Frigidaire 297216600 Defrost Thermostat OEM Part

Fixed it by replacing the electronic control board. Only 30 min. to fix. (See further down for effort to diagnose the problem.) Most of this "fixing time" was spent removing the control panel to access the control board that is attached to it. My freezer has the control panel located in the top center of the door. The only way to remove the control panel is to pry the panel out of the door using a thin-bladed putty knife.The instructions provided were very good in explaining the process; however, they didn't indicate that you must exert enough force to break the tabs on the panel that hold it in the door. But don't worry, there is enough friction, etc. to hold the panel in place after the repair. The vast majority of my time and effort was spent diagnosing the problem - I'm not a refrigeration appliance expert. I had been told many years ago that a frost-free freezer or refrigerator can stop keeping food cold if it doesn't run the defrost cycle regularly. Hoping this might be the problem (a relative cheaper fix), I removed all the food, unplugged the freezer and opened the door. After a day there was some water on the floor, thus indicating that there had been frost build up. I then restarted the freezer and after several hours it got down to 0* F, thus indicating that the refrigeration system worked - yeah! I tested the defrost heater and defrost cutoff thermostat which both tested good. Thus, according to the wiring diagram on the back of the freezer, the only remaining culprit was the control board. Freezer and wife are now happy.

Suspected it was the thermostat, since temperature stayed the same at multiple settings over a 24 hr period. There was only three components inside the freezer besides the evaporator, the fan was working, so I decided to just go ahead and replace the thermostat and defrost thermostat. Also replaced the defrost timer by the compressor, just to get all the old parts replaced with new. I had already replaced the compressor, so now I've pretty much have a new freezer. The new parts works great and the freezer now shuts down as it should. Only took me about half an hour to install the parts with just screwdriver.

Disassembled the interior coverings of the freezer and found coils iced over. Disconnected electric, defrosted and cleaned. Watched video on Appliance Pros., order defrost thermostat on Sunday, received Tuesday noon. Installed and reassembled freezer. Restarted freezer, cooled to operating temp. within hours. Refilled with frozen items. One week later freezer is maintaining temp and very seldom runs.

I replaced it with the Mfg. parts bought from AppliancePartsPros.com. The job went very smoothly, I received the parts a day and one-half after ordering them from your website. I am an HVAC contractor and was so pleased with your service that I'll use you again and again.

After reading multiple threads on the appliance pro site, I determined that the problem was most likely the temperature control, however since I had to empty the entire unit and remove the back panel to replace it, I decided to go ahead and replace the defrost thermostat as well. I figured for $50 total, what the heck. So not exactly sure which replacement part solved the problem but the unit is back up and running again and saved my self probably $400 on a new unit. I will say, that Appliance Pros had very fast shipping and the site was easy to use to find the solution and the parts to fix it. Very pleased.