Westinghouse electronic defrost

[Blackbird]

Hi all,

I got called out to a customers Westinghouse fridge still under warranty, Westinghouse have been out to it twice now but the tech that they send claims that he is an airconditioning mechanic not a refrigeration mechanic!? He adjusted the doors for them told them to turn the fridge off for a few days, and hey presto it worked for a week then slowly deteriorated! (He didn't even take the covers off inside the freezer!)

Classic defrost problem I know- problem is this fridge has all the electronic stuff on it - I generally stay away from these fridges but the customer insisted that she didn't want westinghouse back again.

Anyway cut a long story short(ish) I found the coil to be completely iced up all termination t/stats and fuses are OK, Heater is also OK - by method of deduction I have decided it must be the electronic defrost control - I would just like to test it before I go ordering a new one...has anybody got the testing sequence for this fridge? (Westinghouse RJ523V-R)

Cheers

[drew71]

Hi Blackbird

There are a couple of versions of the RJ532V, identified by serial number or variant number (*6, *10 etc.) anything after variant 10 has the new hardware and software.

From the description, and past experience I think you could safely assume control board part number 1442351 is at fault, especially if the unit you are looking at is pre variant 10

should you wish the manual's that cover these models please contact me off list, they are about 50 pages each in PDF format

Cheers

Drew

[Blackbird]

Thanks for the help Drew,

I put the fridge through its diagnostics and it did everything it was asked of. I can only assume something has gone wrong with the defrost initiation in the control board.

I installed the new board a few days ago and I will be returning to see if it has been going on defrost...Fingers crossed!

Another strange thing about this fridge was that it had a new compressor installed in it's short history, something the customer has no idea about even though she has full service history from electrolux...hmmm could be a friday fridge.

[drew71]

You are very welcome Blackbird

Unfortunately the board cannot diagnose software faults, so sometimes you have to take an educated guess based on past experience.
I'm 99% sure you have solved the problem.

I would think it is more likely that the customer has purchased a second quality appliance than a "Friday Fridge" & either didn't understand this or the retailer neglected to mention it (in the unlikely event a compressor was changed in the factory, you wouldn't be able to tell as it would look like everything else off the line)

I'm sure the serial number would tell the whole story, but sometimes its best to let sleeping dogs lie


Cheers Mate

Drew

[Blackbird]

I returned to the fridge earlier this week and all was going well. A good result and a very happy customer!!

Hmmm we'll see what she says when she gets the bill!

Thanks again mate.

[Jetasia]

Drew, I see this post is more than two years old but I thought I would give it a shot. I run a lot of appliance repair sites and am also have a Whirlpool, Maytag, Amana, Samsung and Jenn-Air subscription and much more. In the US we seem to have better access to do it yourself manuals and parts. Would you please send me the manuals for Westinghouse RJ523V? Seems I always need to help someone there where some material is not available to the public. http://appliance911seabreeze.com/index.html (http://appliance911seabreeze.com/index.html) Thanks anyway,and if you could help, JT e-mail will be in capsha=> Technicianseabreeze (http://www.google.com/recaptcha/mailhide/d?k=01gzMfm440Lsym7dWCz0rGzQ==&c=81LIjuyaykHyvc5oAYk3a4lhYLgeZmFKPffnKT3RPWU=)