Kenmore refrigerator
showing r3
r3 reports a failed defrost heater on the fresh food side of the Trio.
Mon–Sat, 8am–8pm
- Defrost
- Defrost system repair
- Source: Kenmore
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What r3
actually means.
r3 reports a failed defrost heater on the fresh food side of the Trio. Sears checks the heater's wiring for damage and replaces the heater when the wires are fine. Frost left on that coil gradually cuts the cold air reaching the fresh food shelves.
Kenmore refrigerator display
What to do when r3 shows on the refrigeratorKind of codeDefrost
The defrost cycle did not finish in the time the board allows. A heater, its thermostat or the sensor that ends the cycle.
Usually leads toDefrost system repair
The failure behind most slow, gradual losses of cooling — and behind most visible frost.
Shows up asFresh Food Section Warm, Freezer Cold
The single most diagnostic pattern on a refrigerator, and almost never the compressor.
MakeKenmore
A retail badge on appliances built by several different manufacturers.
SourceSears PartsDirect: Kenmore 111 bottom-freezer error codes (Wayback copy, Nov 2019)
Kenmore bottom-freezer Trio models whose number starts 111; r3 is the refrigerator defrost heater code in the diagnostic mode.
Before you book,
in this order.
Each step comes from Kenmore's own guidance for r3 on its refrigerators. Follow it to the end: the last card says whether this is a visit.
Check the model plate for a 111 prefix and a bottom freezer.
Keep an eye on the fresh food temperature over the next day or two.
Book a visit and say r3, so the fresh food heater is tested rather than the freezer's.
What not to do
r3 is not the freezer heater. That one appears as F3 on the same list.
What you may
notice with it.
The refrigerator problems r3 tends to arrive with. Answer these at the refrigerator before anyone is booked.
All problems
Where r3 usually leads
Defrost system repair.
Read these
before the visit.
Short guides that make the call quicker and the diagnosis cheaper.
All guidesKenmore
refrigerators.
A retail badge on appliances built by several different manufacturers.
Kenmore refrigerator repair
In Kenmore's own words
r3 Refrigerator defrost heater failure
Every code on this site is taken from the manufacturer's documentation, never from a forum or a parts listing. Kenmore bottom-freezer Trio models whose number starts 111; r3 is the refrigerator defrost heater code in the diagnostic mode.
Kenmore r3 refrigerator repair,
where we come out.
The same visit in every metro below: the code, the model number, and a diagnosis before any part is ordered.
All service areasTampa BayFL · 31 areas
Miami / South FloridaFL · 47 areas
New York MetroNY · 75 areas
HoustonTX · 36 areas
ChicagoIL · 50 areas
Los AngelesCA · 95 areas
San DiegoCA · 31 areas
Questions
about r3.
Can I clear r3 myself?
How does r3 on my Kenmore Trio affect the fresh food side?
Is r3 the same as F3 on a Kenmore 111?
Back to your everyday
Still showing r3?
Book with the exact characters, the full model number, and whether it is still cooling — on a code, that is the whole starting point.