My refrigerator keeps frosting over and I can't afford a repairman - can someone help me figure out what it is?

If this is accompanied by frost on the food in the freezer, then you have a hole / tear / gap in the gasket on one of the doors. Inspect around the doors by putting a flashlight in whichever compartment and close the door, Look around for visible light (none should be seen). If the frost building up is on the back wall only or just the damper (the top hole between the freezer and refrigerate sections, then it does sound like a defrost problem. When it has iced up, you can advance the defrost timer until you hear the compressor shut off. This places the unit in defrost mode, and you can listen for the heater coming on by the sound of expanding metal, hissing noises (water dripping and hitting the heater, or physically by a warm feeling near the middle to bottom of the back wall (it may take 10 minutes or more to be perceptible). There is usually a hole near the controls where you can place a flat blade screw driver in to turn and advance the timer... it only turns one way so you can't really mess it up. I find more often then not though, it is the defrost terminate (defrost thermostat, bi-metal, whatever you choose to call it) has failed. So if you don't hear the heater come on, you need to unplug the refrig, remove the back freezer wall, and look for the terminator, which is a small metal cylinder with two wires coming out of it (usually). Unfortunately you sometimes have to snip the wires to test it for resistance (ohms) on a multimeter, unless you can trace the wires back to a harness or a place you can unplug it. When doing resistance checks to the component must be isolated from the refrig (i.e., unplug at least one of the wires going to it so you don't read resistance from back through the fridge...). A good terminate will read close to 0 ohms, sometimes .1, .2, anything around there is good as long it is cold when you take the reading. If it reads open, or infinite (no continuity) it means no electricity can get through to the heater. Since you have replaced the timer already, it probably is easier to rule out the heater by testing that for ohms first, since it usually unplugs somewhere without having to snip wires. Unplug both sides of the heater (or heaters if you have two) and check for ohms (resistance there). The reading will vary depending on the type but you are usually looking for something higher than 10 ohms. If it reads 0 or very low it is shorted and will not heat, if it reads very high above 1000 ohms or infinite (shorted) then the heater needs to be replaced. Always replace the heater and terminator together if the heater has gone bad! If the heater is good, then you know the problem is most likely the defrost terminator (barring any frayed wiring or other strange issue like that). Always ask for instruction in replacing these components if they do not come with such to avoid water dripping into splices or connections. AND ALWAYS, if you DO NOT feel comfortable doing this repair hire a repairman! That's what they are there for! Make sure they bring the parts with them. If you want to attempt this repair, check this page for assistance in using a multimeter - http://www.wikihow.com/Use-an-Ohmmeter ... make sure the refrigerator is UNPLUGGED when doing these tests or working around the wiring. Only technicians should do work near live wires when necessary. I hope this helps!

The way it works is your timer rolls around every 8 hours or so and calls for the defrost. The heater comes on and has power to it for 20 minutes. Now if it were to stay on for 20 minutes then there would be a melt down. So they install a terrninator. It is a bi-metal disc that kills the power to the heater when temp gets warm enought to melt the frost off the coils but not defrost the food in the freezer (usually a round 50°F). Read more here:

http://sites.google.com/site/sublimeappliancerepai...

It just might be your heat strip that works when the fridge is in defrost.

Their usually in a glass tube and it gets warm during the defrost cycle to melt the ice so you don't have to do what your doing. Also ck to see if your ice maker isn't seeping any water into the the freezer and running down to the coils. Ck this stuff and let me know if I'm right. Good luck1!

if you have a high humidity in the house that will cause it to frost over fast,

how often do you open the doors, that makes a difference also,

7 yrs it should still be running ok,

unless you have made a pin hole in one of the coils, then its loosing coolant

doe,s it run a lot ?

take the name and the model number to the sears part store and tell them you need a defrostost coil,, make and model are on a plate either inside the door or under the the front grill

I know you said no running, BUT: Try a HIIT (High-intensity interval training) routine. There's nothing I recommend more that will help you lose weight and/or burn fat. HIIT is basically short periods of intensity mixed with short periods of rest. What this does is essentially smack your metabolism in the FACE to wake it up and force it to burn fat. Here's a perfect example that worked for me: 1 minute - jog (warm up) 30 seconds - sprint 30 seconds - jog 30 seconds - sprint 30 seconds - jog 30 seconds - sprint 30 seconds - jog 30 seconds - sprint 1 minute - jog (cool down) This entire workout lasts less than 6 minutes but will absolutely kick your butt. When you sprint, go 100% full speed. At the end, you can jog for longer if you'd like until your heart rate calms down a little. Do this everyday for a week and I will bet you anything you'll notice a difference. Also, this routine can be applied to any other good cardio exercise like biking, swimming, etc. Just mix up the periods of intensity with the periods of light work and you'll get the same results. Good luck!