[myselfer]

Greetings, and Happy New Year!

The appliance in question is a KitchenAid side by side refrigerator (Model: KSBP25INSS01). It is about 14 years old, and has developed an issue with the air diffuser operation. The diffuser is the tiny modulating door that allows freezer air into the refrigerator section at a controlled rate.

So recently, we noticed a faint, double-beep noise coming from the unit every 3 seconds. I also discovered that the air diffuser is forcing itself closed with the motor cycling on/ off in unison with with the double-beep sound. In other words, the diffuser motor runs for two seconds followed by the double-beep sound.

I attempted to replace the air diffuser with a new one, but the problem persists. It leads me to believe that another part has failed such as a control unit or thermostat. I do not have a schematic of this unit. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

 

[ktkelly]

Check that the door isn't slightly off kilter.


After a move, ours had that same beep thing going. Turned out the door was off kilter by a very small margin. I adjusted it and all has been well for about 9 years...

 

[myselfer]

The door moves freely. If I manually move it full open, the electric motor will just drive it closed again after a few seconds. It will continue to cycle on and off towards the closed position even though the door is all the way at the stop.

 

[ktkelly]

When I say the door was off kilter, I mean that it just wasn't actually sealing fully.


The door still moved freely, it just wasn't lined up perfectly, so it didn't seal perfectly. That made for a temp difference that set thing to not working as they should, and the beeping began.


Make certain the door is 100% sealing as it should. A little air intrusion makes these things go nuts.

 

[myselfer]

I see - you mean the actual refrigerator door.. I thought you meant the diffuser door. I’ll take a closer look. Thank you.

 

[JBoot]

The appliance in question is a KitchenAid side by side refrigerator (Model: KSBP25INSS01). I do not have a schematic of this unit. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

Did you buy this unit new? You may have a copy of the schematic somewhere in the unit...like behind the toe kick at the bottom of the refrigerator.

Check the thermistor. You can duckduckgo a parts diagram, find the location, and even the ohm reading, if you want to check.

 

[surferdude2]

Check the refrigerator door switch circuit to see if it's involved. It may be wired to close the freezer damper when the door is open.

SD2

 

[surferdude2]

Here are a couple clips from people with the same problem and how they handled it.

 

[myselfer]

Thank you for the replies - all relevant and helpful. Was out of town for a few days, and just got back.

Did you buy this unit new? You may have a copy of the schematic somewhere in the unit...like behind the toe kick at the bottom of the refrigerator.

Check the thermistor. You can duckduckgo a parts diagram, find the location, and even the ohm reading, if you want to check.

Yes, this unit was purchased new, and has been problem-free. The little beeping/temp control thing just started recently. Other internet searches I've done also suggest checking the thermistor(s). I will look for the owner manual tomorrow.

Check the refrigerator door switch circuit to see if it's involved. It may be wired to close the freezer damper when the door is open.

SD2

Good info. I'll keep my eye on the door switches. Light turns off as I close the door, so I think they're ok. I put my phone in the fridge & freezer to video record whether the light turns back on after it's fully closed, and it does not. The switches seem to work fine. This has been an intermittent problem like your other attachment talks about. Thank you for your help.

 

[surferdude2]

Check the circuit diagram if you get a chance. If that door switch is an SPDT then it could still be the trouble even though to light switch contact in it works, the damper switch part (contacts) could still be flaky. Time will tell.

Good luck.

 

[myselfer]

Interesting.. Well, I haven't bothered to pull the fridge out of its enclosure since it has been working fine lately. The problem just shows up whenever it decides to... So therefore I have not checked to see if there is a user guide tucked away behind the lower access panel, but I will report back when I do.

 

[surferdude2]

You should pull that front kick cover off and pull the drain tray out and wash it clean. Then vacuum the condenser coils back in ther that will have a huge quantity of dust and lint if you have never cleaned it before. It pays to clean that area at least once a year or else the compressor life will be shorter and your power bill will be higher. Those coils get clogged pretty badly if not attended to on a regular basis. I use a Swiffer Duster attached to the vacuum cleaner pipe for the job.

As for the door switch replacement, it can be pried out with a flat blade screwdriver and replaced easily since it's a plug connected device. Uplug the cabinet power first.

 

[myselfer]

The issue has started showing up again. I cleaned the condenser coils which were indeed full of dust. There was no owner's manual to be found anywhere under the unit.

However, I did notice something new with the issue I've described. When I open the refrigerator door, the digital temperature display on the control panel inside will randomly change. For example, the indicated temperature will suddenly change from indicating 57°F down to 36°F where it should be.

I don't know for sure, but it makes me think that the thermistor went bad.

 

[surferdude2]

When you open the door, the door switch actuates. hmmm... Is there a connection there?

Ignoring that obvious pun, as stated before, some people have had strange problems attributed to the door switch. For sake of argument, lets assume the switch is a 3 pole one that may control the air duct shut off between the freezer and the refrigerator, may also affect the control board in other ways by creating line noise from arcing.

It would be good to know if yours is a 3-pole switch since that would lend more credence to the theory that it could possibly cause such a problem.

 

[myselfer]

It appears I have repaired the issue. After reading some testimonials at an online parts store, I replaced the Bi-Metal Defrost Thermostat. It is clipped to the top of the evaporator inside the freezer.

When I removed the evaporator shroud, the first thing I noticed was that the top end was partially iced up. I'm not sure whether that's normal - just my observation.

Next, I removed the wiring harness. I cut the old part off, spliced in the new one with some butt connectors. Put it all back together, rebooted the fridge, and so far it's all running normally. I posted a few pics below.

It would be good to know if yours is a 3-pole switch since that would lend more credence to the theory that it could possibly cause such a problem.

For what it's worth, I did check the door switch. It's two-pronger. Thank you again for your help.

 

[myselfer]

Pics did not appear in the previous post for some reason..