I have 7 year old Kenmore/Frigidaire top freezer refrigerator. It been
really hot lately, compressor runs about 90% of the time but does maintain
35F in fresh food compartment as long as evaporator is frost free. Problem
is that evap coils keep frosting over and I have to defrost these manually.
I have replaced defrost timer and checked the heater/thermostat
circuit(measures 33ohm )to be good. Is it possible that the excessive
on-duty cycle produces frost faster than system can remove it? Have any
experts seen an problem like this?
Thanks , in advance
George Raetz

"George Raetz" wrote in message
...
I have 7 year old Kenmore/Frigidaire top freezer refrigerator. It been really
hot lately, compressor runs about 90% of the time but does maintain 35F in
fresh food compartment as long as evaporator is frost free. Problem is that
evap coils keep frosting over and I have to defrost these manually. I have
replaced defrost timer and checked the heater/thermostat circuit(measures
33ohm )to be good. Is it possible that the excessive on-duty cycle produces
frost faster than system can remove it? Have any experts seen an problem like
this?
Thanks , in advance
George Raetz

This is Turtle.

You forgot one item to check. The '' defrost terminator '' to see if it is
good. It is a 1" button that is clamped on the evaperator coil to tell when the
coil is defrosted and turn element off. if it is bad it will not let the coil
defrost at all.

TURTLE

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On Sun, 31 Jul 2005 14:15:10 -0500, "TURTLE"
wrote:


"George Raetz" wrote in message
...
I have 7 year old Kenmore/Frigidaire top freezer refrigerator. It
been really hot lately, compressor runs about 90% of the time but
does maintain 35F in fresh food compartment as long as evaporator
is frost free. Problem is that evap coils keep frosting over and I
have to defrost these manually. I have replaced defrost timer and
checked the heater/thermostat circuit(measures 33ohm )to be good.
Is it possible that the excessive on-duty cycle produces frost
faster than system can remove it? Have any experts seen an problem
like this?
Thanks , in advance
George Raetz

This is Turtle.

You forgot one item to check. The '' defrost terminator ''

Read it again.

I have replaced defrost timer and checked the
heater/thermostat circuit(measures 33ohm )to be good.


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--
-john
wide-open at throttle dot info

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On Sun, 31 Jul 2005 12:40:42 -0600, "George Raetz"
wrote:

I have 7 year old Kenmore/Frigidaire top freezer refrigerator. It
been really hot lately, compressor runs about 90% of the time but
does maintain 35F in fresh food compartment as long as evaporator
is frost free. Problem is that evap coils keep frosting over and I
have to defrost these manually. I have replaced defrost timer and
checked the heater/thermostat
circuit(measures 33ohm )to be good. Is it possible that the
excessive on-duty cycle produces frost faster than system can
remove it? Have any experts seen an problem like this?

Turn the timer to defrost (with the unit running and cold) and check
the current draw. It should draw a few amps if the heater is getting
current.

Also check the door seal for leaks, and make sure the evaporator fan
isn't slowing down (tightening up).


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-john
wide-open at throttle dot info

Evaporator fan runs great. Also, I took the back cover off the freezer, Set
the timer to defrost, and I could see the heater glow red hot and remove all
the frost. The (brand new) timer seems to work OK. All I can think of at
this point would be an intermittent connection problem, or possibly your
suggestion.
Thank you very much for help
George

"~^Johnny^~" wrote in message
...
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Turn the timer to defrost (with the unit running and cold) and check
the current draw. It should draw a few amps if the heater is getting
current.

Also check the door seal for leaks, and make sure the evaporator fan
isn't slowing down (tightening up).


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--
-john
wide-open at throttle dot info

"~^Johnny^~" wrote in message
...
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On Sun, 31 Jul 2005 14:15:10 -0500, "TURTLE"
wrote:


"George Raetz" wrote in message
...
I have 7 year old Kenmore/Frigidaire top freezer refrigerator. It
been really hot lately, compressor runs about 90% of the time but
does maintain 35F in fresh food compartment as long as evaporator
is frost free. Problem is that evap coils keep frosting over and I
have to defrost these manually. I have replaced defrost timer and
checked the heater/thermostat circuit(measures 33ohm )to be good.
Is it possible that the excessive on-duty cycle produces frost
faster than system can remove it? Have any experts seen an problem
like this?
Thanks , in advance
George Raetz

This is Turtle.

You forgot one item to check. The '' defrost terminator ''

Read it again.

I have replaced defrost timer and checked the
heater/thermostat circuit(measures 33ohm )to be good.


This is Turtle.

Does Thermostat circuit mean defrost terminator ? Or Does it mean he check the
thermostat circuit of the refrigerator ?

I see a lot of defrost systems have trouble and they change the timer and then
check the heat element and it's good. then they still have trouble and find out
later the defrost terminator would let the defrost cycle start but cut it off
way too soon.

