Frigidaire Refrigerator FSC23F7DSB3

Wife found the control setting flashing. Lights out. Normally (default) is 0°F for freezer side and 37°F for fresh food side. Lights were off. Power is on as I can get the lights back on and hear what seems like a normal running unit. I can't get the control off/on button to get a complete reset nor am I able to adjust the temps when trying. The up and down will not change when trying to do so.

This unit does not have a total reset button for alarms like some models of the same vintage do.

The temp control setting acts like it resets, lights come back on (fresh food side) and then goes back to 0°F for both sides. Freezer side "seems" normal to me (lights on).

Unplug this critter for a short while? Control board or something - as I RTFM :)

...Controls Parts for Frigidaire FSC23F7DSB3

No lightning storms today. No power outages, etc.

Reply to
Oren
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Oren,

Wife found the control setting flashing. Lights out. Lights were off. Power is on as I can get the lights back on and hear what seems like a normal running unit. I can't get the control off/on button to get a complete reset nor am I able to adjust the temps when trying.

The flashing is an error code according to the owner's manual. Did you note down that code? Isn't the alarm reset used to reset the alarm? What "complete reset" do you expect? There is an "off" button on the control panel. Have you tried cycling that? I'd also unplug or disconnect at the breaker box, let sit for a minute, then start up. You say that the fridge "sounds" as if it's working but you don't tell us whether the temps in both compartments are wrong.

The temp control setting acts like it resets, lights come back on (fresh food side) and then goes back to 0?F for both sides.

So the control panel seems to be calling for 0 in the fresh food compartment? Is the compartment getting frosty or is the display busted?

I'm troubled by your inability to adjust the freezer temp. That leads me to believe that it's not a display problem. I've often been happily surpised by removing a component such as the control unit, cleaning all of the connections, and reinstalling the component. The local appliance parts store will probably have a new control panel. Give them a call, I think you may need to replace the control unit. If your beer is in danger of getting warm you will need to drink it. Don't worry about the wine, that's her problem.

Dave M.

Reply to
David Martel

Thanks David.

The display flashes "E" on the freezer side and the fresh food flashes "F". The owner's manual does not give or explain the codes.

This model only has "Cooling System On/Off Button". I've cycled that off and on using the 3 second hold down on the button.

Other models have an additional "Alarm Reset Button" to clear audible alarms (on, door ajar, high temp and power failure). I don't have that feature, just have one button for the "temp control".

Right, the one button on this panel is for turning the "temp control on and off (plus the up/down buttons to adjust the temps on each side)

I'll put a thermometer in and check - didn't think of that :) It appears to be running, just not displaying the temps and the temps cannot be adjusted. That's why I'm thinking it is the control display board. I just see the flashing "E" & "F". Cycling the control off/on I can get it to show 0°F (freezer) and 37°F (fresh food) --BUT then the display goes back to the E & F error codes in a short time.

I'm thinking the LED display is bad.

True, It may be the electronic control board itself and not just the LEDs.

I was thinking the same...checking the board for any burns, etc...

My thought also. The board is $100 + online and locally it will be more. I'll try to get to the board for inspection - hopefully I'll find the way to get to it. I'll have to remove the light cover and look behind the panel.

:)

Thanks again.

Reply to
Oren

I don't know if this will help since I know very little about refrigerator repair.

But, in a home that I have that is rented out, the tenant called me recently and said he was having issues with the fairly new (2-3 year-old) side-by-side Frigidaire refrigerator/freezer. Similar symptoms, although I don't remember the exact details. He was having problems where he would get an error light message (or something like that) and the freezer didn't seem to be going down to the right temperature etc. I don't have the model number with me.

I went there and while I was there he called the Frigidaire hotline for help. They were easy to reach and I thought their overall customer service was excellent even though the unit was no longer under warranty.

The solution that they suggested to try first was to completely unplug the unit for about 5 minutes, then plug it back in. That's basically what you were thinking of trying. We did that and the problem was fixed -- no more error lights and freezer and refrigerator temps returned to what they were supposed to be.

Reply to
TomR

I have a hunch that doing the unplug routine for the entire unit will fix the problem. We had some type of lightning and storm activity a day or two before my tenant called me about the error light he was receiving etc., but no power failure. And, I do remember that we looked at the manual and it didn't say much about what any error messages may mean etc. And, the Frigidaire customer service person did say that even though there was no power failure etc., sometimes just a power surge or dip can cause the system to malfunction. I was amazed that the complete unplug-wait-replug routine completely fixed the problem.

Reply to
TomR

Oren,

According to the on-line service manual

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EF means that something's wrong with the evaporator fan. Here's a quote: "Check wiring between evaporator fan and Main ControlBoard. Check for 12VDC to fan between red and brownwires. Check for variant voltage (depending on high or lowspeed) between yellow and brown. If correct replaceevaporator fan. If error code still exist, replace Main ControCheck wiring between evaporator fan and Main ControlBoard. Check for 12VDC to fan between red and brownwires. Check for variant voltage (depending on high or lowspeed) between yellow and brown. If correct replaceevaporator fan. If error code still exist, replace Main ControCheck wiring between evaporator fan and Main ControlBoard. Check for 12VDC to fan between red and brownwires. Check for variant voltage (depending on high or lowspeed) between yellow and brown. If correct replaceevaporator fan. If error code still exist, replace Main ControCheck wiring between evaporator fan and Main ControlBoard. Check for

12VDC to fan between red and brownwires. Check for variant voltage (depending on high or lowspeed) between yellow and brown. If correct replaceevaporator fan. If error code still exist, replace Main ControlCheck the wiring between the evaporator fan and the main control board. Check for 12v DC between the red and brown wires. Check for variant voltage (depending on high or low speed) between yellow and brown. If correct replace evaporator fan. If error code still exists, replace main control board." Ch.8 walks you through some diagnostic tests.

