those correlate, I'd guess timer. If not I'd guess thermostat.

How much are the parts. If they are cheap enough, I'd probably replace both of them.

In reply to Toyman01:

I was considering replacing both. Just figured I'd ask to see if anyone would have a definitive "it's this" or "that".

I can't be too sure if the times correlate, but if the defroster is getting stuck 25% of the time, that could be it. It seems to do this every couple of days. It should be going into defrost ever 8 hours or so. Haven't checked the exact specs.

Smacking the thermostat is one of our tests actually. Thermostat needs to be replaced. It's not usually a hard fix, but it is possible to screw up.

They don't usually stick in defrost, generally they won't defrost at all when the timer goes. If it sticks in defrost, the back wall of the freezer will get really warm, but I rarely if ever see that.

In reply to Rufledt:

Awesome. It looks like one of the most common ones, so hopefully the shop has one on Tuesday. Got the part number off it just a few minutes ago.

I've watched install videos and am quite sure I'm an expert now.

I've been having the same exact problem in my garage fridge, so this is very helpful to my interests. I've been smacking the thermostat area about every two daysand having to keep the dial on max.

Now need to find part numbers and how is put together.

Any good online place for parts or instructions recommended?

Thanks

http://www.repairclinic.com/

Don't always trust the info or parts you get from repair clinic, but for a thermostat you're probably safe.

Thank you, toyman and rufledt.

If I were you - and could get the housing open I'd look to clean the contacts on whatever you are smacking. If that thing turns out to be a relay, pop the cover off it and clean.

I recently repaired the $300 circuit board on my range/stove with a $12 relay and some soldering.

I also fixed the motor on my attic heat fan by replacing an open thermal fuse inside the motor case with one from a 10 pack on ebay for $4.99. The motor would have been $199 at Grainger if I hadn't bothered to look.

It's well worth the effort to give it a try before buying parts.

UPDATE: I fixed it so good everything froze. The beer slushies were delicious.

It turns (pun intended) out the cheap $20 thermostat rotated 360 degrees as opposed to the expensive $120 thermostat that should have replaced it. Placing it at the 6:00 position makes things proper. Thanks for the help.

I really wasn't about the dissect the thermostat when I had stuff in the fridge that could spoil.