It’s Steve from PartSelect. Today we’re going to show you how to change the defrost
thermostat on your side by side refrigerator. It’s a really easy job; all we’re going
to need is quarter inch nut driver, a pair of wire strippers, and a heat gun. Let me
show you how we do it.
Now before we begin this repair the first thing we’ll need to do is pull the refrigerator
out far enough to remove the plug. Then we’ll open up the freezer door and remove the bottom
shelves and the baskets. We’ll set those aside.
Next we need to remove the screws that secure the evaporator cover on; there should be five
quarter inch hex head screws that hold that in place.
Once we’ve removed the five screws securing the cover to the frame we’ll need to remove
three of the shelf rails on one side or the other.
Now with the shelf rails removed you can tilt that evaporator cover away from the frame.
We’ll take that out and set it aside.
Now with the evaporator cover removed we have access to the defrost thermostat. So we’re
simply going to disconnect the two leads that go to that thermostat; they have some in-lined
connectors to those so we’ll pull those apart.
Now with the leads removed we can disconnect the clamp from the thermostat. Take caution
around the tubing, lift that off and we’ll remove it and we’ll take it to a suitable
work surface to do the rest of the repair.
Now with the old thermostat removed we still have the inline connectors intact so that
allows us to do a splice operation a lot easier. So what we’ll do is we’re going to cut
those wire leads fairly close to the thermostat. We’ll cut both leads fairly close, next
we’re going to strip a quarter inch of the insulation back from those leads. Inspect
that copper to make sure that it’s nice and bright and not corroded. Then we’ll
take these butt splice connectors, slide those over the wire until it’s fully inserted,
and then we’ll crimp those in place.
Make sure they’re good and tight. Now we’ll simply trim the ends of the new thermostat
leads; again to about a quarter of an inch. Just twist them a bit so they’ll fit into
the butt splice connector easier. We need to make sure that we have enough room over
those inline connectors to slide our heat shrink tubing on.
Next we’ll slide that tubing into place so that it covers the butt splice connector.
Then we’ll heat that with a heat gun.
Now we’ll just finish up with the heat shrink, make sure that it adheres to the butt splice
connector. Let those cool a bit before we attempt to reinstall that thermostat.
The thermostat comes with a new mounting clip that we’ll use. The thermostat will line
up the hole in the mounting clamp and we’ll just snap that around the suction line to
the evaporator.
Now that we have the leads attached to our new thermostat we’re ready to install that
in place.
Now when installing the new thermostat we’re going to set that about an inch back from
the aluminum to copper joint there so it’s going to site right about here.
First step will be to slide the mounting clip on, let it hang there. Place the thermostat
roughly where it should be. Line up the hole in the top of that mounting clamp with the
button on the thermostat. Hold it in place and clip it on.
Next we’ll reconnect the wire leads, make sure it’s fully inserted in the quick-connect
coupler.
Now we can re-route those wire harnesses into the retaining clip on the back wall. Now we’re
ready to put the evaporator cover back on. So we’ll position that in place and juts
put one screw in it to hold it there. Line up the rest of the holes; make sure they’re
all going to line up. Install the remaining screws. Next we’ll reinstall the shelf brackets.
Now we can reinstall the shelving and the baskets.
Now we’re ready to reconnect the power, and our repair is complete.
Told you it was an easy job. Thanks for watching, and good luck with your repair.
