freezer ok refrigerator not

[todlum]

I have a mid-to-late 1990's Frigidaire FRS26ZGG Gallery Series side by side freezer-refrigerator that quit working over the weekend when we were out of town (of course). We cleaned up the mess and opened up the back to look things over. We cleared out the dust and dirt from the coils, fan, and compressor and plugged it in again. The lights turn on and the inside freezer fan and fan unit on the bottom back work and compressor gets hot. The ice machine makes ice and the freezer is working fine. The refrigerator got down to 38 degrees for a day or two and the bottom back fan would shut off. Now it only gets down to 60 degrees and the bottom fan runs continuously. What is wrong and is this an easy fix?

[Appliance Repair Aid]

Hi,

That is -part- of a full model#.

Frost on the cooling coils ( in the freezer ) would indicate a frost free failure as the frost will block the cold air flow into the fresh food section.

jeff. Appliance Repair Aid

[stevie]

jeff is correct.

[todlum]

[Appliance Repair Aid]

G'day,

Yes....and the evaporator/cooling coils and the evaporator fan motor.

What you see on the panal is the tip of the snow cone, will have lots more once that panal is removed.

jeff. Appliance Repair Aid

[todlum]

Jeff, I removed the lower panel inside the freezer once all the ice thawed. I see the network of coils, cooling fins and fan and motor. I also see what appears to be a heating element going down one side of the coil and up the other. There is a smal silver unit clipped onto the top of the coil system. It is about the same size as a 1.5" stack of quarters. It has two wires entering it. One wire is from the heating element and the other comes from behind the top panel in the freezer. Is this the unit that is responsible for getting the heating element (defroster) to power up? or is it something /somewhere else?

Appliance Repair Aid wrote:

[Appliance Repair Aid]

G'day,

Defrost heater element.

Defrost thermostat switch. This is closed when the freezer and coils are cold and will open up to shut off the heater once it has reached a predetermined temp.

No and yes. The defrost control ( timer or electronic adaptive defrost board ) sends power to the defrost heater element and the defrost thermostat switch shuts the heater off once the frost on the coils has melted. The defrost thermostat switch must be closed for the element to come on.

jeff. Appliance Repair Aid

[todlum]

Thanks to everyone for their advice. Turns out the thermostat was defective and the unit would not allow the heating element to power up and melt the frost off the coils. Therefore, the frost build up plugged cold air from entering the refrigerator unit. The thermostat was a cheap $13 replacement. Thanks again to all.

stevie wrote: