Replaced the Adaptive Defrost Control board 4 years ago and it failed again May 15, 2009. Did not want to replace with the Maytag Invensys part that was available from the Maytag repair guy locally for $70+, and learned that Exact Replacement Parts has a replacement board that has a diagnostic LED capable of showing the condition of the Calrod heater, compressor, etc. Purchased the ER61005988 ADC for $41 including shipping/PayPal charges, pulled the defective unit, installed the base of the new ER and then plugged in the board, lastly installed the top cover. I elected to install this way to be sure the pigtail plugged in correctly. Applied power to the unit and could then see the steady one-second interval blink of the LED showing all was OK. Did not bother manually defrosting the evaporator and the Calrod fired-up when the defrost cycle was started. Frig is now a solid 37F, rising to 41F when the defrost cycle is underway.

Here is some detail that may be helpful to anyone wanting to replace their Invensys ADC:

Invensys Board vs Exact Replacement:
I purchased a Maytag MSD2754GES back in July 2001 for around $1800 and enjoyed it mostly for about five years or so. Then, our fridge started warming up (the beer cooler side... the freezer side was fine). I pulled up the Appliance Guru site and first found that the little air outlet near the crispers was iced up, based on advice here. That didn't help. Then, I opened up the cover to the evaporator coils and found them totally iced over, blocking the cooled air flow from reaching the beer compartment. Again, consultation of the Appliance Guru site suggested that a) the defrost heater was busted, 2) the defrost thermostat was busted or 3) the adaptive defrost control (ADC) board (e.g. the circuit board that controls the timing on the defrost circuit) was kaput. I decided to replace all three just to hedge my bets.

After this rather extensive repair in June 2006, everything seemed fine. Then, in March of this year, I found the same problem. The beer was getting warm and the air flow inside the fridge was very weak. Again, I checked the ADC board, shunting the L1 and Test leads on the board with a screwdriver. This activated the defrost heater, as it should. All the ice melted on the evaporator coil. However, the board itself was clearly non-functional. Back to my local appliance repair store (Orange County Applicance Supply/OCAP) to pick up another Maytag OEM ADC board. I got back, popped that sucker in the fridge and we're back in business. This fix lasted exactly 1.5 months!!! This week, the beer is starting to get warmer again. I open up the panel on the evaporator and find it iced up again. So, I initiated a couple of defrost cycles to cool off the beer and installed a pushbutton switch between L1 and Test on an older board I had kept from the last failure. After installation, this worked fine for a couple of days, but now it appears that the relay is just shot because it stopped working this morning.

So, off I go again to OCAP to pick up another board. I read here on one rather long thread that there are problems in the C2 capacitor being underrated for the job, or that the relay is also underrated for the loads. Fortunately for me, I had a 90 day warrantee on the Maytag OEM board I bought from OCAP. So, I went up there and spoke to one of the guys there about this. First, he wondered if it was really the board and not some place otherwise in the defrost circuit. I explained to him that the evaporator had frozen up but that the test circuit still worked. He was about to get another Maytag OEM (from Invensys), but I asked him if another board might work. He said, "Oh yeah, I think so. I think there is another non-OEM board that might work for you." And then he went back into the shop and came out with a new board that looked quite a bit different from the Maytag board.

The new board that I've just installed is from Exact Replacement Parts, part number ER61005988. The board comes in roughly the same white plastic enclosure that newer Maytag ADC boards come with. However, taking the board out to inspect it, I found that the configuration is quite a bit different. An image of the new board is here:

http://www.capablecontrols.com/defrostcontrols.htm

The new board is made by Capable Controls Inc., and the part number is:

PCB870A0180C

The board has exactly the same pins as the Maytag OEM board with all of the pins being compatible and in the same order on the header. But, the board has a beefier relay (rated at 20A/125V) and many fewer parts. The power cap that replaces C2 has a 33 microfarrad/80V rating. It also has a completely different controller chip than on the Invensys board. Plus, it comes with a status LED that will tell you if there are problems with the cold control thermostat, a defrost heater or thermostat failure or a board failure. What was really cool was that OCAP simply exchanged this board for the failed Maytag board because it was still under the 90 day warrantee. When I got home, it took a grand total of about ten minutes to pull out the non-functioning board out and the new one in. I plugged in the fridge and saw that the led blinked once per second, indicating that the compressor circuit was on and functioning correctly. So far, the fridge is working fine right now.

For those of you needing to replace your Maytag or JennAir Adaptive Defrost, I'd suggest trying this new board. My fridge has been through three Maytag/Invensys boards during its relatively short six years of life. I'll keep you posted on this new one.

If you want to try out this new board (which I believe costs the same as the Maytag OEM board), contact OCAP at their website:

http://www.ocapsupply.com/

It's a complete piece of junk. Tonight I was googling "MSD2756 Ice Maker" when I saw these poor reviews for it and felt compelled to register for this site to add my own $0.02.

The ice maker has stopped working at least three times - twice the fill tube froze up and tonight I don't know what's going on with it. And yes the defrost circuit has been replaced at least twice. We "inherited" this piece of junk in '05 when we bought the house. The next time I feel compelled to call the not-so-lonely maytag repair man, we will most likely go out and buy another non-maytag refrigerator. I will never buy maytag again.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot - the shelves in the fridge door come out really easily - we've had many surprised house guests feeling really bad for pulling out one of those shelves and making a mess on the floor.

