gregoryklewis
Premium Member
- Model Number
- WRX986SIHZ00
- Brand
- Whirlpool
- Age
- 1-5 years
I have an issue that’s been going on for several months.
Five months ago the freezer started making noise. We noticed slight cooling issues in the freezer but attributed it to holiday food prep.
Four months ago a repair tech sent by my extended warranty company came and removed a large amount of ice chunks from the cooling coil that the fan was rubbing against. He diagnosed the ice buildup was caused by a sealed system issue and that he no longer performed those kinds of repairs due to health limitations. We’d have to get another technician to repair the system.
The ice removal temporarily improved cooling and mostly eliminated the noise.
Three months ago the second repair tech sent by the extended warranty company and confirmed the seal system issue diagnosis. However, due to the cost of repair, the warranty company refused to repair the refrigerator.
While researching new refrigerators, I came across the manufacturer’s warranty and learned that Whirlpool covers sealed system issues out to five years.
During this time freezer cooling continued to degrade.
Two months ago, Whirlpool sent a technician at my request to look at the system. He performed a much more thorough inspection and worked with Whirlpool technical support to determine the issue.
He and Whirlpool said that it’s not a sealed system issue but a defrost issue. He programmed a forced defrost and turned automatic defrost off, forcing defrost to happen every 8 hours. He couldn’t find any component issues using the diagnostic mode or by checking voltages directly on the back of the fridge. He also said that the freezer was showing temperature of 16 F.
He also said that WP said to replace to the user interface panel if adjusting the automatic defrost didn’t fix the issue. Additionally he recommended defrosting the freezer again manually.
The ice maker did not make any ice for a few days until I adjusted the freezer temp to the min allowable -5 F.
I was on work travel for several weeks while freezer performance continued to degrade.
Last week I defrosted the freezer again and snapped a photo of the frost pattern before removing it using a low setting on a hair dryer.
Now the freezer is performing even worse and the ice maker has stopped making ice all together. I ran through the diagnostic mode tests and there were no errors or issues noted.
I’m posting here to see if there are any insights the forum could provide.
Thanks for the assistance!
Five months ago the freezer started making noise. We noticed slight cooling issues in the freezer but attributed it to holiday food prep.
Four months ago a repair tech sent by my extended warranty company came and removed a large amount of ice chunks from the cooling coil that the fan was rubbing against. He diagnosed the ice buildup was caused by a sealed system issue and that he no longer performed those kinds of repairs due to health limitations. We’d have to get another technician to repair the system.
The ice removal temporarily improved cooling and mostly eliminated the noise.
Three months ago the second repair tech sent by the extended warranty company and confirmed the seal system issue diagnosis. However, due to the cost of repair, the warranty company refused to repair the refrigerator.
While researching new refrigerators, I came across the manufacturer’s warranty and learned that Whirlpool covers sealed system issues out to five years.
During this time freezer cooling continued to degrade.
Two months ago, Whirlpool sent a technician at my request to look at the system. He performed a much more thorough inspection and worked with Whirlpool technical support to determine the issue.
He and Whirlpool said that it’s not a sealed system issue but a defrost issue. He programmed a forced defrost and turned automatic defrost off, forcing defrost to happen every 8 hours. He couldn’t find any component issues using the diagnostic mode or by checking voltages directly on the back of the fridge. He also said that the freezer was showing temperature of 16 F.
He also said that WP said to replace to the user interface panel if adjusting the automatic defrost didn’t fix the issue. Additionally he recommended defrosting the freezer again manually.
The ice maker did not make any ice for a few days until I adjusted the freezer temp to the min allowable -5 F.
I was on work travel for several weeks while freezer performance continued to degrade.
Last week I defrosted the freezer again and snapped a photo of the frost pattern before removing it using a low setting on a hair dryer.
Now the freezer is performing even worse and the ice maker has stopped making ice all together. I ran through the diagnostic mode tests and there were no errors or issues noted.
I’m posting here to see if there are any insights the forum could provide.
Thanks for the assistance!
