[cwhandel]

Since about a couple of weeks, the freezer side of my side-by-side Kitchenaid refrigerator has been thawing intermittently. The refrigerator seems to stay relatively cold.

I've discovered that the evaporator fan seems to be running almost all the time. When I move the freezer thermostat slider to the right a little, the compressor comes on. After a while, the compressor goes off (freezer is cold at this point), but the evaporator fan stays on, apparently pumping the cold air to the refrigerator side.

As far as I can tell the baffle between freezer and refrigerator is open. I feel cold air coming in to the refrigerator at the top.

The freezer seems to cool well when I force the compressor to turn on. Melted water on the top shelf of the freezer freezes within minutes.

Is this problem something that can easily be identified?

[fixtec90]

you likely have a defrost problem. Does the back lower half of your freezer section have frost building up? If yes, one of three things ahs accured
1. defrost t-stat is open (most be tested while cold)
2. defrost heater is open
3. bad defrost timer/board

[cwhandel]

Thanks for the reply.

There is no frost in the back/lower side of freezer. The refrigerator ran what appeared to be a normal defrost cycle a few days ago (I could tell by the water dripping into the drip tray). During this time, the evaporator fan was not running, which leads me to believe that it's not trying to defrost now.

Note that if I slide the freezer thermostat slider one click to the right when the freezer is thawed, the compressor comes on. It stays on until cold even if I move it back to its original position.

Could one of the thermostats be stuck? Does this refrigerator ever normally run the evaporator fan with the compressor off (for example to cool the refrigerator a little if the freezer is already cold enough)?

[fixtec90]

You do have a seperate t-stat for your freezer (#2182770). T-stat operation is dependent on temp which makes them unpractical for testing beyond open/closed. It could be your problem but oddball problems like yours usually lead to the ADC (defrost board). You cannot really diagnose the ADC beyond forcing defrost.
I don't replace many t-stats on these. I do replace a lot of ADC boards. If forced to guess I would replace the board. Sorry I'm not being very helpful.

[cwhandel]

Thanks for the advice. I'll probably try to replace the ADC to see if it makes a difference.