The freezer part of the refrigerator will not stop running. Frost is building up across the back pannel an ice is forming around the coils. A repair man told me to take of the back and press a reset button, but I cannot find it. Is there one and if so where is it and what does it look like? Thanks

Hi Nancy,

I bet you've got all kinds of frost / ice behind the plastic cover that protects (and shields from view) the cooling coil in the freezer compartment.

You probably have one or more: defrost timer, defrost terminator or defrost heating element that has failed. Call for service - or empty the fridge and unplug with door open for a day - ice will melt and when you plug in again it will work just fine. Until frost builds up again that is.

Good luck!

Did you examine the drain behind the rear panel (location #11) and below the evaporator coil in photo HERE and location #20 HERE You will need to tell me how much frost there is on the evaporator coil (location 22) I want you to test the=> 12729129 Defrost Heater Assembly. Check the door seals around both doors. Are the door seals good? I am here should you need me, Thanks John Tripp Appliance 911
Contact Me Here

Hi

Frost is a natural occurrence on the evaporator coils in the freezer compartment of your refrigerator. To prevent frost buildup, a self-defrosting refrigerator warms the coils using a defrost heater several times each day to melt away the frost. This frost melts into water and flows out of the compartment through the drain. If any part of the defrost system is not working properly, the result can be heavy frost buildup that may affect the cooling capacity of the refrigerator.

The defrost timer is a mechanism that tells the defroster how long to run to melt the frost. The limit switch measures the temperature in the freezer and helps to maintain it, while the heater is the key element that melts the frost. Any one of these components could need replacement at a given time, which will result in this over-frosting.
Also check this bellow link:-

http://www.ehow.com/how_4504020_test-refrigerator-defrost-timer.html

Please get back to us if you have further query else please accept the suggestion.

Thank you for contacting fixya.com

You have a problem with the defrost circuit of your refrigerator. The parts of this circuit include the defrost timer/module, heater and thermostat. The function of the defrost circuit is to periodically stop the compressor and fan and turn on a heater mounted on the evaporator coil to melt any frost buildup. The fact that ice is building up and even stopping the fan indicates that the defrost circuit has failed for a while and the temperature in the refrigerator compartment is probally higher than it should.

Typical failures with the defrost are the timer/module and heater. Can't tell if you have a timer or module since you did not supply a model number. You can verify if the heater is bad if you have a meter. You will need to unplug the refrigerator and remove the panel in the freezer and use a hair dryer to melt the ice from the coil. Once the heater is exposed, a meter will be able to determine if the heater has failed.

If you are not able to troubleshoot the problem, recommend that you call a service company. Hope this helps you.

sounds like it should be a frost free unit what happens is they stop auto defrosting and the ice builds up in the freezer compartment where you cant see it leave it switched off to defrost it for a couple of days or take of the pannel inside the freezer so that you can see the ice build up defrost it replace pannel then switch back on but be warned it will happen again

check that your flapper on the ice shut through the freezer door is fully closed,
make sure there is no ice forming around your evaporator fan, thats the fan in the freezer, if that gets glogged with ice and is forced to stop, it could blow your entire machine control......
the frost in the freezer leads me to believe you may have a defrost issue

This can be caused by the drain hole below freezer coil being blocked by ice. You MUST remove all ice in drain under freezer coil. Use turkey baster to squirt hot water into hole and use hairdryer to defrost. Possible defrost thermostat is defective. Unit never goes into defrost, ice forms on coil and in floor of freezer. After defrosting may work OK for a week or two but gradually gets warmer because ice is blocking ports where cool air gets to refrig. May also have water in refrig box. Can also be caused by defective defrost timer.

Either the repair guy did not wire up the heater correctly or he replaced the wrong part, if the heater was good it was likley to be the defrost thermostat...I would call the repair guy back to check.

Hi: The fact that it still makes ice tells me the freezer is a zero degrees. When you said condensation in the freezer did you mean frost? If your defrost heater fails it will cause the frost free freezer to build up frost. The frost will build up and block the vent that supplies the cold air to the fresh food. The defrost heater is behind the metal wall at the back of the freezer, at the very bottom. A glass tube with a metal coil in it. The coil can break and stop the defrosting. Replace that. Use a hair dryer to melt the frost from behind the panel. All of it top to bottom. You need to remove all the frost to free up the airways. I hope this helps, Jeff

This happens when the coils frost over. That stops airflow from freezer to refrigerator. If the fan in the freezer is running read on: All frost-free refrigerator-freezers have a thing in the system called a Defrost Timer. The thing is a little clock of sorts that tracks accumulated running time. Every 8 hours of run time the thing cycles through a defrost cycle. The defrost cycle is necessitated by the humidity that forms ice crystals on the freezing coils, if the frost is not eradicated it can build up to the point where no air flows over the coils to chill the inside of the box. The Defrost timer in all boxes fails eventually from old age. When that happens, the coils frost over until they become pretty much just a solid block of ice. Most timers are located on the front of the machine, behind that removable grille under the door. The timer has a round hollow shaft through it, and can be turned with a screwdriver. Give the shaft a slow twist until a click is heard. The compressor should stop. Check the fridge in 1/2 hour to if it restarted. Sometimes the nudge will make the timer run for a while. (be sure to make it restart if it does not on it's own)If I'm on the mark you will need to get a replacement timer. The process can be repeated daily until you get a replacement.
Hope this helps.