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We were getting a lot of frost on the inside of the freezer and the refrigerator was not staying cold. Turning the fridge off for a while to let the frost melt would help for a while, but eventually the same problems came back. So I called a friend who fixes appliances for a living and he told me this issue was solvable, but would cost almost $200 plus parts. I looked online and found a few websites that help diagnose issues like this. I narrowed it down to the defrost heater and decided to replace it myself. I called around and found one at the factory service shop and another at the local parts supply which was about 10 miles closer to my house. Their part was also about $10 cheaper. It took much longer for the ice to melt than it did to make the parts swap. This is a fairly easy repair and the cost of parts was under $60

Started out with ice forming art the back of the fridge

It was so thick it captured the shelves. Normally there is a bunch of stuff in there so we never saw the back or the ice

This is a Hotpoint CSX20EA from Sears (I think)

First steps are to remove the shelves and the light shroud to expose the bulb. We do this whenever the bulb burns out anyway, so nothing new

The next step is to remove the back panel. What a surprise there was ice everywhere behind the panel

This was going to take forever to melt off. The heater was barely visible and the bottom was completely covered in ice

The top was OK, but the twisted coils were evidence that the ice had been even worse in the past.

I didn't want to use hot water or an ice pick to remove the ice, so I chose hot air. I used a small camp stove set to it's lowest setting and a fan in the room, door open. This warmed the air a bit and dried it out, so the ice melted quite fast. I think a hairdryer would have also worked well

As the ice melted eventually and exposed the second heater.. another surprise the drawings online didn't mention the second element and housing. As it became visible I attempted to unscrew it over the flame. Not a good idea if you care about your arm hair

Once the ice was melted it was very easy to remove the heather elements. they are connected by wires

Here are the wires pulled from under the plastic cover and the heaters and housings hanging loose

The wires come up and through some foam and plug into the rest of the unit with a rubber plug. Very easy stuff

Here is the heaters out and the thermostat. And a close up of the wiring plug

The old heater elements in their housings. It is obvious these are damaged

I visited the local parts supply house for the replacement part. They had it there with no waiting for delivery or even transfer from another location.

The local parts supply house also has lots of the tools, parts, supplies and other tricks the pros use

The new heater was not quite an exact copy. but it fit into the places exactly the same as the originals


without heaters	wires connected	wires run along sides	wires tucked away

Last steps were to reassemble the back panel, bulb, light shroud and shelves. Then plug the fridge back in set the cool and wait. It's been a few weeks now and it's running great, no frost and plenty of cool on the medium settings

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Fixing a broken Refrigerator / Freezer