NDA1402 error 13

[JimM68]

I'm just gonna hafta kill this thing. Every time I get it behaving, something else... 😞

Error 13 came up today. Open water drain heater in the freezer. Not surprising, as I abuse it pretty bad everytime I have to pull it apart to manually defrost the freezer.

Question is, will it continue to cool normally with this error displayed?

[JimM68]

dougrainer wrote:
I do not know how you are testing the freezer temp. The freezer temp should be BELOW 10 degrees. Doug

By looking at the little red numbers on the fridges display...

[JimM68]

dougrainer wrote:
IF the ONLY failure was the code 13 and now the code 13 is gone, but you get that HI reading, that means you did something wrong. Doug

Helpful.

Sorry I didn't see what Admin edited out...

[dougrainer]

I do not know how you are testing the freezer temp. The freezer temp should be BELOW 10 degrees. Doug

[dougrainer]

The first thing would be to disassemble and verify ALL those wires in the upper box cover at top back of freezer with the multiconnections. HI usually means that the temp is out of range---that means it has not gone below 60 degrees which is where it starts its temp reading. I would suspect the Thermister is NOT connected or the wire cut/pulled loose and the control board is not reading the ohms. IF the ONLY failure was the code 13 and now the code 13 is gone, but you get that HI reading, that means you did something wrong. Doug

[JimM68]

18 hours and no change. Freezer shows 22, fridge 33.

Test 3 (air temp) 23 & 25
Test 4 (fin temp) HI and 32.

Re-reading, the freezer fan won't turn on until the fin temp is lower than the air temp.
It appears my freezer fin temp thermister is giving a bad reading?
Not a fault reading, which would be --
But a false HI ?
And this causes the fan not to run, per the program...
Also probably causes it not to defrost.

Tomorrow I'm gonna hot wire that fan. and maybe try to force a defrost.
In the meantime, the freezer fins are frosting up all ready, 6 hours of work going down the drain.

Anyone have any ideas on this thing?

[JimM68]

The freezer fan isn't running!

According to the book, it should run if the door is closed and the unit is not defrosting.

I tested the fans again in mode 12, they do run.
I tested the door switch in mode 5, it opens and closes (the light goes on and off too)
Last night, I unplugged the fan and got an "error 14" so the board knows...

Test 3 (air temp) shows 14 and 38
test 4 (fin temp) shows "hi" and 34.

Why does the freezer fin temp show "hi"?

Why isn't the fan running?

Pretty sure the fan not running is what's causing it to ice up?

[JimM68]

The continuing saga of Jim's Dometic 1402....

So yesterday I finally got my new defrost heater and got to work.
It had been frozen up for a good week, and was a mess inside.


the cooling fin unit is the freezer was a solid block of ice.


And here's the cause of the error 13. The tail on the "freezer drain heater" is kinda destroyed. Now again, I did this, taking the unit apart repeatedly to clear out the ice.


Parts is parts!


This time I took everything out, including the lower ducting, which then allowed the freezer fan to be removed. I tested the fan in service mode 12 and it did turn on.
I put everything back together. I wired a computer fan in parallel with the existing fan, and verified in test 12 that both fans ran. I attached the second fan below the icemaker, blowing in toward the cooling fins. (I had previously confirmed that the factory fan "Sucks" the air out of the cooling fins and blows it down thru the lower duct, air enters thru the bottom of the cooling fin block. I still need to tidy up the wires.


So far so good, no more error 13.
This morning found the fridge at 35, the freezer at 19. (down from 45 and "High") I'm sure it will be fully cold by the end of the day. But will it defrost?

[JimM68]

That is one very nice parts list, better than dometic's..

And yes, for the past 6 weeks, I have been pulling the complete icemaker assy, and then item 53, "cover with drip pan" (which is the part that contains the heat strip) to access the frozen up cooling fins and melt the ice with a hair dryer.
Not a fun job, and really hard on the ice cream.

the heat strip will be here Wednesday, along with some other tidbits.
Tomorrow, I'll slide the fridge into the cabin far enough to get at and replace the drain hose (it's been broken for years, but I'm sure it is leaking warm humid air into the fridge and freezer.
I'll also get some plumbers putty, and work on sealing the piercings where wires and hoses and things penetrate the box.
I'm also getting a lot of ice around the edges of the ice container shelf and it's lower box, I'll do something to better seal where they join.

But when you get right down to it, freezer get a lot of warm humid air, everytime someone opens the door...

This thing is supposed to defrost itself. I've run through all it's tests, all the hardware works. I've never got a "failed defrost cycle 2 times in a row" error, so the defrost cycle is running, successlfully (this is defined in the PCB as it reached 44 degrees on the cooling fins for the proscribed period of time)

I'm really not up for replacing it. It used to work really well. The cooling unit is fine, and any other problems should be cost effective to repair...

[dougrainer]

JimM68 wrote:
I found a reference to a "dometic defrost fan kit" searching other posts about the 1402 icing up...

I dug up part # 385130901 and found it here http://hvacpartstore.com/7512.html

"for some dometic fridges" for mine?
Says "instruction included" I'll bet if I could find a copy they might reveal if this kit is for the 1402 fridge?

That kit is an aftermarket kit for Dometic refers. What you NEED is a flat piece of film that has the cooper flat heat coil in it. I doubt you have pulled the Code 13 part out and in. It is almost impossible to get it back in without removing the plastic covers. The P/n is 3850676010 and is called "Heating Element water drain". It will be under the Cabinet Freezer parts item 22 on the link. Doug

http://www.laurelhurstdistributors.com/parts/refrigerators/dometic/NDA1402_3.html

[JimM68]

I found a reference to a "dometic defrost fan kit" searching other posts about the 1402 icing up...

I dug up part # 385130901 and found it here http://hvacpartstore.com/7512.html

"for some dometic fridges" for mine?
Says "instruction included" I'll bet if I could find a copy they might reveal if this kit is for the 1402 fridge?

[JimM68]

I wish...

It's been icing up for a couple months. Every 2 weeks, I pull the icemaker, a bunch of other stuff, and the white piece that covers the cooling fins and coils, and contains the drain heater. (this is getting old..)
Then I use a hair dryer to melt off all the ice.

I take full responsibility for killing the heater by repeatedly removing it and stuffing it back down the drain tube...

[dougrainer]

JimM68 wrote:
Thanks!
Guess I'll ignore it for now, and get a heatstrip ordered.

Is there a way to manually defrost the freezer without pulling everything apart?

Is there a reason this supposedly auto-defrost device would keep icing up?

The problem is the Defrost heat strip has corroded/shorted out. It is icing up because the Code 13 heat strip is bad. Doug

[JimM68]

Thanks!
Guess I'll ignore it for now, and get a heatstrip ordered.

Is there a way to manually defrost the freezer without pulling everything apart?

Is there a reason this supposedly auto-defrost device would keep icing up?

[mlbdp]

Yes! Just have to do manual defrost! Finally change heat strip, not cheap, then went to Samsung residential and have not missed the 1402!