Frigidaire Refrigerator

[Rogue]

We have a Frigidaire FSC23F7DSB7 refrigerator that stopped cooling. This afternoon the temperature starting climbing rapidly and stopped around 58 degrees F. A repairman came to look at it a little while ago and said the control board and the thermostat need to be replaced, for a total of $289. Is this an alright price? I don't mind paying it if it will fix it.

He had to go in through the freezer and take off the  back wall panel and the coils there were all frozen up and then he slid the control board out from under the fridge and that is how he determined this.

Thanks for any help.

[Repair-man]

It's probably a bad main power board, part # 241511101

[Rogue]

Well he did test something with a meter around where the thermostat is so I guess that's fine. As far as replacing the board, I could do it, as I have done minor repairs with the water dispenser lever, but since the guy is coming to do the thermostat I guess I might as well just let him do it.

[Rogue]

Okay, new predicament. The guy came by with the new control board and thermostat. He plugged the new control board in and the lights were flashing on and off and the temp readout was showing E for freezer and F for the refrigerator.  He said that he was told this board would be compatible in that he wouldn't have to replace the UI (User Interface) as well. He said that replaces that UI also requires a Frigidaire tech to come and enter a special code as well. He said total repairs would be over $600, which is new refrigerator time as far as I am concerned. Is this all correct? What do I do from here?

[Rogue]

Sorry to make so many replies in a row, but I forgot to mention that on the board he replaced with, the part number was 241511111 and the board that was there already was 241511101


There was a paper that came with the 11 replacement board that said you had to replace the UI if you had the 01. So something just clicked in my head, why was he not using an 01 board?




Frigidaire Refrigerator UI Control Board Part # 240596702

[MajorApp]

Sounds like your gettin scammed to me. $600.00 plus a different tech to enter a code.

[Rogue]

The strange thing is he didn't even want to go through with it. He automatically starting packing up and said he was sorry it didn't work out. Is there even such a thing as a Frigidaire tech having to enter a code?

So does the thermostat and control board sound like a good assessment? Could the problem be anything else other than those 2 things? I could replace the control board myself for sure, I would need to find out how to do the thermostat but I could do it I'm sure.

Right now after having been off for 24 hours and turned back on a little while ago, the fridge and freezer seem to be working. The freezer is at 0 and the fridge at 35. Either it will work normally now or those coils in the back of the freezer will freeze up again.

[Rogue]

I just saw on repairclinic.com

(The manufacturer has replaced part number 241511101 with this item, part number 241511111.)

So that answers one question...So if 241511101 is not available, and 241511111 requires you to replace the entire UI, then shame on Frigidaire. If this is true I will never buy another one of their products.

[Rogue]

Thanks, I may take you up on that offer, though for right now the fridge and freezer seems to be working. Worst case scenario, I figure the evaporator (sorry I'm still new at this, whatever the coils are in the back of the freezer) will freeze up again.

Now let me ask this, is the evaporator freezing up what caused the whole refrigerator to get warm, and if so, what would have cause it to freeze up. If not, what cause the symptom of a frozen evaporator? Sorry, I asked that kind of backwards. If I have researched correctly, the evap froze up because the defrost didn't cycle, so that leads me to what caused the defrost not to work. Whether that is a control board, thermostat, or something else, that's what I need to find out I guess.

Also, as far buying that part from you, I just noticed you are in Canada, whereas I am located in Georgia, so shipping might be expensive. I'll worry about that when the time comes I guess. But I assume that since this is a 01 there would be no problems with plugging it in. Do you happen to know why they made that revision at all? Was there a problem with the 01 board?

[BrntToast]

gimme a bit to find and post a manual for you

[BrntToast]

http://appliancejunk.com/forums/index.php?action=downloads

there is your manual

and i think we should start from the begining, i dont like hearing you needed the board and thermostat(i have to assume this would be the defrost therm cause the fridge has no control thermostat)

the manual explains how to force defrost from the controls, this test must be done while the freezer is cold

once you have some frost on the evaporator remove the freezer back then run the force defrost test and see if the heater gets hot... post back your findings

i'll try to check in nightly for you to make sure you need a board before i ship one out

as for the change in board and UI, sorry but i do not know the reason nor do the engineers tell us the reason, but i sure would like for them to explain why they caused such a PITA

i can say that i do not see many failures with these boards, and i do friggy warranty so i see alot of these units, the common failure is the defrost thermostat which we will test next if your forced defrost produces no heat from the element

p.s  i hope your skiny cause its tough gettin inside that freezer, but have faith, cause i think you had a first technician failure and not board failure

[BrntToast]

btw, i have not explained any real test procedures yet

before i bother... do you know how to use a multimeter to test for voltage and continuity?

if not i can explain a simple defrost therm bypass test

but the meter test does all at once and is prefered

[Rogue]

I'm sorry but I don't own a multimeter. 

But I was watching when the repairman was in the freezer and he seemed to determine the thermostat was bad by using a multimeter. I think I read the other day there is a forced defrost procedure by pressing the temp control buttons a certain way, I can't recall, but is that the alternate test procedure you mentioned?

And I also found it odd that the repairman tested the thermostat with a multimeter, then just slid out the control board and determined it was bad just by looking at it.

[BrntToast]

the manual i sent describes the force defrost key combination, you must remove back panel of freezer then run force defrost from the controls for your first test

*note* the freezer must be cold still once freezer back is removed when you run the force defrost from the controls

quick explanation....  the defrost thermostat is closed when cold and allows the heater to get hot and melt the frost, once the heater gets hot enough(47 degrees i believe) it opens and turns off the heater

so if the freezer is not cold when you force defrost the heater wont come on cause the therm is open

so, back to the begining

remove freezer back while fridge is running, then do forced defrost while the fridge is on, check heater after 2 minutes and it should be hot to the touch(caution you might burn yourself)

post back once you do this

btw, when you force defrost the fridge should shut down(freezer fan and compressor)  make sure both are off, i have seen a few friggy fridges that had bad boards and ran the compressor during defrost, this causes frost build up even if the heater and therm are working

you can check the compressor to see if it is running by simply putting your hand on top and feeling for the slight vibration

you might have to buy a cheap multimeter and find or section on "how to use am meter" for future tests, but i will try easy tests that require no meter as long as i can till these are no longer usefull

But I was watching when the repairman was in the freezer and he seemed to determine the thermostat was bad by using a multimeter<---- if your fridge was warm at the time he should not have bothered to do this test cause the therm would test open

[Rogue]

Wow, thats definitely a good start. The fridge was definitely warm when he tested.

And I will be doing these tests tomorrow. I just took off the back panel and the evaporator is all frozen up again, though the freezer was still maintaining -3F before I checked.

Thank you so much for taking all this time to write that out.

[Rogue]

I'm assuming the evaporator shouldn't look like this?

[BrntToast]

i'll check your reply tomorrow eve

btw, its not every night i'm on these wee hours, i napped all afternoon/eve with my sick boy so wasn't tired, prolly pay for this in the mornin

after tests, place freezer back in its place but dont screw it back in cause i'll be askin you to do things back there

tomorrow make sure you purcase a few wire connectors if you dont have any, marettes or preferably crimp on wire connectors if you have the crimper

cause i will be asking you to cut and splice 2 wires for the next test if forced defrost provides no heat to the element

[BrntToast]

nope, thats a defrost problem

[BrntToast]

give one more pic closer to the top, where the wires are going to the disk on the top evaporator tubing

[BrntToast]

i'll stay up a few more minutes if your still up