Refrigerator repair advice?

[ellebeaux]

Maybe you all can figure this out and I can fix it myself:

Our icemaker chute in the door is frosting up. So bad that the ice gets stuck and won't pass through the chute into a glass. We took apart the icemaker (which is on a shelf in the freezer) and thawed and cleaned it. The chute frosted right back up again.

The icemaker works fine but it wastes electricity to open and close the door all the time.

I figured it must be the gasket around the chute that's not sealed and warm air is getting in, condensing and freezing? But I know nothing about refrigerators.

It's so annoying that we are eating all the food up in the freezer this week so we can have it empty when we call the repairman. Anyone want some 4 year old bean soup? Or a dead snake that's blue?

[moopups]

I have seen an appliance repair where kitchen spray was used to lube the chute, and there is an appliance repair link in the links library if needed.

[Liese]

Check out this Forum, scroll down to appliances. There are some very helpful people who must be in the trade from their answers, I had a fridge problem 2 weeks ago and just doing a search helped alot..I was able to fix the issue myself.

http://forum.doityourself.com/index.php

[WayneR]

There may be a dedicated heating element on the chute to prevent the symptom you describe. Similar to a mulion heater that keeps moisture from forming between the refrigerator and freezer sections.

There should be a schematic diagram (probably on the back) that would confirm the heaters presence. Take the make and model # to an appliance parts store. They are interested in selling you the needed part and will help you in diagnosing the problem.

[ellebeaux]

Excellent!

Thanks for all the info, I'll check it out. We will end up getting a repairperson, though. I don't mess with anything electric, the thought of having a short and causing a fire terrifies me. But this frost thing has been driving me nuts because I can't figure out what would cause it.

Thanks all!

B.

[daytrader]

http://www.marcone.com

They have a good site and the parts are about as cheap as I have found.