A customer called me about his rental unit fridge not keeping the temperatures. The first thing I did was open the freezer, and it was PACKED to the walls with food. There was no room for air. I then proceeded to remove the food ( 15 minutes later ?) I saw that the back wall was frosted up. There was an inch of ice on the bottom. So, I got out my heat gun and began to defrost it all. 45-60 minutes later, I was able to remove the back wall. The evaporate-motor was clogged with ice. It couldn’t move.
So, the next day, I replaced it. BUT it didn’t come on. I had the door OPEN, and it wouldn’t come on. So, I opened the pack board cover to see if I could find anything. And it all “looked and smelled” good. Then I thought I heard a noise coming from the freezer. It sounded like a fan motor running very softly. I opened the door to inspect it and it was not on. Then I closed the door, and I heard that sound again. So, I opened the door to see if the fan was working. And it was not.
When I closed it again, I heard what I thought was the motor working. ??? This time, I put my ear to the side of the freezer and opened and closed the door. I discovered that when the door was open the motor shut off. And when the door was closed it came back on ever so quietly. Very quietly.
This is the first time that I have run into this “problem “.
1. Is this normal in NEWER style fridges?
2. I think the motor is 2 speed. Is this correct?
3. It seems that when a freezer and fridge is “overstuffed” with food the first sign is a bad evaporate-motor gone bad. Is the one of the first signs and why?
4. It there any literatures out to inform customers about the relationship between overpacking a freezer and its consequences?
Thank you
- Guest asked 9 years ago
HI. This is normal operation on this style refrigerator. The door has to be closed for the fan to run. IF you hold the door switch closed the fan with operate. This fan motor does appear to be a 2 speed motor. These are very quiet. An over stuffed freezer or refrigerator will not cause a fan motor to go bad. The food will block the vents, which blocks air flow an causes the unit to not cool properly. I do not know or any literature that explains to customers about over stuffing. A lot of owners manuals may inform about this. Other than that, I’m sure if you searched the internet you could find this information from different sources. The ice and frost that you found is more than likely NOT a result of the unit being over packed or from the fan motor not running. Make sure the drain tube is not clogged and you do not have a defrost issue.
- Brian, Ace Appliance answered 9 years ago
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