Lifetime 2198202 Refrigerator Cold Control Thermostat by Seentech Easy to Install - Exact Fit for Whirlpool,Kenmore Refrigerator - Replaces Part Numbers: WP2198202 2161284 2198201 PS11739232 AP6006166

I was a bit skeptical about buying this controller to install in my neighbors Frigidaire Side By Side FRS23W3AW9 2003 model refrigerator freezer after diagnosing that the original OEM part had failed after 21+ years of good service. At first I had replaced the Damper Door assembly because the damper door would intermittently open like when the Frig was first turned on, but after a little while, the damper door motor would shut the door and it would not reopen again unless you slapped the damper motor assembly with the palm of your hand. Once I did, I could hear and feel the damper door motor run and see the door open. It would stay open for a while, then eventually close and never open again. In most of the troubleshooting videos I watched on YouTube, the damper door and motor assembly were being touted as the most likely failing part for this problem. (Unfortunately, this was not the problem in this refrigerator)After replacing it, the problem reappeared almost immediately, so logical troubleshooting took me to the Fresh Food Refrigerator Temp Controller / Thermostat assembly (this item). When I unplugged the refrigerator, then removed the Fresh Food Thermostat Control assembly and put an ohm meter across the two input lugs, the meter showed an open circuit. Turning the control knob all the way the the left stop and then back to the extreme right stop would never close the circuit or display continuity on the meter, even at room temperature. Its required that this circuit close or short internally to signal the automatic defrost control board to trigger the damper motor to turn on and move the door to the open position when the refrigerator is too warm an needs cold air to enter from the freezer. 120 Volts AC should be passing through this control when it senses the need to make the refrigerator colder. When the selected temperature is reached, the thermostat contained inside this control knob should open telling the advanced defrost controller board to tell the damper motor to close the damper door until the temp inside the refrigerator compartment warms up to a point set by this control causing the thermostat to close once again which will in turn tell the advanced defrost control board to send power to the motor to open the damper door again. This cycle repeats indefinitely.To test your Fresh Food Thermostat easily, unplug the refrigerator, then simply turn the Freezer Control all the way to the left to the Off position. Also turn the Fresh Food Refrigerator control knob all the way to the left as far as it will go. When you are ready, plug in the refrigerator and open the refrigerator and freezer doors. It should be quiet and nothing should be running. The refrigerator and freezer lights should both be lit. First, slowly turn the Refrigerator Fresh Food Control knob to the right until you hear a fan turn on inside the Freezer compartment. If you do hear the fan come on, Immediately, put your hand inside the left top corner of the refrigerator onto the damper air vent and you should be able to feel the damper motor running and vibrating slightly while its opening the damper door and eventually it will stop. When it does, you should feel air blowing through the damper door. If you hear the fan running in the Freezer, but never felt the damper door motor run, and the door is closed and no air is coming through the vent in the refrigerator, you likely have a bad damper door assembly and it will need to be replaced. If you felt the damper door motor run, and the damper door is open, but no air is blowing through and you cannot hear a fan running in the freezer, most likely the freezer fan is frozen in a block of ice or possibly the freezer fan motor is bad. If you feel air blowing through the damper vent, the damper motor and door are working. If the Freezer Fan never comes on AND the Damper Door motor never runs or opens the damper door, you likely have a bad Fresh Food Thermostat Control (this item) and it will need to be replaced. Lets now assume the Freezer Fan DOES run and the Damper Door and Motor ARE working correctly, you want to insure you have good air circulation when the Freezer Door is Closed. To test this, turn the Refrigerator Fresh Food Control knob all the way to the left again, and the Freezer fan should stop running and if you feel the damper motor grill you should notice the vibration of the damper motor running and the damper door closing. By the way, if the Freezer Fan keeps running and the Damper Door does not close, you likely have a bad Fresh Food Control (this device) and it will need to be replaced. The damper door regulates the amount of cold air coming into the refrigerator. If these things are working, try doing the test once again, but this time after you have air blowing through the damper door, close the FREEZER Door ONLY while holding your hand in front of the refrigerator damper cold air vent. The volume of air flowing through the vent when the damper is wide open should not really change much with the freezer door closed after a minute or two. If it does change drastically or stop all together, there is an air blockage between the return air holes in the refrigerator and the freezer. In this refrigerator, the return air hole is on the left side wall next to the top crisper drawer. You have to pull the crisper drawers out completely to see this opening which is about 3-4 inches in diameter near the left rear side of the refrigerator. It leads to a area near the back right bottom side of the freezer which is likely covered with a metal wall, so you can't see it inside the freezer. Make sure the refrigerator is unplugged and you should be able to visually check to see if there is a plastic bag or some ice that has accumulated in the air return hole. If it's food or bags, simply move them out of the way to insure a nice open return air port. If it is frozen or icy, you will need to empty the refrigerator and freezer, turn everything off, unplug the refrigerator and open both doors and allow it to completely thaw out which could take anywhere from a few hours to a couple of says depending on how much ice has formed in the unit and your rooms ambient temperature. Once all of the ice is gone, dry everything out with a towel inside the refrigerator and freezer compartments, plug the refrigerator back into the wall, turn the Freezer Control to the mid point and do the same with the Fresh Food Refrigerator control. Close both doors and allow the unit to cool down for 24 hours, then test the air vent again in the refrigerator to insure that you have good air flow coming from the vent while the refrigerator is running, the Freezer Door is Closed and the Refrigerator Damper door is open.This control was very inexpensive, around $14 or so compared to a new OEM control which runs between $100 and $200 depending on where you get it. Time will tell how long this works, but we will see.Even though this control is not listing my refrigerator as being compatible, it does fit and so far it does work. I did find that the sensing bulb tube was the exact same length as the original OEM control I removed and reached from the front control panel located along the top center front of the refrigerator cabinet all the way back along the left side housing and wrapped around the damper door vent just like the original did. This control comes with a plastic cover along the entire length of the sensing bulb and tube. I left it in place when I installed it in my neighbors refrigerator. (The factory original control only had the white tubing along the area surrounding the damper door vent, so I may have to remove some of this tubing in the future if it doesn't maintain temperature accurately enough. My understanding is that the white tubing is used to stabilize the temperature a little and to keep the refrigerator from short cycling). The only other things to note are that the ears on either side of the control shaft are about 1/4" longer on each side than the original control, so you will have to work a little harder to get them snapped back into the control housing, but there is plenty of room to work with. The other thing is that when the knob is pushed onto the control, the pointing side of the knob is now 180 degrees opposite of where the original points. To fix this I simply put a black mark on both of the control knobs showing the correct pointing end, so no big deal there. Anyway, so far I'm pleased with my purchase and after 3 days it's still running. I did have to adjust the control about 3 ticks on the panel towards the colder side from the center point to get the refrigerator down to the 40F degree temp while slightly lowering the freezer temp 2 ticks to the left of center to get it down to 0F degrees. Note: These types of thermostats are generally not very accurate and can vary up to 10F degrees or more as measured by a thermo-works refrigerator / freezer temperature monitoring thermometer. It's common for the freezer to swing 10F - 15F degrees warmer during the defrost cycle going from say -3F degrees to +13F degrees overnight when defrost runs. The refrigerator may also vary quite a bit from being opened and closed by the kids all day, but when closed overnight and experiencing a defrost cycle, the frig may vary in temp by up to around 5F degrees.I hope this helps those looking for this solution or doing some troubleshooting on their Refrigerator Freezers. The way these work has not really changed in over 50 years, so if you have a good running compressor and no refrigerant leaks in your unit, pretty much any refrigerator or freezer can be repaired with relatively inexpensive parts after a little testing is done to isolate the problem. Good Luck Everyone!!

