AFD2535DEQ Amana fridge warm, freezer cold, fixes itself

[LeeBreisacher]

Model Number

AFD2535DEQ

Brand

Amana

Age

More than 10 years

Long story... Maytag french doors, bottom freezer, model AFD2535DEQ, 13 years old (although the logo on the outside says Amana, the label on the inside says Maytag). In February, the fridge part was warm (60+ degrees), freezer was fine. A repair technician came and defrosted the area behind the freezer and said it might just be a clogged drain (I might have the exact details wrong, sorry).

He said it would definitely fix it, but perhaps just for a few days and if it gets warm again, he'll come back. Indeed it was fine for about 8 days then got very warm again. So he came back and replaced the thermistor ($46) and again he said it would fix it but perhaps just for a few days/weeks again, and if it fails again he would replace a control board ($400+) as the next step.

Sure enough, 8 days later it got warm again, but before the repair tech could arrive, it suddenly got cold all by itself, so we canceled the visit. That was on March 4-5. It was fine until a few days ago, June 25, it was quite warm again, for a whole day. We called again, scheduled a technician, then again it got cold on its own the next day before the tech could arrive, so we canceled again.

So, I'm not sure what questions to ask, but I'd like to know if there's some reasonable explanation for this behavior and is there something we could be doing that's causing this? And should we be seriously looking to replace the fridge because it's going to fail soon? One thing I recall the technician saying on one of his visits is that we should not overcrowd the freezer - it might be blocking something important (sorry, I don't recall the details now). And yeah, it's possible we have overcrowded the freezer a bit.

 

[Jake]

Hi Lee, Even Though it says Maytag on the model number tag, it's still a Amana, Maytag bought out Amana back then, but Maytag still kept the Amana name logo.

Did he replace the defrost thermostat? Is that what you mean by thermistor?

If your evaporator coils are completely frosted up, then you have a auto defrost part that has gone out.

You would then need to ohm your defrost thermostat(WHILE ITS FROSTY) with a multimeter to check for continuity. Normal ohm reading will be 0 ohms. Make sure your Refrigerator stays unplug before testing it.

The defrost thermostat snaps on the top of your evaporator coil. Also if you notice a big bulge on it, then that's definitely the problem.

Here's the defrost thermostat for your model:
WP67003426 Defrost Thermostat


If your defrost thermostat is good, then ohm test the defrost heater, once you click the part link to it below, you will see a video on HOW TO ohm test it, make sure your refrigerator stays unplugged when ohm testing it.

Here's the defrost heater for your model:
Defrost Heater Assembly WP67002493


If both the defrost thermostat and defrost heater are good, then it can only be your JAZZ control board that's the culprit.

Here's the JAZZ control board for your model:
WPW10503278 Electronic Control Board


The average life of refrigerator is about 8-12 years now. So at 13 years your over the average life, so you may want to consider a new refrigerator if you don't plan on fixing it yourself. The tech is likely marking the price up on the control board, but even that is too much of a markup, I don't even mark them up that much.

Jake

 

[LeeBreisacher]

Wow. Thanks for all the great info. I'm afraid much of your advice is beyond my level of handy-ness, but for now it seems to be working fine again. Good to know the approx lifetime, so we're going to start shopping around and be prepared to get a new one if/when this one dies for real. I also bought a thermometer with an alarm, so hopefully we'll find out about a problem soon after it happens.

 

[Jake]

Ok Lee, sounds good.

Also the annual 4th of July sales start this week at most appliance stores. We recommend Whirlpool, Maytag, KitchenAid, and Amana.

Jake