Have been puzzling through an issue with my Fridgiaire fpbs2777rfb.

About two-three weeks ago my youngest left the freezer open for some time, causing a bunch of condensation that eventually caused a total ice-over, and the whole unit (freezer and fridge) overheated.

Turned everything off, took off the freezer door, removed as much ice as I could and let it sit overnight to resolve the rest. Freezer was back and working perfectly after this.

Fridge, however, has been another story. It will cool down, but then temperatures will fluctuate back up into the 50s (or higher!)

Called an appliance guy who was pretty useless and said "defrost it again, must be ice blocking the flow of air to the fridge." This didn't add up to me because

  • intermittent, not permanent probslem. Fridge would fluctuate up and then down.
  • I had already defrosted at some length

Took the back air duct cover off in the fridge (the whole part 10, 12 assembly here) and verified airflow from the slot to the freezer in the center of the cabinet (part 17 in the schematic above).

Ran it for a few days with the duct assembly off and temperatures were tolerable (no warnings) but not perfect (fluctuating up into 40s from target temp 36). Screwed the duct assembly back on and immediately temps popped back up into 50s.

Curious for any pointers or ideas. Problem seems to be with the duct assembly, which contains the fridge temp sensor but not a lot else.

  • is that where the "damper" is? Could this be a damper issue? (Have verified fan is spinning in freezer and when air duct assembly was removed, airflow was present). Something seems to be blocking the airflow and it's something in that assembly...

  • fridge temp sensor seems accurate (verified with secondary thermometer) on door panel readout - so is it a board issue?

  • my instinct is to try to replace the whole air vent assembly, electronics and all (it's in one piece). Is this overkill?

  • Definitely sounds like a damper problem. Part 115 on your diagram. Probably where duct enters fridge compartment. – JACK Jul 6 at 17:05
  • 1
    You did not mention if the fan was working. A non working fan can cause these kinds of problems and when you opened things up convection was enough to keep things cool. – Ed Beal Jul 6 at 18:55
  • When you defrosted it, did you remove the fridge door also, or just the freezer door? – Harper - Reinstate Monica Jul 7 at 14:38

Your Answer


Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.