This fellow has a defrost terminator messing up or he installed the defrost
timer in correctly. he did say the heat element had 33 ohms and seems to be ok.

TURTLE

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On Sun, 31 Jul 2005 22:31:49 -0500, "TURTLE"
wrote:

then they still have trouble and find out
later the defrost terminator would let the defrost cycle start but
cut it off way too soon.


That could happen if the thermostat was not clamped or fastened
properly to the evaporator, and was just hanging or laying in there,
exposing itself to the radiance of the heater, but they seldom just
fall off, as the clips are stainless spring steel and do not
corrode.

Once in a blue moon, the terminator will fail shorted. In certain
models, like older Frigidaire top freezers, the damn freezer will
actually catch fire.

Otherwise, they fail open, and no defrost, period. No 33 ohm
continuity through the heater-thermostat circuit. :-)

It is a fixed bimetal element acting against a switch - I have yet to
see one open at a temperature outside its original design, unless it
was defective and out of specs when new. But then again, I have
only worked on "thousands", and not "millions" of boxes, so there's
a first time for everything.




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--
-john
wide-open at throttle dot info

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On Sun, 31 Jul 2005 21:09:01 -0600, "George Raetz"
wrote:

Evaporator fan runs great. Also, I took the back cover off the
freezer, Set the timer to defrost, and I could see the heater glow
red hot and remove all the frost. The (brand new) timer seems to
work OK. All I can think of at this point would be an intermittent
connection problem, or possibly your suggestion.
Thank you very much for help
George

Turtle says the defrost thermostat could be dodgy. I dunno.
It could be worth a shot. They don't cost that much to replace.



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--
-john
wide-open at throttle dot info

"~^Johnny^~" wrote in message
...
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On Sun, 31 Jul 2005 22:31:49 -0500, "TURTLE"
wrote:

then they still have trouble and find out
later the defrost terminator would let the defrost cycle start but
cut it off way too soon.


That could happen if the thermostat was not clamped or fastened
properly to the evaporator, and was just hanging or laying in there,
exposing itself to the radiance of the heater, but they seldom just
fall off, as the clips are stainless spring steel and do not
corrode.

Once in a blue moon, the terminator will fail shorted. In certain
models, like older Frigidaire top freezers, the damn freezer will
actually catch fire.

Otherwise, they fail open, and no defrost, period. No 33 ohm
continuity through the heater-thermostat circuit. :-)

It is a fixed bimetal element acting against a switch - I have yet to
see one open at a temperature outside its original design, unless it
was defective and out of specs when new. But then again, I have
only worked on "thousands", and not "millions" of boxes, so there's
a first time for everything.


This is Turtle.

Little Johnny , You ain't worked on thousands of boxes for your who speech here
evolves around a terminator working or not working as I have stated above here.
You just said a terminator can't go out of temperature range but still work. if
you have worked on thousands, you would know they have defrost terminator that
can go out of range sometimes and give a short defrost time limit. Come on Don't
try to bull**** me here.

TURTLE

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On Mon, 1 Aug 2005 22:00:03 -0500, "TURTLE"
wrote:

Little Johnny , You ain't worked on thousands of boxes for your who
speech here evolves around a terminator working or not working as I
have stated above here.

ESL? :-)

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-john
wide-open at throttle dot info

Excess frost comes from one of two things. Either there is too much humidity
getting into the unit, or the defrost circuit isn't removing the normal
frost.

I suspect a failure of the normal defrost system. What's the current draw of
the unit when it first goes into defrost?

--

Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
www.mormons.com


"George Raetz" wrote in message
...
I have 7 year old Kenmore/Frigidaire top freezer refrigerator. It been
really hot lately, compressor runs about 90% of the time but does maintain
35F in fresh food compartment as long as evaporator is frost free. Problem
is that evap coils keep frosting over and I have to defrost these manually.
I have replaced defrost timer and checked the heater/thermostat
circuit(measures 33ohm )to be good. Is it possible that the excessive
on-duty cycle produces frost faster than system can remove it? Have any
experts seen an problem like this?
Thanks , in advance
George Raetz

"~^Johnny^~" wrote in message
...
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

On Sun, 31 Jul 2005 21:09:01 -0600, "George Raetz"
wrote:

Evaporator fan runs great. Also, I took the back cover off the
freezer, Set the timer to defrost, and I could see the heater glow
red hot and remove all the frost. The (brand new) timer seems to
work OK. All I can think of at this point would be an intermittent
connection problem, or possibly your suggestion.
Thank you very much for help
George

Turtle says the defrost thermostat could be dodgy. I dunno.
It could be worth a shot. They don't cost that much to replace.


-john

Well, I replaced said thermostat, and problem solved!
Thanks very much for help
George