Good luck, Dave M.

Reply to
David Martel

Thanks for that nice PDF file. I appreciate it very much. That gives me another direction to follow.

Today I put a thermometer in the freezer for awhile - temp was 0°F.

Put it in the top part of the fresh food side, it read 40°F, them in the lower part it read 37°F. Which is the default settings.

I then unplugged the unit for awhile, plug it back in and it shows bizarre readings on the LED 20°F & 45°F. Now I'm able to change the temps, but it goes back to the 20/45. This appears to rule out the Membrane-Switch.

Your link and the video I found, both point to the Control board (behind the switch) as the temp up/down buttons now work after the unplugging check.

I'm about to rule out the switch, but I will certainly check the evaporator fan regarding the EF error.

(wife says it dumped ice this morning but it isn't telling her the temps - she doesn't mind :))

Thanks you.

Reply to
Oren

Oren,

If I'm following you, the fridge is running well and maintaining good temps but you are getting weird messages on the LED readouts. My guess is that the control board is wonky. It's not clear whether you can adjust the temps. I'd test that by setting the freezer to -5 degs. and see if the thermometer sees -5 tomorrow. Do something similar to the fresh food side. If you cover the LED's with tape and keep the thermometer in the fridge, I suspect that your problem is solved, at least for the short-term. You now have plenty of time to hunt the best price for a control board. Honestly though, if everything is working but the display, I'd not fix it.

Dave M.

Reply to
David Martel

The LED was showing error codes. Wasn't able to adjust temps up and down. Thermometer showed temps holding at proper level. Then I unplugged the unit. Was then able to adjust them once plugged in again. I set them to 0 / 37F respectively, but the LED jumped to 20 /

54F (IIRC). Left it alone., thinking it was the control board with the LED and not the membrane switch.

I was not thinking at the time I adjusted the temps that it needed time to acclimate and allow the temps on the LED to adjust. Left the thermometer in the fresh food side. Got up this morning and was happy to see things looked normal. Temps were where I had adjusted them too. Still holding the correct temps, matched by the thermometer I used.

Lesson: Even though there were no lightning strikes nearby (prior day) or any on the day the error codes we discovered. Apparently, there was a spike in power that didn't harm anything, but unplugging the unit DID fix the problem and allowing it to adjust.

Still have my money:)

P.S. I've read that irrigation controllers with do the same thing. I guess data gets corrupted and needs to be unplugged to reset it.

Thanks David & Tom for your help.

Reply to
Oren

Hi, In general, control board like that has many chips, DTA, ATD type. One ought to be converting temp. sensor reading to digits driving LED arrays. Or temp sensing chip is already converting the analog reading to digits. Also micro processor as a brain on the control board uses multiplexed data bus. There is possibility it is not the control board but some thing else connected to it. There could be a procedure to put it into service more(diagnostic mode). If so we have to find it out. Maybe bribing a trained service tech? If that is the case it is usually pushing certain buttons in certain sequence. Googling may shed some thing.

Reply to
Tony Hwang

Hi, Any logic circuit has so called power up reset. Waiting for 5 mins. or so is to bleed charges stored in capacitors. While power is being applied, Vcc, the common DC power lead to all components are held at ground level(0 volts), after a few seconds Vcc is allowed. This will put the board in known state. Some times it is call master clear or initialize phase. Always good idea to unplug, wait ~5 mins. and plug back in when funny things happen.

Reply to
Tony Hwang

Now that you mention it, that's what happened with my tenant's refrigerator. We did the unplug, wait, and re-plug routine as the customer service rep suggested, but the readings didn't seem to fix themselves right away. At about 6 PM when we did that, he said he would wait a while and let me know what happened. And, we agreed that if it wasn't working correctly the next morning we would call a repair person. He texted me at about 10 PM and said everything was back to normal. He checked again the next morning and texted me that all was good. Problem was fixed.

That was our story too. Maybe it's a Frigidaire thing. The truth is that I didn't even know that it had the LED temperature device when I bought it.

Me too. My main concern was whether the food in the fridge and freezer would go bad and also how complicated it would be to get someone to come out and fix it if needed. It was a great feeling to know that by just doing what the customer service person said, the problem went away completely.

Reply to
TomR

A guy I know once said to me: "If you throw it (problem) against the wall long enough, pretty soon something will stick."

Reply to
Oren

The unit just went back to the EF error codes after a couple of days.

As David's PDF explained , it could be the temp control board or the evaporator fan. Back to the drawing board :)

Reply to
Oren

Oops. Yes, I guess it's back to the drawing board -- unless maybe there was another power surge/dip in your area. I think I would do the unplug, wait, and replug routine again and see what happens.

Reply to
TomR

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