Hotpoint 203C2452P033 refrigerator not cooling properly

[jdke]

I bought an old Hotpoint fridge online for the garage a couple months ago that was working great up until a couple days ago. It sounds like it is running properly, but it is not cooling properly. The freezer is about 0 F on the bottom, and about 32 F on all the walls and ceiling. The fridge is about 60 F everywhere and there is some condensation or leaking on the ceiling (see picture). 

I took what I could off the back and cleaned up what I could, but I don't see how to take the gray panel off, if there is something in there I need to get to. 

 

I've attached two pages that appear to have come out of the manual that fell out when I took the back piece off.

I only spent $30 on this thing (and it came with beer!), so it won't be the end of the world if it's not a simple fix, but I'd like to avoid the hassle of getting rid of it and hauling a new one into the garage if I can. 

 

[Budget Appliance Repair]

Is the back compressor cover missing just as shown in your last picture or do you just have it off and setting to the side somewhere?

It needs that compressor compartment cover on to operate correctly - to cool the condenser coils correctly but you may have other problems also.

[Captain Dunsel]

Take the freezer panel off and look at the evaporator coils. Post a pic!

[jdke]

On 7/27/2023 at 7:26 AM, Budget Appliance Repair said:

Is the back compressor cover missing just as shown in your last picture or do you just have it off and setting to the side somewhere?

It needs that compressor compartment cover on to operate correctly - to cool the condenser coils correctly but you may have other problems also.

Appreciate the reply, and apologies I didn't see it until now. 

Yes, I did remove the compartment cover to try and clean out some of the dust back there. Since my original post, I discovered that the evaporator fan isn't working. This was after clearing out the drain pipe, and confirming that the defrost timer and heater were working properly. 

I'm now looking at the image below, not sure exactly which wires to test with the multimeter, having a very hard time remove the connections, and having a hard time removing the fan blade from the motor. So any tips on any of that would be much appreciated. Let me know if more pictures would be helpful. Thanks!

[jdke]

On 7/27/2023 at 9:42 AM, Captain Dunsel said:

Take the freezer panel off and look at the evaporator coils. Post a pic!

Appreciate the reply, and apologies I didn't see it until now. 

I've posted a pic of what I found when I removed the freezer panel, but since my original post, I discovered that the evaporator fan isn't working. This was after clearing out the drain pipe, and confirming that the defrost timer and heater were working properly. 

I'm now looking at the image below, not sure exactly which wires to test with the multimeter, having a very hard time remove the connections, and having a hard time removing the fan blade from the motor. So any tips on any of that would be much appreciated. Let me know if more pictures would be helpful. Thanks!

[jdke]

I will also add that since my original post, I learned that the actual model number is CTX16BYTGRAD.

[Budget Appliance Repair]

@jdke The two wires on the evaporator fan motor coil (Orange and Black) is where you would be checking for 120Vac, (the green/yellow wire to the fan mount is just a ground wire).

I can't remember if these old GE/Hotpoints ran the fan thru the defrost t-stat, (I remember the old Amana's did it that way but can't remember if GE did it to).  If the evaporator fan is ran thru the defrost t-stat the fan won't run until the coils get down to the temp that will close the defrost t-stat.

As far gas getting the wires off the evaporator fan motor - be careful not to yank the terminals out of the coil, the spade terminals stick really bad if they haven't been removed for many years.  Need to get needle nose pliers on the terminal base and wedge the spade terminal off using a straight screwdriver prying against the pliers holding the base of the coil terminal.

[jdke]

@Budget Appliance Repair Ok, thank you. Probably a dumb question, but the fridge needs to be plugged in when checking the orange and black wires, right? 

[Budget Appliance Repair]

@jdke Anytime you are going to be using your meter to check for voltage - of course the item you are testing needs to be plugged in.

No way to get a voltage reading on anything that isn't plugged into the house wall power receptacle.

[Nathaniel Peterson]

On 8/3/2023 at 9:15 AM, Budget Appliance Repair said:

@jdke Anytime you are going to be using your meter to check for voltage - of course the item you are testing needs to be plugged in.

No way to get a voltage reading on anything that isn't plugged into the house wall power receptacle.

