- Model Number
- ET8CHMXKB05
- Brand
- Whirlpool
- Age
- More than 10 years
Will try to be concise, but part of this is being filtered through observations of very non technical elderly woman, my mom.
About a year ago the fridge stopped cooling. Remove freezer back panel and coils were frozen over. She called a repairman and he replaced defrost timer. Worked for about three weeks then same problem. Me being upset that she was ripped off I bought a second timer and replaced it just to make sure since that seemed to be the usual culprit. After replacing timer a second time the fridge function normally for months.
Now new issue, the fridge stops cooling as well, but NO build up of ice on coils like previously. After much bad information I was able to listen and watch and realized the evaporator fan was never running when this would happen. Her fix would be to unplug the whole thing, plug it back in and it would work for a few days. I finally caught this and on a whim gently slapped the underside of the freezer in the refrigerator section where the time and other parts reside and the fan immediately started running and stopped as normal when it reached temperature. It will go about a day where the fan will automatically come then suddenly it just stops and banging on the underside will make it go again. Obviously this is no good if she leaves the house for more than a day. She also claims this only happens when the ice maker is turned on, but I don't see how that is related or even possible.
I am not clear on exactly what starts the fan to begin with. There is a thermostat on the coil that I believe initiates a defrost, but I assume there has to be some secondary thermostat that simply regulates when the evaporator fan turns on to push cold air down into the refrigerator section? Banging on the underside to make the fan come on has to be an indication of something. Also note that banging on it when the unit is cold enough will NOT turn on the fan, it only works when the fan should have been running to begin with.
Thanks for everyone's time. This fridge is going to be the death of me.
About a year ago the fridge stopped cooling. Remove freezer back panel and coils were frozen over. She called a repairman and he replaced defrost timer. Worked for about three weeks then same problem. Me being upset that she was ripped off I bought a second timer and replaced it just to make sure since that seemed to be the usual culprit. After replacing timer a second time the fridge function normally for months.
Now new issue, the fridge stops cooling as well, but NO build up of ice on coils like previously. After much bad information I was able to listen and watch and realized the evaporator fan was never running when this would happen. Her fix would be to unplug the whole thing, plug it back in and it would work for a few days. I finally caught this and on a whim gently slapped the underside of the freezer in the refrigerator section where the time and other parts reside and the fan immediately started running and stopped as normal when it reached temperature. It will go about a day where the fan will automatically come then suddenly it just stops and banging on the underside will make it go again. Obviously this is no good if she leaves the house for more than a day. She also claims this only happens when the ice maker is turned on, but I don't see how that is related or even possible.
I am not clear on exactly what starts the fan to begin with. There is a thermostat on the coil that I believe initiates a defrost, but I assume there has to be some secondary thermostat that simply regulates when the evaporator fan turns on to push cold air down into the refrigerator section? Banging on the underside to make the fan come on has to be an indication of something. Also note that banging on it when the unit is cold enough will NOT turn on the fan, it only works when the fan should have been running to begin with.
Thanks for everyone's time. This fridge is going to be the death of me.
