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A homeowner in Stony Plain, AB called TechVill about a Whirlpool French-door refrigerator (model WRF560SFYM05) that was doing two things at once: building up frost in the freezer and no longer holding steady temperatures. Two symptoms that look mechanical often point somewhere else entirely. TechVill technician Kim worked the fault back to its source and found a dual electronic failure — the thermistor and the main control board had both gone — then replaced both in a single visit.
Why frost plus temperature drift is a sensor-and-board problem
Frost in the freezer is easy to blame on a defrost heater or defrost thermostat. Temperature that won’t stabilize is easy to blame on a compressor or damper. On this Whirlpool WRF560-series fridge, both symptoms showing up together pointed away from a single mechanical part and toward the control loop that governs the whole system.
Here is the logic. The thermistor is a temperature sensor that reports the actual compartment temperature back to the main control board. The board uses that reading to decide two things: when to run the compressor, and when to fire the defrost cycle. If the thermistor sends a wrong value, the board acts on bad information — it can skip or shorten defrost cycles (frost accumulates on the evaporator) and mistime compressor runs (the box drifts off its set point). One misreading sensor produces both of the symptoms the homeowner described.
Tracing the fault to two failed components
Kim started at the sensor. A thermistor is a resistance device — its resistance changes predictably with temperature — so it can be checked against the value it should be reporting at a known temperature. This one was out of range and feeding the board incorrect readings, which explained the erratic cooling.
That alone did not close the case. The main control board was also tested, and it had failed independently — the electronic control unit itself needed replacement, not just the sensor feeding it. Confirming both before ordering parts mattered: swapping only the thermistor would have left the fridge with a dead board, and swapping only the board would have left a bad sensor lying to a brand-new controller. The frost and the temperature drift both trace back to this pair.
The repair — two OEM parts and a moisture cleanup
Based on the diagnosis, Kim replaced both electronic components with genuine Whirlpool parts and cleared the ice the fault had left behind.
Components replaced:
- Refrigerator thermistor (part #WPW10383615) — the temperature sensor that reports actual compartment temperature to the control board; a drifting sensor corrupts both compressor and defrost timing
- Main electronic control board (part #W11035836) — the control unit that reads the thermistor and commands compressor cycling and the defrost cycle
Moisture and ice removal performed:
Because the failed defrost timing had let frost build up, the accumulated ice and excess moisture were removed by hand before the fridge was returned to service — otherwise leftover ice would keep melting and refreezing against the new parts. With both components installed, the unit was verified holding temperature correctly on the same visit.
The result
The refrigerator came back to normal operation and was confirmed holding its set temperatures before Kim left. As with any fridge after a defrost-related repair, a short window of run time lets internal temperatures fully settle across both compartments. The work carries TechVill’s standard 90-day labour warranty.
What this repair cost
The scope of work totalled $858.50 before tax — parts (thermistor and control board), a parts handling fee, and labour that covered both the install and the moisture cleanup. The service call had already been collected at the earlier diagnostic visit, so that amount was credited against this invoice; the completion invoice came to $723.98 including GST. Both parts were sourced through Whirlpool’s OEM service catalogue rather than aftermarket substitutes — control boards and thermistors are calibration-sensitive, and an out-of-spec aftermarket sensor would reintroduce the exact misreading problem this repair solved.
TechVill repairs Whirlpool refrigerators across Stony Plain and the Edmonton metro west corridor, arriving with the test equipment to check a control loop end-to-end and access to genuine OEM parts. Book online to schedule a Whirlpool refrigerator diagnostic with our team.
