Older Wards/Admiral refridge./freezer.

[MajorApp]

 Freezer thawing, refridge. only cool, compressor doesn't stop running. Freon leak? blockage? Small amount of ice on bottom of freezer. The person is afraid to leave it plugged in so i won't know how its working long term when I get there.

Model HMG19384

[theoldstoveguy]

Sounds like defrost trouble,or evap fan motor.Older glass tube type defrost heaters would go out was most common(like GE  style )

[JWWebster]

I would get somebody to check the freon level. It only holds about 1/3rd of a can so if only a small amount is gone it will display these symptoms.

[MajorApp]

 I plugged it in at 3:00 and went back at 8:00. The temps in the freezer and fridge. were good. I didn't have time to check defrost system but I did discover that the refridge. door had up and down slop in it, enough to make the door bind a little and a bad seal if you didn't close the door the right way. Will a gap in the door seal cause a freeze up? I'll stop over tomorrow and check defrost system and fix the door.

[theoldstoveguy]

It would build up around the air inlet to the refrig. section (on top mount upper right corner)but shouldn't have any effect on the freezer temp. Side by side the same. The older were famous for broken liners. I would wait a day or so & run the defrost on it.The timer is on rear of unit down by the compressor. Advance slowley clockwise into the defrost mode & wait for heaters to turn on. Without a watt meter which would give an instant answer you may have to wait 15 minutes, you could tell by water flowing down the drain in the refrigerator (top center on back wall)
 After 20-25 minutes it will turn back on.

[MajorApp]

 Thanks to theoldstoveguy. Do you have the manual I can download? Is the defrost heater behind the back panel of the freezer?

[JWWebster]

I was just looking up some of these parts to that Monkey Wards  ice box. Of course you needed to give out the full model number to be sure.
http://www.repairclinic.com/SmartSearch/SSPartDetail.aspx?PartID=3285&PPStack=1
http://www.repairclinic.com/SmartSearch/SSPartDetail.aspx?PartID=3046&PPStack=1
http://www.repairclinic.com/SmartSearch/SSPartDetail.aspx?PartID=3468&PPStack=1
http://www.repairclinic.com/SmartSearch/SSPartDetail.aspx?PartID=3376&PPStack=1
http://www.repairclinic.com/SmartSearch/SSPartDetail.aspx?PartID=3383&PPStack=1

[theoldstoveguy]

Most of the defrost heaters on the older are on the floor so to  speak of the freezer, if you open the frig & see a drop hump in the ceiling that is where it is. PATIENCE is the key word for working on one. This was built by Admiral & was a lot of fun to work on. Might try a NT19 model under Admiral to get an idea, not easy to work on as to access the heaters etc. you have to remove both the refrig & freezer doors,center divide strip, then you can pull the bottom of the freezer out. I did Maytag & Admiral warranty for 15-20 years & got use to it. 

[Repair-man]

The defrost heaters on some of the very old Admirals were an aluminum tubular assembly that was woven into the evaporator coil. You can check continuity thru the 2 black leads at the ends of the tube. Also check the defrost terminator for continuity while you have the evap exposed.

[MajorApp]

 I put it in manual defrost and fortunately the heater worked. It wouldn't come out of defrost so I replaced the timer. It took an hour to completely defrost so I think everything is good now. What are the symptoms of a bad thermostat?

[JWWebster]

A bad terminator thermostat will NOT allow the heater to come on. I have never seen one fail to open however. I have seen a dummy bypass one and it was not pretty. The way it works is this: The timer shuts down the compressor and kicks in the heater. For 21 minutes. If that heater was to stay on for 21 minutes it would most likely burn down the house. So they install a termination thermostat in series with the heater to kill the heater when the temperature gets 50 degrees F inside the evaporator housing. This is enough to melt the frost on the coils. If the drain is open then the water will simply go into a pan located on the bottom of the ice box. If that drain is stopped up the water will cascade down the rear wall of the fresh food compartment and puddle up under the crispers on the floorboard of the ice box.