Whirlpool bottom freezer refrigerator has cold freezer, but refer at room temp. Help please!

[Tom Ells]

I will preface this by saying that I am no electrical wiz, but I have done a fair amount of electrical work and used wiring diagrams when working on cars. Looking at the diagram, power comes through the motor and then to the circuit board (see attached diagram). I'd assume from the diagram that when the board completes the circuit that the motor then runs. If the circuit is open at the motor, then no power reaches the board even when tries it to complete thr circuit. I tested from 8 on J2 to 1 on J1 while in test mode 3. In both On and Off, no power was reaching 8. To me, this would indicate that unless the test mode was not working, there is an open circuit at the evaporator fan since that is the only possible break point in the circuit.

Of course, testing for power at the motor itself would be the best way to determine if power is present, but I'm really hoping to avoid taking the freezer apart again if possible! Because the fan did start to work both times I took the freezer apart in the last few days, I suspect bad brushes (or some other problem) in the motor are preventing the circuit from closing and the motor from activating.

 

[Dan O.]

This isn't a DC circuit. It's 120V AC.

It's like plugging a fan into a wall outlet. Between each of those wires (or holes in the wall outlet) 120 volts needs to be present. That power could be tested for at either the 2 power wires at the motor or the 2 terminals on the control board where the motor wires connect to. (Testing would need to be done when the motor should be running of course.)

Testing on a 'live' appliance can be dangerous. If you are unfamiliar with safety precautions or test procedures it should be avoided.

Dan O.

 

[Tom Ells]

Hi Dan, I followed the procedures outlined in the video that was posted here on Monday by bigbuck at this link - https://www.appliancepartspros.com/whirlpool-board-jazz-wpw10503278-ap6022400.html Go to about 4 minutes to see what I'm following

There is no power at the board on the fan circuit, whether in test mode or normal operating. According to the video, the board has a switch that closes when the compressor is on which then activates the fan motor. Looking at the wiring diagram I attached below, it appears there is always power to the motor; it doesn't turn on until the motherboard throws the switch and closes the circuit, just as shown in the video. If there is power through the motor, I should be able to jump the switch and run the fan using the procedure shown in the video, but that also does not work.

If I am not understanding the video please tell me where I went wrong!

Thanks very much for your help!

 

[Dan O.]

Go to about 4 minutes to see what I'm following

That video show replacing the control. At 4 min it shows programming the control.

the motherboard throws the switch and closes the circuit

I'm afraid I do not know what switch you're referring to. If the problem is in the electronic control, the control needs to be replaced. I am not an electronics engineer and do not have any experience servicing them nor can I give any advice on doing so.

g/l


,

 

[Tom Ells]

For some reason I have not been able to get onto this forum for several days. But I want to report that I replaced the freezer fan motor. Once replaced I then pluged in the fridge and the fan started right up. To be sure that everything was working correctly, I then put the fridge into Service Test Mode and went right to Test 3, the Freezer Fan Test. This time when the test was set to the On position the fan turned on as it was supposed to, and as it had not done with the old fan. At this point I reassembled the freezer and let it run to see what would happen. Within 4 hours the fridge temp was at 34 degrees and the freezer was at 0 degrees. I let the fridge run overnight, and the temp stayed steady. At this point I decided that the fan motor was definitely the problem, and that the fridge was now fixed.

After 5 days the fridge is still running perfectly. Thanks very much to all of you who helped me get this figured out.

Dan O, I'm sorry that I put the wrong link up, got it mixed up with the link to the control board. This is the correct link, which outlines the steps I followed to diagnose the bad fan.



Which I looked at more closely because you correctly pointed out that even though the fan had run, that didn't mean there might still not be a problem with the fan motor.

It would seem that the old fan motor was "open" and current was not running through it at all times when energized. Basically the same as a starter motor in a car that won't turn over if a brush is bad, until the motor is bumped/jarred and the bad brush makes contact.

Bottom line is that the fridge now works! And I have learned a lot more about how a fridge/freezer operates, which I hopefully will not need to use again in the near future.