I hate to be the idiot talking to myself, but I found the timer, tested it, and heard no noise, so I shot off an email to borrow an ohmmeter from a friend.

In the meantime, though, I finally figured out how to get that back panel off inside the freezer (without destroying the ice maker in the process) and lo and behold, there was NO ICE, NO SNOW, NO FROST on the coils. None at all. I put my fingers down the air duct that vents into the fridge, and found a bit of ice build-up, which I cleared out. I ALSO realized as soon as I looked at it that the "COLDEST" setting in the freezer was at the detriment of my fridge. Turned it down to cold and am already getting more airflow, so we may be good for another day or two until we can get to the root of this problem.

So I guess my question at this point is what can these things add up to:
1) Two weeks(ish) of clunking and thunking noises coming from the freezer, followed quickly by frost build-up all over everything in the freezer, (massive quantities, like if I clear something off before I go to work, when I come back ten hours later, it is covered with an inch of snow/ice)
2) Freezer suddenly so warm milk spoils
3) Defrost timer still advancing, coils not actually covered in ice at all as I suspected, just everything else covered in the freezer

Doesn't seem like the defrost system is the problem.

What else should I be looking for? If it weren't for the thunks and clunks, I might think it was just the freezer setting + the buildup in the vent, but what could be causing the noise?


Again, my deepest gratitude for the help. I was having a really rotten day, and finally being able to find that timer was a very good thing at the end of a very long (late) night here on the east coast.

Gene,

Back to report on freezer/fridge temps. After 24 hrs., approx., freezer and fridge still set where you told me, the freezer is 0-2 degrees and the fridge anywhere from 32 to 37 degrees. It depends on which shelf, but I did notice that when the fridge goes into defrost mode, the temp goes up 3-4 degrees in the fridge. I don't know if that is normal or not because I've never paid much attention to it.

I will await further instructions on where to set the knobs. If it makes any difference, I don't have much of anything in the fridge except some bottled water and a few condiments.

Thanks!

Well, 30+ hours after cleaning out the little bit of ice in the vent and changing the freezer temp setting to cold instead of coldest, the fridge is running around 33-34 degrees. Whatever the clunking noise was, nobody has noticed it for the last two days. Keeping my fingers crossed that things are somehow okay.

Thanks again for the help- I'll be back if things go wrong again.

Charles,

Set both temperature controls one point toward colder setting and wait about 24 hours to see the result. Normal temperature in the refrigerator should be between 36°F to 40°F on different levels while the temperature in freezer should be about 0°F.

Make sure the condenser on the back of the refrigerator is clean.

Gene.

Ok, Changed the setting Friday night, as of this morning, temp in the fridge was 42.

I bump the fridge & freezer another notch toward colder (at 7 now) to see what happens.

Just now went to check the temp of the freezer, freezer's at 15??? WTF???

Actually it looks like I may have caught the freezer in a defrost cycle. Can hear stuff "tinking" and see water dripping. I'll check it again a little later.


Charles