 

On 8/2/2023 at 8:48 AM, Budget Appliance Repair said:

@jdke The two wires on the evaporator fan motor coil (Orange and Black) is where you would be checking for 120Vac, (the green/yellow wire to the fan mount is just a ground wire).

I can't remember if these old GE/Hotpoints ran the fan thru the defrost t-stat, (I remember the old Amana's did it that way but can't remember if GE did it to).  If the evaporator fan is ran thru the defrost t-stat the fan won't run until the coils get down to the temp that will close the defrost t-stat.

As far gas getting the wires off the evaporator fan motor - be careful not to yank the terminals out of the coil, the spade terminals stick really bad if they haven't been removed for many years.  Need to get needle nose pliers on the terminal base and wedge the spade terminal off using a straight screwdriver prying against the pliers holding the base of the coil terminal.

There a release tab on those fan connectors that you can see in the picture. Make sure the needle nose pliers are pushing in the tabs before removing. @Budget Appliance Repairthey're just like the micro-switch connectors on microwaves.@jdke may need the refrigerator door switch closed to get power to send to the fan. Also make sure the air channel is clear going down to refrigerator compartment. Just trying to help. Good luck 🤞

[Captain Dunsel]

There is picture of the wiring diagram in his post. 

[jdke]

@Nathaniel Peterson Thanks for the input. New problem, the outlets in my garage suddenly stopped working, so will need to get someone out to help with that before I can do any further testing with the fridge. Home ownership would be fun they said...

[Nathaniel Peterson]

4 hours ago, jdke said:

@Nathaniel Peterson Thanks for the input. New problem, the outlets in my garage suddenly stopped working, so will need to get someone out to help with that before I can do any further testing with the fridge. Home ownership would be fun they said...

Check any GFCIs if you have any in the garage to see if they tripped. Make sure the refrigerator is unplugged though. That way you can see whether or not it's the refrigerator tripping it. But most likely you're going to want to leave it unplugged in case something bad is going on with the refrigerator. If it is a GFCI problem with the refrigerator.

[jdke]

19 hours ago, Nathaniel Peterson said:

Check any GFCIs if you have any in the garage to see if they tripped. Make sure the refrigerator is unplugged though. That way you can see whether or not it's the refrigerator tripping it. But most likely you're going to want to leave it unplugged in case something bad is going on with the refrigerator. If it is a GFCI problem with the refrigerator.

No GFCIs in the garage and nothing on the electrical panel is tripped. I have someone coming out to take a look. 

[Nathaniel Peterson]

1 hour ago, jdke said:

No GFCIs in the garage and nothing on the electrical panel is tripped. I have someone coming out to take a look. 

Ok 👌

[jdke]

@Nathaniel Peterson So it turns out there was a GFCI, but it was outside the house, just outside the garage, so I didn't see it. It was indeed tripped and the outlets work fine upon resetting it. Oddly enough, the evaporator fan worked when I plugged the fridge back in and it was cooling great...for about 36 hours. Now the fan is not spinning again, and the fridge is back up to 50 degrees or, so I'm back where I started. Which wires should I be checking on the fan to test if it's the power coming into the fan or the fan itself? And should I be checking AC or DC? Appreciate the help!

 

[Nathaniel Peterson]

3 minutes ago, jdke said:

@Nathaniel Peterson So it turns out there was a GFCI, but it was outside the house, just outside the garage, so I didn't see it. It was indeed tripped and the outlets work fine upon resetting it. Oddly enough, the evaporator fan worked when I plugged the fridge back in and it was cooling great...for about 36 hours. Now the fan is not spinning again, and the fridge is back up to 50 degrees or, so I'm back where I started. Which wires should I be checking on the fan to test if it's the power coming into the fan or the fan itself? And should I be checking AC or DC? Appreciate the help!

 

Black and orange 110-120 volts a/c

[jdke]

5 hours ago, Nathaniel Peterson said:

Black and orange 110-120 volts a/c

Cool, so that came back as 118 volts.

[Nathaniel Peterson]

4 hours ago, jdke said:

Cool, so that came back as 118 volts.

Power is good needs new fan if not running.

[jdke]

6 hours ago, Nathaniel Peterson said:

Power is good needs new fan if not running.

Sounds good, thanks!