I purchased my refrigerator in 2005, bottom crisper drawer always iced things over so I never used it. But now inside of freezer covered in snow.. Refrigerator vents all of them are frozen underneath solid... Milk started going bad sooner... fridge not too cool. After some research... though it might be the bimetal defrost thermostat... so I am defrosting my fridge now.. big question...

HOW DO I TEST THE BIMETAL DEFROST THERMOSTAT?? WHERE DO I PLACE THE OHM METER...PLUS MY EXPERIENCE WITH THE OHM METER IS LIMITED MY HUBBY KNOWS A LITTLE MORE THAN I DO BUT THAT ISN'T SAYING MUCH?

I just don't want to have to defrost it again... when I could just order this part and replace..

SOMEONE HELP! :eek:

Whenever there is a defrost problem with a ice box I always just replace at least the defrost termination thermostat and the timer. The defrost thermostat is difficult to test since many refrigerators use different fixed temperature settings and unless you have a very accurate temperature test device the test will not provide proper results. Now you can take the defrost thermostat out of the unit and place the element only in a glass of ice water. When the element is cold it should have continunity between the two wires. As I said it is not a accurate way to test this device. The defrost heater,timer.or a combination of any two could be causing the problem.

You need continuity across the defrost thermostat at 32 degrees, meter should read zero of close to that. You also test defrost heater which should read according to the wattage rated on the name plate. If the defrost heater reads 2 ohms take 120 volts and divide by 2 to get a 60 watt heater, for example. The way to test the system is to find the defrost timer which is a black or white box with a timer motor and a one-way screw slot on the front. Turn screw slot and you will hear clicks and then the refrigerator and fan will stop. When it does this stop turning it and watch it. If it heats up and will not start refrigerator back to cooling cycle you have a bad motor on timer (a common problem). If the refrigerator stops and ice stays in freezer and then refrigerator starts back running you have either a bad defrost heater or defrost terminator thermostat. You can usually spot a bad defrost heater by looking at it because it will be burned in two pieces. Often people will replace both heater and terminator at same time to prevent a call-back when the other one fails that was not replaced. You also have a fan thermostat which keeps fan off until temp on coil reaches 20 degrees. Sometimes the two are combined and you have three wires on round t-stat.DrTom4444