This is a long story... but I'm putting this here in hopes that other will find this solution via Google.
I have a 10 year old Viking refrigerator DDSB483D . About a month ago the refrigerator half of the unit starting freezing items. There's nothing quite like opening up your fridge to see a few exploded soda cans.
Called a repair guy who came in and said it was a defective damper. In short, the damper is supposed to close so that cold air from the freezer doesn't leak into the fridge when the fridge is at the right temp. He left as he didn't have the part on hand.. Called me the next day and said the part wasn't in stock and he'd continue to look.
After three days he called to report the part still wasn't available. This seemed questionable to me, so... I told them not to bother.
So I put on my captain internet cape and found the parts sheet for my fridge: http://ift.tt/25DiPuz
Nowhere in this parts sheet is a damper. Apparently Viking doesn't use a damper between the freezer and fridge on this model. Previously I thought the repair guy was just dealing with a bad parts supply network. Now I'm pretty sure he's a moron.
I start doing my own testing.
Thermistor testing is where I started. Viking Part Number C8983701. But as this is a GE component so there are a ton of others which are equivalent. W10331672, 12673301, C8983701, 1606726, AH3408037, EA3408037, PS3408037.
Testing resistance was a bit awkward as I didn't have the spec sheet nor could I find one. Found a link which reported @25°C should be 31,700 OHMs and @7°C 72,150 OHMs. Tested at both temps and was within 5%. Also pulled the thermistor from the freezer and it came out to the same values as the device in the fridge.
So crap, with both sensors tested, it's now likely a control board problem.
So I started searching for how to test the control board more specifically. I came across a page which reported that if the freezer door gasket is failing, it could cause the freezer to run all of the time and as such, freezing air will leak into the fridge.
Took a close look at the freezer door gasket and discovered a small tear very close to the bottom. Ok, so there's a slight tear... and I mean less than a 1/2 inch cut and not on the outer seal. How could this little gap be causing this issue? Well I soon discovered the gap wasn't the problem, but it caused the problem.
The gap had allowed moisture to get into the gasket, with gravity this sank to the bottom of the gasket and over time turned into ice. The entire bottom of the gasket was hard as a rock due to ice forming inside. That was my problem.
Replacement gaskets are available for around $150. Instead I simply uninstalled the gasket, cleaned and defrosted, sealed the cut with silicone and then installed upside down. I put it upside down as this seemed like a good idea at the time. Get the defect away from the bottom of the fridge and get the less stressed top part of the gasket to the bottom.
Hope this helps.
[edit: wording is hard.]
Submitted April 03, 2016 at 02:35AM by daxbert http://ift.tt/1SJpvAg Appliances
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