Pocket doors are cool. My upstairs bathroom door opens out into a narrow hall and blocks all traffic unless it's kept flat against the wall with a doorstop. There is no traffic to block since it's just me, but a pocket door would be perfect. Very hard to put in after a house is already built.
I've had 2 refrigerate in the past with similar problems, they iced up. If it's a self-defrosting frige, both times I had to replace the timer. The timer is basically a switch that cycles a heating element on/off to melt the frost. The melted water then will wind up in a tray at the bottom of the fridge, where the heat from the compressor will evaporate it. The timer has what looks like a plastic screw head, that can be manually turned with a flat blade screwdriver till the heater kicks in. If the heater works then it usually means the timer is bad. Turn the timer with the fridge off, when you feel it snap in, then plug the fridge in check if the heating element get warm. You might have to try turning the timer till you hit the "on" position. You can with the fridge off if you have an ohm meter check across the heating element for resistance. (10-40 ohms) That's been my experience with fridge repairs. I couldn't dl a photo of a timer
Thanks, Tony I think the problem is the defrost heater. It's called a Calrod™ element. Just like a burner on an electric stove only lower wattage and stretched out in a straight line. Way more expensive than the cheap heaters they use in side by side refrigerators now. It looks to me like someone tried to install an element that was too long to fit the cabinet and forced it in by bending it a couple times. You're not supposed to bend those rods. There are some rough looking raised spots on it. It can be tested, but if a burner on my stove looked like that, I would assume it was headed for its last roundup, no matter what the test said. (click to enlarge) Most parts places don't even recognize the model number of this refrigerator. My guess is this was a model produced by GE especially for Palm Harbor mobile homes at the time, and they needed to get rid of some longer obsolete heater rods. The timer does its job when you advance the wheel manually, but the wheel could be stuck. The cap on the thermostat is slightly raised at one point. Could have happened when it froze over. Both these parts are relatively cheap and easy to replace. Might as well do both of them if I do the heater. Bottom line, with all original OEM parts, it would cost $188 including shipping. I could probably save $40 choosing cheap Chinese made generic parts. Too much of a gamble. And there is a hidden factor to consider: The fun in fixing something old. “There are some things money can't buy. For everything else there's Mastercard.”
I've never had to change the defrost heater whether it was rod or rope type on a fridge. It did bring back memories when I was a small appliance repair dept. manager in A&S depth store. We where an authorized repair for some 25 small appliances and vacuum cleaner companies. I was a authorized Farberware repair, during my stay there I must have replace 50 or more warming elements for the Farberware electric coffee pot, as well as thermostats. I used one of those warming elements to make two strip heaters, which is used to bent Lucite. I made picture frames to sell at the flea market. I'm talking too much but it did bring back memories.
Oh Goody! Something else we can watch @Nancy Hart do. We don't want to watch any grass grow under her feet.
Lots of grass (and dust) grows under my feet, and under the bed, and many other places. I try to avoid posting pictures of that. Isn't it wonderful that doing the laundry doesn't take all day Monday, with ironing on Tuesday, like it did back in the 1940s?
There are some things where doing my own labor justifies buying premium parts. This project would be one of them. I tried replacing a blower on my modern fridge and the new OEM part with the exact same # stamped on it was different from the one in the fridge. The mounting was different and the wiring was different. If the parts store were closer than a one hour drive one-way, I might have messed with it more instead of buying a new fridge.
That's what worries me. I know it can happen. I'm going out this weekend, remove the 3 parts, bring them in town, so I can double check the best I can before ordering. These are from Sears Parts Direct. I had trouble with them before sending a part they guaranteed would work, and didn't. But it's the only place I could find that offered all 3 parts, with pictures, and the heater had detailed measurements.
Yeh, my problem was that by the time I diagnosed the problem, I did not have time to remove the part and get to the parts store before it closed. I looked the Part# up online and the parts guy verified it in his system. It's beyond frustrating. At least the store let me UPS the fan back to them for credit rather than making me do a 2 hour round trip to do it. I'll have to regale you with stories of my 1940s oil floor furnace sometime. I got lucky in that the place that sold parts would sell to consumers at the time. They later went to contractor-sales only.
I got mixed up thinking there was a home football game today, so took off to retrieve the refrigerator parts rather late yesterday. The heater rod had separated completely in one spot. (click to enlarge) The timer has a different model number from the one at Sears Parts, but only the first 3 letters are different. No clue what the time schedule on/off is on either one. Maybe it doesn't matter. The temperature range on the thermostat is L55-30F, meaning high temp 55 degrees, low temp, 25 (55-30). The numbers on the one at Sears Parts are (purposely, imo) hidden, so you can't see if the specs match or not. I gave up, and pulled the trigger on the order using PayPal. A message comes back that SearsParts LLC does not ship to this address. Went through fine with credit card. Scheduled to arrive Nov 14th. Usually if things start out this bad, they don't end well. I think I'll cut down another dogwood tree. ..
Talk like that would land you in jail here, Missy. The dogwood is our state tree. Good luck with the thermostat. I wonder why fridges/freezers are not as straightforward as other things?