Freezers too cold -35 fan doesn't stop!

Maytag Performer side by side fridge 2 years old.
Since yesterday the fan in the freezer side does not stop. Temperature is down to -35F, and it is full of snow as well.
Changed thermometer setting from 6 to 2 then to 0, the fan still going going...
I unplugged it, let it stay for 20 minutes, then replugged, same thing. The fans goes on ans on; non stop. Temperature down to -35F

Is it only the thermometer or something else?
(both dials are in the fridge side)

The fridge side seems OK +35F and the fan starts/stops
But Full of cold sweat!!


Any Diagnostic
Any suggestion??


Thanks

 

Either no cold air is making it's way to the thermostat, or a light bulb is on, or the stat is simply defective.

 

Your readings are off, -35 F. in not possible. Is the compressor running when the freezer fan does? Snow would indicate air is going past the freezer gaskets, or the door is not closing properly.

H.

 

Thanks
I emptied the freezer completely. The air passes OK. I also turned the light off (unscrewed the bulb a little). Still the same!
So it must be the thermostat.
But how many thermostat are there in a side by side? One or two?
There is nothing in the manual.
The parts catalog of HomeDepot shows only one thermostat!

 

Believe me it reads -35 (Unless my 5$ freezer thermostat is crazy!).
The fan is constantly running, non stop. The only moment it would stop is when the "fridge knob" is set to zero.
The door is NOT open (that's the first thing I checked)
The air is vented in from top and sucked out from the bottom. The snow is on the lower part of freezer compartment.

 

Well, with the more typical freeze-over-fridge refrigerator, it only has one stat. Yours could very well also. I'd help you more if I could, but I haven't had to deal with a side x side in years. You would think the stat would be inside where your main temperature control is. In the typical fridge I spoke of, that is located in the fridge comaprtment. Not hidden somewhere.

 

Thanks ecman

I opened the control panel which is in the fridge side, attached to the freezer side wall.
There is a hole-opening into the freezer side. The hole has a trap door which is maneuvered by the "freezer temperature knob" on this control panel.
To lower the freezer temp, you turn the knob clockwise and it opens the trap to let more air can go trough! To raise the temp, you close this door.
The thermostat is also on the panel door but attached directly to the "fridge temp knob".
The evaporator is in the freezer side, only. A fan, behind a removable wall, sucks the air from bottom of the freezer and troughs it back from the top.
Now, some of this air goes to the fridge side, via the hole and the trap (still behind that removable wall).
It seems a little awkward to me, I have never seen a mechanism like this.

Anyhow
In my case the hole was obscured by ice! And this is contrary to the logic of the trap as I understood!!
I thawed the ice and cleared the hole.
Well, since last night, it seems working. I'm crossing my fingers that it won't ice soon. I will check in a couple weeks to see if the ice comes back.

 

Something to think about. Your refrigerator uses either R134a or R12 as the system fluid. If you really had -35 F. that would mean your system was running in a vacuum of -12.3 lbs. That is not how refrigerator systems work. Your compressor will be 0 to +2 lbs on the low side, which would be a temp of about -20 F. max. You might want to check the guage you were using.

H.

 

Make sure your unit is able to drain out defrost cycle water into the pan that may be underneath the entire refrigerator.

Often if there is a clog in either the tube, or some fitting the tube attaches to, the water can't drain, and refreezes after the defrost cycle, and can cause problems like you have experienced. And if so, it will soon be happening again.

It is very common in all systems that deal with defrost or condensate water, to develop this line-clogging slime/goo, that can lead to these backups and freezes.

 

Himeros I said my 5$ thermometer (I may even have inflated the price I paid 15 years ago, maybe I paid only 2$)
So it is possible that -20 be the lowest temp attainable in these freezers.
The point is it was very very cold, since the fan had not stopped turning for 2 days!

I will be looking for a better thermometer. Under 5$ as usual. LOL

Right now I am very happy that the fridge seems to work fine.

Cheers.Beer 4U2

 

We are all glad your problem has been solved. I just wanted to clear up the temp thing, since someone might read this and expect their freezer to get to -35F.

H.