Fridge Temp Sensor Replacement & Testing

Fridge temp sensor replacement is one of the easiest & least costly repairs many DIY home owners can successfully perform themselves. I'll show you the simple steps to diagnose, locate, test and replace a faulty refrigerator temperature sensor (correctly called the thermistor), then confirm the new sensor fixed the problem.

The temp sensor is also one of the most common parts to fail in today's microprocessor controlled fridges and are often misdiagnosed for much more costly components such as the main control board, defrost circuit, even the compressor.

Common symptoms of a failed fridge thermistor/s include the fridge or freezer section running too hot or too cold. On our fridge example here - fridge too warm freezer works fine. If your fridge/freezer has a temperature readout, and its reading is substantially (5 degrees or so) different from what a thermometer placed in the fridge is reading; that too is a good indicator of a faulty fridge temperature sensor/s.

If this fridge temp sensor repair looks too difficult to perform yourself, then please call in a repair tech. You'll at least be informed to the scope of the repair and cost of the part.

Low cost repair part used in this repair (WR55X10025 Refrigerator Temperature Sensor):

Adhesive Marine Grade Heat Shrink Tube:

TS-100 Direct Drive portable soldering iron used in this video:

My TS-100 Soldering Iron Review:

Fluke 17B+ DMM used in this video:

Video Chapter Time Index:
- Intro 0:00
- Diagnosing the problem 0:52
- Locating and removing the fridge evaporator temperature sensor 3:16
- Bench testing the old & new WR55X10025 temperature sensors 4:16
- Replacing the evaporator temperature sensor 7:15
- Confirming repair & conclusion 11:08

A Few More Tips...

One item I never mentioned in the video is the very first thing to try whenever your fridge is acting up. Always unplug or turn off the circuit breaker to the fridge, wait a minute or so, and turn it back on/plug it back in. This might reset the logic board and if you're lucky (I never am), it "may" fix this or other weird problems.

As I mentioned at the end of the video, this is also a great time to vacuum out under the fridge and vacuum/clean all the dust, hair, and other shmoo from the condenser coils.

If your fridge has a water line for ice &/or water, while it's pulled out, check the water line for leaks or damage. The cheap plastic 1/4" line that comes with many low cost fridge water connection kits degrades over time and becomes brittle and cracks; especially if you have chlorinated water. Much better to get stainless braided fridge hose or solid copper 1/4" tubing kits. They may cost a little bit more, but having a water line burst will cost much more in water damage to your home.

Stainless Fridge Water/Ice Maker Hose:

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[demofilm]

Good idea with the hot glue in the heatshrink

[nickcats]

Love it! Most videos don’t test the faulty sensor. That was a good, complete tutorial. Repair guy wanted $550 to swap out my Thermal sensor. DIYed it, $7 part.

[keithwilliams]

Hi yes that helped me out quite a bit. My refrigerator was running on low speed it seemed in the back of the evaporator was always getting frozen solid. So in the morning I am going toTest those refrigerator and freezer sensors to see that they are operating properly thanks for the approval good luck with your fridge

[johnchambers]

The temp sensor in my refrigerator freezer section went and with 2!sensors in the freezer, one reading 0 degrees and one reading 85 degrees at the evaporator, from the motherboard i knew my problem, replaced the thermistor and the both are reading a freezer temp with resistance difference between the two being very close to each other. I found marine grade heat shrink very important. And i cover the ends of the heat shrink with a little RTV from my automotive supplies. And i do love my LED bulbs ! And you are lucky my motherboard is $275.

[sageandchris]

Thanks for the video. An easy way to melt the ice on the evaporator coil is to put a large pot of boiling hot water (with a pot holder underneath to protect the shelf) inside and close the door. Repeat until the ice is gone. Takes about an hour but you don't have to watch the hair dryer melting the ice lol. Take care and stay safe.

