Posted: 12/2/2007 1:42:58 PM EDT
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Went through Subnet's refrigerator post, but it sounds like mine is different. I've got an Amana side by side (about 7 years old) that wasn't cooling right. There was condensation on the inside of the fridge and the ice was starting to melt. The condenser fan at the back was coming on, but the evaporator fan was not. I am not sure if the compressor was coming on at that point. I cleaned the coils underneath the refrigerator, as well as the vent cover over the condenser fan. I took the access panel inside the back of the freezer off, and there was some frost built up on the coils. I used a hair dryer on those to clear them. The freezer temperature dial will turn the fan on and off if I turn it. Nothing happens when I turn the refrigerator temp control dial. The lights went on and off as they were supposed to. I rotated the defrost timer until the fan cut off. After about 20 minutes the condenser fan came back on, and after another few minutes, the evaporator fan came back on. I can feel cold air blowing from the freezer vent into the refrigerator side. After a few more minutes the compressor came on. I took the access panel (cardboard actually) off the rear and the compressor felt warm. It was warm enough that I couldn't keep my hand on it forever, but it wasn't so hot that I couldn't touch it and hold it for a while. The copper lines were warm as well but not hot. There has not been enough time to see if it is cooling properly yet, I just gone done with the above. Any ideas on what is going on? ETA: I just checked it again. I think the compressor is still running, hard to tell with the condenser fan blowing. There is cold air blowing inside the unit, and the evaporator fan is moving the air into the refrigerator side. The compressor still feels warm and the lines are still warm, although not as warm as the compressor. E2ndTA: I now have ice crystals in the ice maker. I guess it is coming back online. I'd still like to hear if anybody has any ideas. Thanks- |
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Let it run 24hrs see what it does...keep the doors shut...cking it ever other hour your just letting cold out and hot in. Some Amana's have to be so cold for the evap fan motor to run...some of there evap fan motors are wired threw the defrost bi metal which must be so cold before it closes...get a thermometer and put n the freezer see how cold its actually getting |
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Thermometer indicated about 20 through most of last night. It has been running pretty much since yesterday evening without kicking off. I adjusted the freezer temp dial back down (temp up) from 5 to about 1 so that it shut off and then turned it back to 5. It came back on again after about 10 minutes, and has been running since then. Thermometer now shows about 0. I adjusted the freezer temp back down to shut it off, but it only took turning it from 4 to about three to shut off this time. Everything in the refrigerator compartment is still cold. All of the fans are running when it is on, and I can feel the air flow from the freezer to the refrigerator. Thanks- |
Sounds silly but was a door left open? Condensation in the Ref section is an indicator of a door being left open What also puzzles me is that when you said you turned on the refrigerator control the 'lights' turned off and on?? The refrigerator control is what makes the unit run.. that is like the brain of the unit, the freezer control is nothing more than an air damper that opens and closes the amount of air distributed from the freezer section into the refrig section |
My wife and kids are notorious for doing that. I dont' think the door was open all night, but it might have been. It was also extremely humid yesterday morning.
I wasn't clear. What I meant was that the lights were operating as they were supposed to. Instead of them not coming on or off when doors were opened/shut.
I might have called it the wrong thing. What I am talking about is the temperature setting box in the top of the refigerator section. It has a little iconogram of the freezer side and the refrigerator side. The freezer side of the control is what I was turning that would turn the fan (and compressor) off and on. The refrigerator side looks like it just moves a flap that is above the dial. There is some kind of apparatus behind the refrigerator icon (behind the trim box) that looks like it has a temperature coil (thermometer?) on it. When I turn the dial for that nothing happens. It is quite cold in the freezer (0 deg when I left this AM) and the refrigerator is cooling again. But when I turn the refrigerator dial nothing goes on or shuts off that I can hear. Only when I turn the freezer dial does anything go on or off. Thanks again for the help. ETA: Is it normal for the thing to run continuously like this? It is cooling, but it is not turning off (or at least it wasn't when I left this AM). Defrost timer gone bad? |
That is possible if its never going into defrost, which should be every 8-10 hours of accumlitive compressor run time....but even if the timer is bad the thermostat should be cycling the box off/on when it reaches temp |
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OK, so after running pretty much non-stop for several days (and holding a temp of around 0 deg) it started not cooling again. After I cycled the defrost timer manually, it would start cooling again, and be good for the next few hours. It keeps doing this, and after I cycle the timer it cools back down to around 10 deg. I replaced the defrost timer, but it is still doing the same thing. Is the thermostat next? If I read the parts diagram right, that's the small cylinder with brown and orange wires on the top of the evaporator coils. Any ideas appreciated. ETA: Should there be ANY frost on the evaporator coils if the thing is going into defrost normally? There was some frost built up on the coils, fins, and the wiring harness when I took the access panel off and defrosted it with a hair dryer. I know when I cycle the timer manually the heating element is heating up. |