Defrosting is an important feature for all modern fridges and freezers. There are several components that make smart defrosting possible, and one of these is the defrost thermostat. If your defrost thermostat is no longer detecting the temperature and sending defrost signals to the system, then it will need to be replaced.
This repair will require some work with wires, but it can be done by a careful amateur as long as you take the correct precautions.
Start by collecting your supplies. This repair will require a few items from your toolbox or you may need to swing by the hardware store for anything you don’t use regularly at home.
With any appliance repair, always start by cutting the power. If you can reach the refrigerator’s plug, unhook it from there. However, if the plug is too far back or hidden by your kitchen design, you can flip the kitchen breaker instead. Confirm that your fridge is fully un-powered by opening the door so see if the light comes on. If it does not, you are safe to continue the repair.
For a french-door style refrigerator of most major brands and several minor brands (Whirlpool, Kenmore, KitchenAid, Maytag, Roper, Estate, Amana, Crosley, Inglis, and Ikea), the thermostat is located behind the back panel inside the freezer. So you’ll need to start by pulling everything out of the freezer.
Remove all frozen food items. Load them into a cooler or your fridge compartment if possible to keep them cool. If you don’t have a cooler or room in your fridge, keep them close together on the counter to chill each other.
All shelves and drawers must come out to remove the back panel. Carefully unhook any latches and remember to lift-and-pull for most mounted shelves.
Don’t forget the light cover. Unscrew or unclip the freezer light cover and set it aside on the counter nearby.
The next step is to carefully remove the back panel of the freezer.
Start by unscrewing the several screws around the edge of the back panel. Use whichever screwdriver is appropriate for the type of screws you find there.
The mounting tabs point upward and mount in the center or sides of the panel. So you’ll need to lift the panel upward to pull it free from the freezer housing.
Carefully pull the back panel out of the freezer and set it aside where it won’t be in the way.
This is where we get technical. You will need your wire cutters to remove the old defrost thermostat.
Start by identifying your thermostat. Assuming you have the replacement part, you know what the thermostat looks like. It should be clipped to the top of your evaporator coils and connected to two wires, red and black.
With your wire cutter, clip the wires off, close to the thermostat, leaving plenty of unconnected wire hanging from the fridge.
Unclip the old defroster thermostat from the top of the evaporator coils and throw it away.
Next, you will need to prepare the new thermostat and the old wires and connect them. If you’ve worked with wires before, this should be a simple process. If you haven’t, consider watching a video to show you play-by-play how it’s done.
Start by stripping about 1/4 inch of insulation off each wire. There are four wires to strip and prepare for connection: 2 on the new thermostat and the 2 you clipped from the old thermostat. Strip a small section of insulation from all four using the correctly sized aperture in your wire stripping tool.
Wire nuts are used to ensure a safe connection between two twisted-together wires. Use your wire nuts to carefully and firmly connect the red thermostat wire to the red fridge wire, and the black thermostat wire to the black fridge wire.
To make sure those wire nuts stay in place, use a dab of silicone gel inside and around each wire nut. It will dry into a firm yet flexible sealant.
Once your wires are secure and sealed, clip the new thermostat into place on top of the evaporator coils. Congratulations, you just finished the hardest part.
With the new thermostat installed, it’s time to put your freezer back together. Grab your top panel and prepare to return it into place.
Start by slotting the top of the panel just behind the air duct housing, then align the bottom just behind the drip tray.
Carefully adjust the panel until it sets correctly down onto its mounting tabs. If it does not set correctly, the panel will be pushed out by the tabs instead.
Return the screws and tighten them into place. Hand-tight is fine, no need to wrench them shut.
Finally, you can get your freezer back into its usual configuration of shelves, drawers, and frozen food.
Grab the light cover and reinstall it now that the back panel is in place. Use the same clip or screw that was released when you removed the cover.
Return all the shelves and drawers back to their proper place in the freezer. This could also be a good time to rethink your freezer storage arrangement.
Before you load up all the food, plug your fridge back in or flip the breaker back on. This will ensure that your freezer can go right back to keep the contents cold.
Close the freezer and wait a few minutes. If you hear the appliance start-up and begin cooling, it’s safe to put the food back in. Open the freezer and put your hand it to test if it is creating new cold.
Last but certainly not least, get all your frozen food back into the freezer. The food will actually help your freezer get back down to its optimum temperature and stay there.
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