[gusl_servis]

Very good explanation. Greetings from creators from Indonesia. And always success

[PodtrashRadio]

We have this exact fridge and I've fixed most issues except the ice maker so I'm hoping you can help. I'll give some backstory. I usually fix our own appliances but this came with our new home and Monogram is much more complex than traditional fridges it seems. When we moved in it worked just fine for a few months except the ice maker didn't work. The water doesn't come out of the inlet that goes into the ice tray. The water inlet for the water dispenser works fine. We decided to ignore it since we just moved in and had bigger things to worry about and just made ice using traditional trays in the freezer.

But then suddenly the fridge's temperature was having strange readings where it said the fridge was 40 degrees and then the freezer was -1 or -2 degrees. I assumed coils were frozen over and checked everything but couldn't find anything wrong. For the first time I decided to call a technician that claimed to be certified for GE Monogram, but when he arrived he tried doing the basic diagnosis of checking the coils. They weren't frozen over and seemed to have no idea what was wrong. Charged me for the diagnosis and then he called someone else who he said "knows more about these fridges" and said we needed a new computer and that person would come to replace it and it would cost over $1000. This seemed ridiculous as we could buy a brand new fridge for not much more than this. I told him no thanks.

I decided to take another look and cleaned out the fridge and just opened things up and checked all the parts and cleaned them. I cleaned the compressor squirrel cage in the back to remove dust and noticed some water in the overflow at the bottom and cleaned that out. Put everything back together and suddenly the fridge was working perfectly fine again and reading 0 and 37 degrees as it should and it's been working fine ever since. It's been at least 6 months or more.

BUT the ice maker still doesn't work and it would be nice to figure this out. No coils seem frozen over and when you try the ice maker you can hear it working and the parts turning. The only issue is just the water inlet doesn't put any water into the tray. Do you have any suggestions on what this could be?

[MarshallNator]

Great video. Having same problem with my Kenmore Elite refrigerator but same concept for testing the sensor. thanks

[BikerBloke]

Great video John, very clear and concise. Keep up the good work. Mick Northern Ireland 👍🍻

[ajmandalia]

Thanks John for a clear and well presented video. My freezer sensor has gone after 16 years so I might me lucky. How important is the heat seal because I have watched two other sensor repair and they use only a crimps to connect the wires.

[Barryd]

Nice job. Wasn't aware of the Adhesive Line Heat Shrink.

[MrCyphersphinx]

Nicely done and great point about the soldering and the use of heatshrink - especially with adhesive!

[ropehitch]

This is a great video. Thanks for posting this. I have a different fridge but I'm inspired to keep trying to find & fix the problem.

[sunriseboy]

Five star presentation thank you.
Glad there's some beer in the door of the fridge. I need one after finding out there was no battery in my new multi meter!
I don't have hot glue, so I'll use a bit of super glue.

[bladedglory]

Just found your video my mini fridge has a sensor and a cover kept shutting off yet I took the cover off now it's working. Does that mean it's going out or the cover was messing with the sensor

[adrianruiztrellesrealtor]

Hi. I have a freezer( turbo air) I need to set the temperature between 17-22 degrees. Any recommendation? The guy that used to do it stopped doing it.

[gibson]

Hello John. I have tested my thermistor and it reads 17.84 kilo ohm's. What should I test next? The fan is working but lightly. Not sure if that's the culprit of the coils freezing up. Any feedback much appreciated.

[hotsausage]

Great vid John. I have a GE refrigerator as well and the problem I m experiencing is its nit cooling at all. We had a power outage in the neighborhood from a Strom and when the power came on, the fridge no longer cools anymore. All fans are working, compressor turns on. It might be something electrical. Possible main board malfunction? Took apart the fridge and tested the thermistor in ice water and the highest it got was 13.25. Tested in room temp and it read 4.99- 5.03. Neither freezer nor fridge gets cold. Same manufacture fridge except my freezer at at the bottom.

Help please!!

[adilyusofi]

I have a hisense rb372n4ac2, same problem. Should i change the sensor nearby the evaporator like you did, or another sensor in de freezer underneath on top. There also another sensor in the fridge. The fan is turning pretty and the compressor is constantly running

[soonniu]

Perfect DIY and explanation. mine from facing same issue (Lebenssil kollektion) but well i believe the concept will be the same. will get try once spare part arriving. Yes. Pandemic drive me more DIY staff. no choice, need surviving.