ok,
so it did not recover even though it's now much cooler.

We called a technician from an inexpensive home warranty service. He did not seem to be aware of the Maytag problems or at least did not mention it, but found a lot of ice all over the place blocking air vents and icemaker hose.

He defrosted the coils, air vents and adjusted the door hinges so that door closes better.
He said to see if it works, and if not to turn off the unit for 48hrs so that everything melts.

The fridge was at 40 for about 4 days, then went to 50 and ice started to form at the freezer door as before.

Since it worked fine for 4 days, is his suggestion to turn off for 48 hours valid?

Probably not....JMO!

Where exactly at the freezer door?

jeff.

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Long vertical strip along left side (when closed) of door and inside left edge of the freezer that touches the door. See pics in attachments.
The pics show a portion of the vertical length. The ice forms along the full vertical length.





Where exactly at the freezer door?



It's on t

Attached Thumbnails

   

The tech's suggestion about 48hrs came when he first fixed it, not after the 4-5 days i.e. he does not know yet that it worked fine for 4 days so I am preparing for his call/visit tomorrow.

There was at least one instance of someone forgetting to close the fridge door in the past week. Could this be the cause? I don't know how long it was opened (anywhere between 5 minutes and several hours) and whether that caused something to freeze.

How do people get family members to close the @#$#$ door.

Those certainly look like an air leak....ice/frost is alone the edge, near the gasket area.

I would think so yes. Make sure the front of the refrigerator is slightly higher than the back ( wheels/legs on front adjust ). Make sure the hinge ride up works to help "push" the door closed and that the door is not binding.

jeff.

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Tech came in today and replaced circuit board maytag #78247.001 (SIEBE APPLIANCE CONTROLS 1996).

I use a poultry thermometer to monitor temperature. When the fridge works e.g. during the 4 days after 1st repair, the thermometer would show 40 consistently whether the door was open, closed etc. The tech however thought that if we use that thermometer, it could easily show 10 degrees difference if the door is open during the day. Any thoughts.

Do you mean the air leak is occurring AT the gasket. The tech checked the gasket + said it looks fine. It also looks like it seals fine. How would the air leak occur.

The door closes on its own, I don't even have to push it. It must take some real talent to leave it open. The door was binding before but the tech fixed it.

One of these?....
If yes, this is an adaptive defrost control.

A thermometer in a glass of water is more accurate.

At, near, around that area yes.

You mentioned before he adjusted the door and gasket for better closing

Good!

Put something too big on the door or shelf or have something fall forward can do it on it's own.

jeff.

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Yes the adaptive defrost control. I just thought it might be useful to write the numbers on the original board. I left him a note with the part number from this site, etc; he did have it in his truck, though, so he must have known about it.

He adjusted the refriferator door but not the gasket nor the freezer door. He said the gasket was fine and it always looked fine to me also.

The frosting around the freezer door occurred 5 days after his first visit.
During those 5 days the refrigerator door was found open once.
This is why I don't understand the air-leak.

If the fridge door is left open, can this cause an air leak in the freezer and frosting around the door like above.

If the fridge door is left open, can a functional fridge recover assuming everything else works e.g. adaptive circuit board, etc

Warm air return is behind the crispers in the FF section....room temp air being sucked into the freezer would certainly not help and will cause frosting/icing in places that normally it shouldn't/wouldn't.

If left long enough...likely would...might depend on the length of time exposed to room temp...ice/frost in the freezer vents would not disappear quickly as it is normally 0ºF in there.

jeff.

__________________
http://www.applianceaid.com/
Appliance Repair Aid
http://www.jrappliance.ca
JRAppliance