I think my mini fridge needs a new thermostat

[zxcvbob]

It's a 4.4 or 4.5 cu ft Kenmore without a freezer.  Not sure how old it is.  It pretty much quit cooling last week.  Stuff inside was still cool, but that might have just been residual cold.  I started looking online at replacement refrigerators, but decided to try just turning down the temperature control and see what happens.  With it turned down all the way, the fridge gets way too cold.  I took a can of beer out a half hour ago, and it still has frost forming on the outside.  I turn the thermostat up just a little and the fridge quits cooling again.

I assume it's going to be pretty easy to replace, but hard to find the part.

[K Frame]

Depending on the age it could have been made by a dozen manufacturers or so. You'll need to get the model number off it and start doing a web crawl to get the manufacturer and to see if the part is still available.

My parents bought a Kenmore deep freeze when I was maybe 3 or 4 (I actually remember it being delivered). It was a huge thing. Made by Coldspot.

In 2004 or so it started icing up. Wouldn't defrost, which was interfering with cooling. I got to looking at it and the automatic defrost timer box -- being that old it was a mechanical clock work kind -- had seized up. I made the mistake of touching it to see how easy it would be to remove and I burned the *expletive deleted*it out of my fingers. I'm really surprised it didn't catch fire.

I looked into replacing it, and believe it or not the part was still available. But then the unit started to defrost... and water started pouring out of the door, the side walls, basically everywhere it shouldn't have. It just kept cooling for so long that any humidity started to freeze in any free space. It would never dry out and would turn into a huge mold bomb.

I ended up buying them a new Frigidaire for Christmas. Same cubic feet interior as the old unit, but because of the advances in insulation and the compressor and the like i twas about 2/3rds the size of the old one.

[Jim147]

Type the model number in at searsparts.com and see what they have. If they don't have it get me the part number and I'll check my sources.

[zxcvbob]

Type the model number in at searsparts.com and see what they have. If they don't have it get me the part number and I'll check my sources.

Thanks.  I can't find the model number.  Haven't pulled it out to see if it's on the back.  There's a sticker inside the door with a lot of unreadably small print, I'll take a pic of that and maybe it's on there.

[zxcvbob]

The sticker is mostly cleaning and defrosting instructions.  It has 2 numbers on it; neither of them looks like a model number.  8332233450400, and a part number 302020 which I think is for the sticker itself.

I went to searpartsdirect.com and couldn't find anything using either number.  I also took a picture of the temperature control housing; I'll see if I can get it off of my phone and into this thread.

[zxcvbob]

I can't quite get the images to embed, but here's links to what I got:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/RVSatsNRG17tomfi7

https://photos.app.goo.gl/HLPKComVwbNwzLKf9

If that thermostat has a bimetallic coil, maybe I just need to open it up and clean it.

[sumpnz]

We had ribeye roasts dry aging in a mini-fridge in the garage.  MIL, who has Alzheimer’s is using that garage for a bedroom for now.  She unplugged the fridge so she could plus in a nightlight and computer monitor she never uses.  Had no idea she’d even done that.  Realized what happen when the smell was noticeable even with the fridge closed.  That was special.  Probably ruined $300 in meat.

[Bogie]

My mother had a Sears chest freezer that had the compressor go out. She called Sears, and a guy came out, gave her a $75 bill, and told her that replacing the compressor would cost several hundred dollars.
 
A new freezer of the same size was cheaper. And they still billed her $75 for the service call. And didn't tell her about that up front.
 
I'm NEVER going to buy another Sears appliance. Which, oops... now seems rather academic.

[K Frame]

We had ribeye roasts dry aging in a mini-fridge in the garage.  MIL, who has Alzheimer’s is using that garage for a bedroom for now.  She unplugged the fridge so she could plus in a nightlight and computer monitor she never uses.  Had no idea she’d even done that.  Realized what happen when the smell was noticeable even with the fridge closed.  That was special.  Probably ruined $300 in meat.

My Mother would do stuff like that when she was getting near the end of her life and the dementia/Alzheimer's/whatever was biting really hard.

She constantly kept hiding her purse in the house and then would freak out because "someone came in and stole it and has her checkbook!"

[Jim147]

I can't quite get the images to embed, but here's links to what I got:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/RVSatsNRG17tomfi7

https://photos.app.goo.gl/HLPKComVwbNwzLKf9

If that thermostat has a bimetallic coil, maybe I just need to open it up and clean it.

If you unplug it and take that cover off there should be a part number on the thermostat. Might take some old book crossover to find a current number but I have old books.

[K Frame]

A lot of times the model number for these units was on a sticker on the bottom back, under or nearly under the cooling coils.