Electrolux EW23BC71IS0 warm refrigerator; cold freezer

[NjM]

Model Number

EW23BC71IS0

Brand

Electrolux

Age

More than 10 years

While I wait on a new defrost thermostat, I figured I would make sure I've got all my troubleshooting bases covered. I think its starting to sound more like a control board but here goes...

I got a high temp alarm on the refrigerator portion of my fridge. The freezer was fine though. Throughout troubleshooting though, the freezer was not able to maintain 0*F.
Unplugging the unit for 5-minutes and factory defaulting it one night, did allow it to get to 0*F in the freezer and maintain 37*F in the fridge but this lasted at most 24-36 hours so...

1. Took the freezer apart and the coils/components were frosted over evenly.
2. Evap fan doesn't spin as freely as the YouTube videos I watched but its definitely moving air no problem.
3. I tried to manually turn on the heater through the diagnostics but never felt any warmth. It could have been that it was frosted up that bad and I didn't give it enough time? I did see some moisture on the heater tube, as though it was working.
4. I manually defrosted everything enough to checked for continuity:
   1. defrost thermostat; passed
   2. defrost heater (the defrost thermostat plugs into this); passed.
5. There was nothing else to check in this compartment so I continued to defrost the unit.
6. I took the defrost thermostat out, which is very warm at this point and tested it for continuity; failed (obviously)
7. I put the defrost thermostat into a cold cup of ice water for well over 5-minutes and it still failed. I didn't check the temp of the ice water though.
8. Everything works great after manually defrosting everything. I wonder how long this will last?

→ What else is there to troubleshoot? Any other advice? Is my defrost thermostat finicky or does this sound like a control board issue?

I read a couple of other threads:

Electrolux EW23BC71IS0 Not Defrosting

Side-by-side unit with bottom freezer. Refrigerator not cold. Discovered that coils were frozen over. Defrosted with hair dryer and unit worked fine for about 5 weeks then refrigerator warm again. Discovered that coils were frozen over again. Defrost thermostat checked OK. Performed manual...

www.applianceblog.com

FIXED - EW23BC71IS0 Electrolux French Door not cooling properly

Hello- Our Electrolux refrigerator, model EW23BC71IS0, alerted us with a “high temperature” warning on the display panel last week. I put a mercury thermometer in the refrigerator compartment, and it indicated 50 degrees, although we had it set to 34. The freezer indicated 10 degrees, we had...

www.applianceblog.com

 

[rickgburton]

well over 5-minutes

It may not be long enough or cold enough. Check it now that it's been in the freezer for 24 hours.

 

[NjM]

I've since then put everything back together. When it frosts over again though, I'll be sure to check it. Assuming it and the heater check out fine again, the only other thing to replace is the main board? If so, is this the correct one (taken from the previously mentioned thread) 5303918507 Board-Switch?

 

[rickgburton]

If so, is this the correct one

This one is:

Frigidaire 241891601 Board-Switch (AP4374724) - AppliancePartsPros.com

BOARD-SWITCH 241891601 / AP4374724 made by Frigidaire

click.linksynergy.com

 

[NjM]

Not that I'm a procrastinator or anything but I haven't replaced the board yet in fear of it being something else and being stuck with a $250 part on a 10-year old fridge.

About 90 days passed and the issue came back (October). I took everything apart again, put the thermostat defrost switch in another freezer and tested it for continuity. It checked out fine. I also visually inspected it per a YouTube video and looks good to me.

Took the heat gun, thawed everything out, put it all back together and were back to where we started. However, the issue came back much quicker this time... under 6-weeks. Did I put something back together wrong or is the board just getting less reliable and still the culprit?

I learned about the manual defrost mode (DF) and if I run that a 4-5 times a day, the fridge seems to operate fine. I'm having to run it more and more though. I'm starting to wonder if I didn't plug the thermostat defrost switch back in lol (would it have even lasted 4-5 weeks this way?)

Is it worth just putting a new thermostat defrost switch on it because they are cheap?

I sense a "just buy the board already" reply but thought I'd update the thread first.

Thanks in advance! It's very much appreciated!

 

[rickgburton]

There's only three components that make up the defrost system, heater, thermostat, and control. The heater is like a light bulb, either good or bad. If you can manually get the defrost heater to turn on, that would eliminate the heater and thermostat as being faulty.