Mines an old Amana, never any trouble. Now it seems like the defrost cycle is letting the the fridge warm up too much. opened the freezer door the other day, water was dripping from stuff. It usually runs at 0°, still does part of the time. other times it's up to 35°. Seems like the defrost cycle has run amok. THe ice in the icemaker tub gets frozen into one big lump.

any bright ideas?

How old is it? We just got a new one yesterday as the old one was doing the same thing. Ours was manufactured in 11/89 and I was not going to spend money for a sevice call. Around here they want $100 to pull in the driveway and $85 @ hour to get out of the truck. There are a lot of fridges on sale right now.

this one was probably new in '92 when the house was built. Dang, cash is short right now. Why couldn't it be something simple like a timer or t-stat?

Any way to tell one of these things to just skip the defrost cycle? There's a switch inside by the t-stats, sez something about condensation on the exterior? We don't have much trouble with that here in Phx. What does that switch do?

Probably is just the timer, Tom, so long as it's not a digitally controlled unit. If it were the cooling unit it wouldn't come and go like that. Remember, when it goes into defrost it also shuts down the compressor.

Pull the model and serial numbers and Google Amana fridge parts. Lots of places sell replacement parts online.

Dan

Probably is just the timer, Tom, so long as it's not a digitally controlled unit. If it were the cooling unit it wouldn't come and go like that. Remember, when it goes into defrost it also shuts down the compressor.

Pull the model and serial numbers and Google Amana fridge parts. Lots of places sell replacement parts online.

Dan

I agree. If it is a frost free it will go through a cycle. Defrost and then freeze again. There is a timer in there that is tells it when to cycle. Also, check the door seals, sometimes they can harden and alow the cold air to escape, I think it's the timer though. Is the refridgerator part warm also? Because usually the fridge part just gets bleed air from the freezer. So, if the timer is bad the fridge part should be a little warmer too. JMHO

Thanks guys for taking time to reply. I was thinking about what controlled the defrost and figured it had to be a timer. I'm a googlin fool, I should be able to find the thing. Off to find the model number.

Yeah, fridge part gets warm too. looks like there's a little port for freezer air to get into the fridge.

Good for you to be a googlin fool! Mine was making icicles in the freezer and I replaced the little fan and its fine now. Apparently, the freezer is the load lifter and the fridge is a child operation.

I somehow accidentally ran across Google when it was still a college project and been beating it to death ever since. I can'thardly imagine how it would be live without being able to find out stuff.

any idea where the timer is? I looked underneath, man, it's nasty under there. need a small backhoe or something to clean that out. I'll bet it never been done since '92 or whenever it was new.

i try to clean all the dust bunnys that collect under the fridge at least once a year,it does make a difference...

any idea where the timer is? I looked underneath, man, it's nasty under there. need a small backhoe or something to clean that out. I'll bet it never been done since '92 or whenever it was new.

The timer is inside the fridge. Look in the freezer section or the fridge section.

They play "hide and seek" with defrost timers.
Some are up top inside the refrigerator side, some are on the back and it might be down behind the toe kick grill (I think my old Amana was there, as I recall)

Might just need to take the thing outside and blow the junk out of the condenser.

Tom,

I looked up your issue in a refrig shop manual. There could be a number of possible areas.

http://www.appliancerepair.net/cgi-bin/purchase.pl?function=send&page=refr.htm

All of their books are excellent and cheap. Very well written. Consider these the "shop" manual for appliances; kinda like a car shop manual with all the great tips found here on this site; maybe like Shurkey's writeups without the sarcasm (which I enjoy btw :)...jackstands not required he he).

I have used these books for the past 7 years and saved myself at $1000s in washer and refridgerator repair bills. Especially for those pesky water/ice machine dispensers issues.

If you are hard pressed to purchase the book, I can copy the 10 to 15 pages and send to you. The refrig book is only $20. I bought all 5.

-stu

Wow, that's a nice offer. Thanks to all of you for chipping in. I'm still trying to figure how to approach this. There's an island in the kitchen, looks like it's going to be a PITA to the fridge out of there. take the doors of the unit, pull the cabinet doors and knobs, it's going to be close.

Looked under there again, whatta mess. There could be dinosaurs lurking under there, maybe Stone-Age tribes, who knows?

WHat happens if I find the timer and jumper the terminals? have to do a manual defrost once in a while?

Two sets of terminals - SPDT switch.

Defrost Timer stops the compressor and turns on the defrost heater.

If it's that much trouble to move, it might be easier to hang some plastic drops around it while cleaning.

my 2 year old Amana has a board on the top of the refrige unit that controls defrost. $130.00

Jackstands Tom! ;)

your problem sounds just like mine, fixed it a few days ago. on mine, the timer was behind the toe kick hidden behind a black carboard cover, cost about 25 bucks at the local appliance part supply place, took about 5 minutes to put in, I also replaced the thermostat (mounted on the coils inside the freezer) runs like new again.

You're too far away Tom, I have a fridge you could have. Sorry, don't know about frig's.