On 05/06/18 20:28, trader_4 wrote:
On Tuesday, June 5, 2018 at 9:33:49 AM UTC-4, Oumati Asami wrote:
The defrost timer of my side-by-side refrigerator is not working. I have
ordered one but it'll take a week to arrive. In the meantime, I use a
screw driver to manually switch between the cooling and heating cycles.

I notice that if the refrigerator stays on the cooling cycle, the
temperature of the refrigerator side (as opposed to the freezer side)
seems to rise. In other words, the refrigerator needs to go through the
heating cycle for the refrigerator side to get cool.

I wonder why it is so.

The refrigerator side is typically cooled by moving some air past the
coils on the freezer side and into the refrigerator side. So, if you
put the heater on at the coils in the freezer, the air temp will rise.
And you're looking at the air temp in the fridge, which is going to
react quickly. The temp of the contents, eg a quart of milk, isn't
going to change that much during the brief defrost cycle.

What I was trying to say is if the refrigerator doesn't go through the
heating cycle, the refrigerator side doesn't cool down. Its temperature
actually goes up.

Remember, the defrost timer doesn't work. So, I have to switch the two
cycles by using a screw drive. If I let the refrigerator stay on the
COOLING CYCLE, when the compressor keeps running non-stop, for, say, one
day, the refrigerator side temperature actually RISES, not cool. If I
then let the refrigerator go through the heating cycle, the temperature
drops.

In short, heating cycle somehow lets the refrigerator side cool down.
This may not happen when the heater is on but it is necessary to go
through the heating cycle so the refrigerator side will cool.