Maytag side by side freezer not getting cold

[garak112]

We have a Maytag side by side fridge freezer which we discovered was not getting cold.

I stumbled accross this website which helped me to determine that the defrost timer was not working correctly (manually advancing it did not make it enter the defrosting phase).

I removed the back of the freezer and discovered that the coils were a solid block of ice, so I defrosted them. I then had a look at the timer itself, opened it up and saw evidence that the motor had burnt out.

I put everything back together and after 6 hours the freezer was at the right temperature, and has continued to run at the correct temperature for the past 5 days.

Today the replacement defrost timer turned up from Maytag and after checking the freezer temperature hadn't varied I installed it straight away, reasoning that if the temperature was still constant the coils hadn't frozen up enough to warrant manually defrosting them.

I then tested the new defrost timer by manually advancing it, this resulted in the compressor shutting off (which hadn't happened when I tried on the old one) and I assume the defrost cycle starting.

I came back down the stairs 20 minutes later and the compressor was running again. I checked the drip tray and there was no water in it, which got me worried that the unit is working correctly.

Is 20 minutes the correct amount of time for the compressor to turn off when the defrost is working? How often should the unit enter a defrost cycle? I am just checking as if its not working correctly I don't want to fill it up with food again and lose it when it ices over and everything thaws out before we discover the problem.

[woodchuck]

Twenty minutes would be enough time in normal operation. You start with very little ice buildup and It will melt in 20 minutes. It probably goes through a defrost cycle about every 12 hours.
If your water drain tube isn't stopped up the water in the tray may have already been evaporated by the condenser fan.
Since the freezer is empty it should be easy to check the coils for buildup before you reload.

[richapplyguy]

Now, turn the defrost control till the compressor shuts off. Look at the back panel in the freezer. You should hear defrost sounds like sizzling water. Also. the back panel will get warm. If non of this happens, you have either a defrost thermostat or heater failure.

[garak112]

Well I had the back of the freezer off again and the defrost heaters do not warm up at all, I removed one (wire coil in glass tube) which has evidence of burning inside, I removed the connectors and saw that the wire was broken inside the tube.

So I am assuming it has burnt out much like a lightbulb.

Since I know the defrost timer wasn't working before (would not turn off the fan and compressor) and now it appears the defrost heater is broken, would it also be worth replacing the thermostat as well?

As a side note we experienced several power surges in recent weeks as a result of severe lightning storms, which is what I am assuming is the cause of the problems.

[garak112]

Well I have replaced the defrost heater, and the old one had burnt out in its tube.

I installed the new one and set it to the defrost cycle to check it but it didn't come on and no power was going to the heaters.

Would the thermostat have prevented the heating after being at room temperature for 30 minutes?

[garak112]

Tested the thermostat and had correct resistance when cold, so I wondered if I had installed the heater incorrectly.

I went over to look in the box as I had seen a thick wad wad of paper which I assumed was a diagram or similar. It was in fact a return authorisation for a faulty defrost heater - they have sent me an item already returned by another company as faulty.

[woodchuck]

Hey , that's great!! I mean that you hopefully found out what your problem is. That's 95% of the job.