I was defrosting my mini fridge and was using a knife. I was trying to stay away from the "wires" but hit the bottom of the freezer compartment with my knife and air started spewing. I shut the door fast thinking it was going to blow up. When I opened the door back up, it was not spewing anymore. I finished letting it thaw on its own and needless to say, it is not working now. We put some J-B Weld on the tiny spot and it still doesn't work. Is there a place to add freon? Help! This was our water fridge and now we are lost without it!!! Thank you!

It sounds like your defrost circuit is having a problem. Once frost builds up on the coil in the freezer compartment, air can no longer be pulled though the fins and circulated into the fresh food compartment. You notice things start to warm up. Eventually, the freezer suffers from the same lack of circulation and contents begin to soften and melt.

The defrost circuit consists of 4 main parts. They are: 1) defrost heater, 2) defrost terminator or sensor in series with the heater, 3) defrost timer and 4) wiring between the previous 3 parts.

The defrost heater is found in the compartment that houses the coiling coil. The defrost terminator or sensor is clipped or otherwise secured to be kept in physical contact with the cooling coil itself. The defrost timer may be located anywhere the manufacturer decides - a popular spot is in the toe space on the bottom of the fridge. The wiring, well, that is between all the parts. Chances are the wiring is fine - as would be the connectors to the individual components.

The defrost timer runs about 8 hours. About 20 - 30 minutes in that 8 hour period the defrost switch operates. This consists of switching power away from the compressor (so it shuts off) and to the defrost heater and defrost terminator. The heater is just a relatively small value heater that warms the compartment to melt any frost or ice from the cooling coil fins. It will be powered for up to 20 - 30 minutes by the timer or less - if the defrost terminator senses a rising temperature on the coil. This means that the heater will be on for either 20 - 30 minute OR until the defrost terminator gets warm enough.

If the timer is stuck - and never moves to the 20 - 30 defrost cycle, the frost on the coil will never melt away. If the timer does work, but the heating element has failed, the frost will never melt away. If the defrost terminator has failed open (preventing the power from getting to the heater), the will not work to melt the frost off the coil. If there is a loose, missing or damaged connection between the wiring harness and these components, it won't run as expected either.

Make sure there is continuity through the heater. When cold (below freezing) the terminator should also have continuity. Many are designed to open around 50 degrees F - so if you warm it up, you should see the continuity go away. The timer needs power to run, and will send power to either the compressor or defrost heater - never both at the same time. Check with power disconnected. Use care checking live circuits - and only work live circuits when you need to check for presence of power - otherwise, unplug!

I hope this helps. Please rate this reply - thanks!

Most likely plugged up defrost drain hole. Do you see any frozen water (ice) in bottom of freezer? If so then remove lower back wall of freezer compartment and use a turkey baster with some hot water to "plunge" the defrost drain tube till the water starts to flow. Clean up excess ice and away you go!!
Good luck!

The defrost drain is clogged. Defrost drains usually get there clog right behind the back freezer panel. Remove this to get to the defrost drain and remove all built up ice and clear the drain and you should be fine. Hope this helps.

the drain is probably frozen, unplug unit and defrost manually, use a hair dryer to melt the ice around the drain , be careful not to melt any of the plastic

This is a drawback of most mini-fridges. Start by defrosting everything. Then fill ice cube trays with water and keep lowering the setting until the water freezes. Just go a little lower, no more. Fridge should not freeze food. If the fridge stays closed all the time food will freeze. Also if the freezer element gets ice buildup it must be defrosted. Not automatic like home fridge. Most kids today weren't born when the last fridges that had to be defrosted were in service.

Hi,maybe I can shed a little light.I don`t know where the defrost timer is,but I would melt the ice with a hair dryer and real warm water(it will make a mess so be ready).There will be a drain inside of the freezer compartment,on the inside.Some how the rear panel inside the freezer compartment comes out.You may have to take apart the whole inside of the freezer compartment just to remove this rear panel.But when you do look for ice build up on bottom of freezing unit,and the rearof the freezer compartment.Melt this ice the same way earlier described.You will find a drain that starts inside the bottom-rear of the freezer compartment.This drain goes all the way down to the bottom of the fridge.You will find a very shallow drip pan under the fridge.This pan will most of the time only receive a little amount of water at a time and evaporates quickly.Now while you thaw this drain,water will start draining threw the drain,if it is not stoped up with food particles and such.This would be a good tome to blow threw this ine from the bottom where it drains into the pan underneth the fridge.Then blow threw it at the top in the freezer compartment.You can use a air tank with a blow gun.Be sure to pour water threw and down this drain to wash out all particles left behind.Clean the freezer compartment out good(the particles of food and such) and reassemble the freezing unit.plug fridge back up and set the freezer control to a respectfull setting(not the coldest and not real cold)and set the frideration to a decent setting for food preservation. Let the fridge and freezer run 12 to 24 hours to see if your problem comes back,and then time will tell if your defrost timer is bad,or is working like it should.When the drain clogs,it starts freezing away from the defrost elements and continues freezing the blocked water untill it overtakes the coils .The defrost and the timer don`t stay on long enough,or hot enough to overcome the ice.This is the reason you should try this solution first.If I can help you anymore,let me know [email protected] /let me know how it turns out

You have plugged the defrost drain line.This is where the water goes to in the bottom of your freezer when it goes through the defrost (removal of ice from the freezer coil) cycle. It sounds like that hole is plugged and now the water/ice has now frozen in the vent that lets air circulate down into your refrigerator compartment. What I usually do in this case is to unplug the refrigerator, empty out the freezer compartment. Usually I also end up either pulling off the back panel or the bottom panel (in the freezer compartment) Looking for that defrost drain hole and thawing it out with a heat gun (be careful of melting plastic) or actually I use a hair dryer. I can sometimes do this also by pouring small amounts of HOT tap water onto it and then sopping/absorbing it away with a sponge or dishcloth. I repeat this until I get the water to go down the drain tube.

Try it and let me know!

It sounds like you have a plugged defrost drain line. This is where the water goes to in the bottom of your freezer when it goes through the defrost (removal of ice from the freezer coil) cycle. It sounds like that hole is plugged and now the water/ice has now frozen in the vent that lets air circulate down into your refrigerator compartment. What I usually do in this case is to unplug the refrigerator, empty out the freezer compartment. Usually I also end up either pulling off the back panel or the bottom panel (in the freezer compartment) Looking for that defrost drain hole and actually I use a hair dryer. I can sometimes do this also by pouring small amounts of HOT tap water onto it and then sopping/absorbing it away with a sponge or dishcloth. I repeat this until I get the water to go down the drain tube.

Hope this helps,
Sai.

It sounds like you have a plugged defrost drain line. This is where the water goes to in the bottom of your freezer when it goes through the defrost (removal of ice from the freezer coil) cycle. It sounds like that hole is plugged and now the water/ice has now frozen in the vent that lets air circulate down into your refrigerator compartment. What I usually do in this case is to unplug the refrigerator, empty out the freezer compartment. Usually I also end up either pulling off the back panel or the bottom panel (in the freezer compartment) Looking for that defrost drain hole and thawing it out with a heat gun (be careful of melting plastic) or actually I use a hair dryer. I can sometimes do this also by pouring small amounts of HOT tap water onto it and then sopping/absorbing it away with a sponge or dishcloth. I repeat this until I get the water to go down the drain tube