Fixed my Whirlpool model 6D5LHGXLT02 side-by-side fridge.Symptoms: it was not reliably turning on in response to rising temperature in the fridge, even ice in the freezer sometimes melted before it turned on the compressor. After checking I found that when I knock on the temperature controller dial it turned on, so must be a bad contact in it.This thermostat was identical for what was in, replaced it and now it works like new. I disassembled the old one, it was all black inside and some metal contacts where completely burned out.To replace: 0) unplug the fridge; 1) remove the long plastic cover on the top left side that connects cold air inlet in the back-top- left corner and front control bar (1 screw); 2) remove the cold inlet cover (1 screw). You will see a thick metal wire/bar that is mechanically connected to freezer control (it regulates the inlet opening) and metal tube in plastic shield. The latter is wound around inlet, it is part of thermostat, unwind it. 3) remove the two temperature control knobs in front, and then pry off the front cover plate of the control block, use flat screwdriver starting from right side. It is not glued, it is kept in place by long flat clips inside. It will take some force to get it off. 4) Release 4 screws that hold control block, two under the cover plate and two in the back (attached to ceiling). 5) Detach wires from thermostat (they are clipped on contacts), remember locations. You may need to unscrew the metal frame that holds both freezer and fridge controllers, then you can unscrew the thermostat and put in the new one. Make sure freezer lever is in its original position when assembling everything back. You can find utube instructions, just search for Whirlpool Side by Side Refrigerator Cold Control Thermostat Troubleshooting.

Fit right into the fridge. Works very well. Cheaper than OEM

Worked on my Frigidaire Model #FRS3R5ESB2 to replace the freezer temperature control thermostat.There were a few minor issues.1. The plastic knob was not a perfect fit. Although the mounting appeared exactly the same as the old one, this one was a bit wider making it difficult/impossible to get the knob to fit flush and snug. It does fit on there, it's just not perfect. I left it as is with a very small gap at the back. It's fine.2. The range of the dial is different than factory causing the numbers to now be meaningless. Not a big deal but something to note.3. Out of the box this wouldn't allow the freezer to get cold enough. Even at it's coldest setting it was at around 10 F. I found that there is a tiny adjustment screw inside that you can access from a hole next to the knob. Turning this screw counter clockwise allows it to get colder. I turned it a half turn at a time until it was dialed in to the right temp.All in all this worked to fix my issue. I have only had it in use for a few weeks so I can't speak to longevity.

Perfect fit for oem original. Works flawlessly

This product worked like it was supposed to. I don't have any issues