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model IT8WSKXW00 IKEA REFRIG NOT DEFROSTING, WARM IN


goliad

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Greetings,

My Ikea refrigerator has ice building up at the back, inside the freezer and the refrigerator is not cooling.  The freezer is only 25 deg F, refrigerator is 55 deg F.  I increased the temperature setting last night but it didn't help make it cooler.  The fan is running in the freezer area.  I have heard several times, the refrigerator trying to make some contacts work, clicking sounds in the freezer compartment.  I will clean the coils this evening and remove the majority of the ice build up in the freezer this evening.  

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

 

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  • goliad

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  • Hiroshi

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You are having a defrost failure. There is a heater element, a bi-metal thermostat, and an ADC (adaptive defrost control) in this model.

I would rate the ADC as the component with the highest failure rate: part # Part number: 4388931

Part number: 4388931 

when you are in the freezer compartment it would be best to test the thermostat before defrosting the coils manually because it should still be cold enough to be continuous- the cal-rod heaters rarely go bad, so if the defrost bi-metal tests good, I would replace the ADC.

There should be a tech sheet on the machine in a plastic envelope that may give you info on how to initiate a "forced defrost," but I am not sure with these IKEA dealies.

IKEA - top mount.pdf

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It would be a meter test for "continuity" while the thermostat is cold enough to be "satisfied."

Goliad would simply use that "third eye," but you may have to purchase a digital multi-meter!

You could probably search YouTube for "how to test a bi-metal thermostat" also...

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Greetings Hiroshi,

I investigated last night, in one video, as I recall, I could test the defrost circuit from inside the refrigerator, at the control board.  And from the wiring diagram, it seemed that I could, but I am just a grasshoppah.  I tested across the pink and brown leads gooing into the board.  I have an open.  I opened up the back of the freezer unit and it was solid ice pretty much.   I got the unit to go into the heat element test mode and it is warming up just fine.  I fully defrosted the unit.  This morning, the temp was 0 deg F in freezer and 40 deg F in refrig.  I ordered the control board as you suggested and the defrost bi-metal thermostat as well.  I will see how fast the ice  comes back.  Any idea of how fast it will come back? ONe video suggested that leaving the door open for awhile can cause the ice to build up.  I did by mistake leave the freezer door open recently.  Could that be a cause also of my problem?

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Yes. Leaving the door open for a long enough period will create a frost blockage that a typical defrost cycle can't quite clear, then whe the machine starts cooling again, it freezes the frost into actual ice and it's all downhill from there. If the heater worked in diagnostic mode, it proves the thermostat is OK (for now), but since it is a cheaper part, there is little harm in having one on stand-by. If you wait for 4-5 days the frost will be back again if you have a bad ADC board that is not initiating defrost on it's own...

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  • 2 weeks later...

Greetings Master Hiroshi,

I got a  little curious today about my recalcitrant refrigerator.  It was making the clicking sounds again.  I could feel the ice thru the metal cover.  I opened up the back panel of the freezer and found only what seems to be a manageable amount of ice on the coils.   The ice was only on the front of the coils, next to the metal cover.  And it was only about 30% of the frontal area that was covered by the ice.  I got the frig to go into the defrost mode and fully defrosted it.  It is back to normal now.  It's been 10 days of good behavior.  Maybe i was being too sensitive??  Any ideas or thoughts please?

best regards

Goliad

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I would keep it under observation, ADC boards and thermostats can fail in an intermittent fashion. It is normal for the coils to build frost, as long as the machine's defrost function can melt it within the given defrost period: it is a- O.K.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Good day to you Sir,

I am still having concerns about my refrigerator.  This morning, it was running, the compressor was compressing; it started with a click (sounds like a relay actuating) and the compressor and fan in the freezer stopped, momentarily, then started running again but only for about 2-3 seconds.  And this cycle repeated for a minute or two every two or three seconds. It doesn't seem good to have the compressor and fan to be stopping and starting like this.   I changed out the ADC card about two weeks ago because i was going out of town for a week.  the defrost function seems to be working fine.

Is this a separate problem from the defrosting issue?  I didn't fully explain this concern before, thinking it was part of the controller board issue.  Is this the defrost thermostat?

Thank you greatly,

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Your unit has a cold control thermostat, the ADC would be the only component that would be using a relay to start or stop the compressor...

When you hear this "clicking," I would open the fridge compartment and listen to hear if the sound is coming from the control area- if it is you may have a defective ADC, since you just replaced it...

Cold controls can fail also, but wouldn't be likely to on/off the compressor like that- any chance you pulled some wires loose when installing the ADC?

If the "clicking" is coming from the compressor area I would probably install one of these: Part number: URCO810 

Part number: URCO810

 

How old is this machine?



 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hello Kind and patient Master, 

The machine is just about 6 years old.  I came home last night and found the frost building up on the inside of the freezer, on the cover of the coils.  I could not get it to go into the test mode, it would click twice, which the tech sheet suggested to check the defrost thermostat.  I just went ahead and changed it out since i had one.  And finished defrosting the freezer.  All was fine this morning.  

The multiple clicking i heard previously, was coming from the control section in the top of the refrigerator.  

I am thinking if the refrigerator works fine, to change the control board back to the original and see what happens? 

thanks!

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