I got a fairly new (about 3 years) KitchenAid bottom-freezer refrigerator. The refrigerator is not cold but the freezer is fine. I checked and found the baffle door on the top can't be opened. I'm thinking maybe the thermistor needs replaced. Would you tell me how to replace the thermistor on this model? Thanks in advanced for your help.

John

To save the food in the refrigerator, I jamed a q-tip to keep the baffle door opened. After about 1 hour I checked the refrigerator, the temperature dropped about 20 degree. More amazingly, the baffle door is wide opened (pushed down by the damper control switch). It's working again! I just couldn't believe it. It's been 2 days now. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
Gene, thanks for the feedback. If it goes wrong again, I know what I need to replace first. Have a good night.

John

Thank you guys for this forum.

As was wondering if someone could advise me on my defrost problem.

I have a Hotpoint HSS25GFPEWW that is 6 years old and it is obvious that the defrost is not working. The refrige was warming up and there was a good amount of ice on the coils. I noticed that the thermostat cap was split open and the heater is visually bad with black flakes falling from it. So both of these parts need to be replaced.

Now my questions is how can I be sure the mainboard needs to be replaced. I tested the J9 DEF to J7 N and it reads infinity, but does this definitely mean that the mainboard is bad? because I did not pull any wires from it before testing. I was not sure how to pull the wires from J9 (I just used the metal tab labeled DEF next to the wire.)

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Joe

Thanks for the response. I will replace these parts and post the results. Would a malfunction in the defrost system cause the evaporator fan to constantly run?

Hi Gene,

Thanks for the responses.

I replaced the defrost heater and thermostat. I checked the old heater and it was bad. The thermostat showed continuity but it look bad with the split top. The J9 DEF on the mainboard now read 0 ohms.

The freezer almost completely defrosted while I replaced the parts. How long would it take for the first defrost cycle to occur? Also does the orientation of the thermostat matter i.e. vertical vs horizontal? Mine was horizontal but I noticed in a few pictures posted here that the thermostat was vertical.

Thanks for the help,

Joe