Great forum! I've been reading this thread and messing with my refrigerator since last night and am ready to ask some questions about this same problem.

I have a Kenmore model 106.70192001 that has always leaked water into the refrigerator form the freezer. It is in the garage and only used for pop/ beer so I never really cared until it stopped being cold.

Last night we moved all the contents from the freezer to the main one in the kitchen and unplugged it to let it defrost. I disassembled the freezer and wiped all the ice/ water from under the plastic tray, checked the coils in the freezer (of course this was after it had been unplugged for about 1-2 hours) and unclogged the drain line. I also vacuumed the coils under the unit off, as they were pretty covered in dust/ fur.

Before I went to bed, I reassembled everything and plugged it back in.

This morning, the freezer is cold again, but the refrigerator is still not.

I've identified the 3 main parts it seems are common the Defroster Timer, heater and thermostat and gotten part #s and prices. But I keep reading about the damper control and I keep thinking I need to check this first. However, I can't find any parts that are called this. The only thing I can find is the post damper (#2179859) and the knob.

A local supply shop told me it doesn't sound like the 3 Defrost parts are my problem.

I read somewhere else that I should be able to feel cold air coming into the refrigerator from the freezer with the freezer door shut. I think this should be coming from the rear-middle, and I felt very little. That article also said that with the freezer open I should feel it, which I did not.

Thanks for your help in advance! :)

I am having the same problem as other users on the forum. My freezer is keeping cold like it's supposed to, but my refrigerator is not very cold. I have read through many of the posts and believe my problem is with the dampener/air diffuser rather than a thermostat problem.

I have a Kitchen Aid Superba side-by-side, model #KSRS25ILSS00. It is 8 years old, and has never had any problems before. I have the freezer set at 0 degrees F, and refrigerator at 35 degrees F. I have taken all the food and shelves out of both freezer and refrigerator while I problem solve. Freezer temp is fine, refrigerator temp is hovering around 45-50 degrees F.

Here is what I have done so far: I popped off the front kick-plate and vacuumed out the dust and fuzz, took off the freezer interior panel and checked to see if the coils were iced over too much (I think they looked fine, I included two pictures for reference), checked to make sure the compressor and cooling fan were running fine (they work), checked the freezer fan to make sure it was spinning fast enough (it's good), then I checked the air flow coming out of the dampener.

There was no air coming into the refrigerator from the freezer, the dampener vent was closed. I lowered the refrigerator set temp to 33 degrees hoping to see the vent open up, but no such luck. I manually opened the vent with a paper clip and whoosh cold air started coming in. If I take the paper clip out then the vent closes almost immediately even thought the temp in the refrigerator is way to high. I have left the vent propped open with the paper clip and the refrigerator is finally dropping in temperature.

I am pretty confident the dampener needs replaced, but am not completely sure. Also not sure if something else is not working right which is what is causing the dampener to not work correctly? Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for taking the time to help out us amateurs.

Hi,

Been reading through this thread as I've have something similar going on with my GE side by side lately. Last week the fridge side started warming up. Turned down the coldness, and that helped a little. I pulled out the fridge and vacuumed out the back and checked to make sure the fan in the back was working, which it was. Cleaned underneath the fridge as best I could as well.

This seemed to help as I was able to get the fridge back down under 50 degrees for a couple days, at one point it even was below 30, so put the temp back up. Last couple days it has dropped temperature again.

I cleared everything out of the fridge and freezer and took of the back of the freezer to find the coils just coated in ice (see picture). I unplugged the fridge and set to defrosting the coils. Ended up leaving it off overnight to fully defrost and dry out. Plugged it back in this morning around 6am and everything seemed to be working pretty well. Couple hours later there was a bit of ice on the coils (which I think is normal) and the fridge side was holding around 40 degrees. I had set the temp gauge for both fridge and freezer in the middle (# 5 of 9). About an hour ago, the fridge stopped making any noises, so figured it had reach a good temp, so I went to check the freezer temp. Didn't seem the cold, but left thermometer in there and came back a bit later. When I opened it up, the temp read 60 degrees F. and the elements at the bottom of the coils were bright orange. All the ice on the elements was gone and dripping. This continued for about an hour, in which the fridge warmed up to about 50 degrees.

Tried opening the door and closing both sides to see if that would restart the cooling process. Rest the temp controls. Nothing seemed to work. Unplugged the fridge and plugged it back in and about 5-10min later it started cooling in the freezer again.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Michael

Thanks Gene,

I'll have to find my tester...which might take a while and probably won't get to that until tomorrow at the earliest.

Quick update, the fridge has been running fairly well since I unplugged it and plugged it back in (~4hrs). Attached a picture of what the coils look like now. Course now that I know I needed to keep the back panel on, I've gone ahead and replaced that. The fridge portion is staying cool again and the freezer is sitting around 0 degrees with the fridge a little south of 40 degrees. I have not messed with the temp controls on it at all.

I only see the one heating element at the bottom of the coils, it is like the part you have listed, with the two heating elements.

Thanks,
Michael

Hi Michael,

There are three thermistors in this refrigerator. They all are identical and are located: first - on top of the evaporator coils, second - inside the freezer and third - inside the fresh food compartment.

Per the test results you posted, all three of them are inaccurate and that could cause the problem you described.

- The thermistor Part number: WR55X10025