And then a plastic support for the crisper unit sheared off somehow so now it sits cock-eyed and prevents the drawers from sliding all the way in.

A complete piece of junk.

(And shoot I was going to give it zero stars but the website if forcing me to give it at least one - that's one more star than it deserves.)

Complete junk!! I've changed 2 defrost circuit boards and now changing the compressor relay kit. It is louder than a LG I currently own. I recommend to everyone-stay away from Maytag and Sears brand. It seems the company knows about the recurring problems and would not try to fix them on the newer models.

Complete junk! Two defrost control boards and three dispenser control boards later the dispenser control has failed yet again. So much for paying a premium for premium features. I will never buy Maytag crap again.

I have a Maytag MSD2756de also. We have been lucky - knock on wood - we have had it 7 years, and are replacing the defrost circuit board for only the 2nd time. I won't replace it a 3rd time. Just say NO to Maytag!

I fell for the Maytag repairman commercial B.S.. My refrigerator was fortunately under warranty when they replaced my defroster board three times in two weeks. Yes you read that right, the first two boards were bad right out of the box. And now after about two years that last board has failed. The other problems I have are the water\ice dispenser sticks and the refrigerator door doesn't close all the way sometimes. AND I had the main bearing go out on my Neptune washer (early version) after the warranty, so I had to buy a new one. I did get the new Neptune only after the salesman assured me that they were rated one of the best. I am unaware of any class action lawsuit as I never received any credit or $ for it.

I bought a Maytag MSD2756 in Nov. 2000. Defrost Circuit Boards went bad in Sept. 2004. Paid the repair man $180+ to replace it (labor $120, parts $60+). It went down again today.
I did not use the ice water since ice water-supply tube always freeze up.
There is no class-action suit about this product because
you will end up get nothing.

I also have a Maytag front load washer. I received a letter about the settlement of the class-action suit.
They just give you credit to buy maytag products.
Will I buy a Maytag product again using the credit?
Never!!! I will not take any new Maytag product even
if it is free.

Let me add to the list of victimized Maytag MSD2756DE purchasers. I bought mine in 2001. It was DOA. After 30 hours still no cooling. Ruined all the contents (the old but still working just fine Kenmore had been hauled away). Finally convinced appliance store it wasn't working. Repairman found that power connector to compressor had come loose in shipment. The ice maker has been replaced 3 times. Twice under warranty and the third time at my expense. The controls to the fridge have been replaced, again at my expense. The power relay to the compressor had to be replaced after 5 years. The freezer door leaks water. The top center of the freezer door has frost buildup. Every week and one-half I have to remove the panels in the back of the freezer and do a manual defrost of the massive ice buildup in the coils. Otherwise, the freezer goes to -30 deg F. and the fridge goes to +55 or +60. I have always had 15 to 20 years of completely reliable service out of all my previous fridges. This Maytag is the biggest piece of junk I've ever owned. I will never, ever by Maytag again (regardless of who owns them now). If anybody wants to initiate a class-action lawsuit I'm ready to join.
(I had to give it a 1-star rating to satisfy the software but it should have a zero or minus rating to cover situations like this.)

I am having the same problem w/my freezer leaking. This is after we've replaced the ice maker inside and now the control board for the ice maker is ready to go. I'm worried about the leak b/c I saw this bright orange something or other in the freezer which was obviously very hot. This was causing the freezer to leak. What worries me is a friend has the same freezer and had the same problem and their freezer caught fire! We're done w/this thing and am buying a new fridge.

We have had this MSD2756DE for 6.5 years and we are on our 3 adaptive defrost circuit board. Luckly the first 2 were within the warranty period. The new revision of the board ($65) comes with a cover to protect the board, which the guy at the APD repair shops says that he has never seen one with a cover come back bad. Installed myself by removing the top cover in the fridge side controls and removed 5 screws, just plugs in the back right of the controls section. Saved a bundle. You can find the diagrams on www.partselect.com and diagnose the heater element to be 22 Ohms and the sensor to be 240k Ohms (behind the freezer panel with the coils) to confirm if your defrosting element is working which means you need a new defrost board. Good luck to Maytag owners, we need it.

Wow! I'm actually excited to see that we're not the only ones with this piece of garbage. I thought we had just gotten a lemon. We've had all of the same problems listed here. This thing is a piece of JUNK! Maytag should be ashamed but now that they've been bought by Whirlpool maybe they will get better. Doesn't matter I will never even consider another Maytag ever again. And where did they get this ice dispenser? Off U-571? It sounds like a depth charge going off. After 5+ years the cat still runs in fear when we get ice.

This model(msd2756de) has being a pice of Shhhhhhh since we got it 5 yers ago, the first problem was a relay that cought on fire I sent Maytag a nasty email and they paid for the parts since then water leaks,doors out of alligment, indide trays fall off, buttom of freezer iced up,a clicking sound and still having to replace the same relay 3 times.To say the least this was our first and last Maytag purchase.

I've had all the same problems with the defrost board failing, the coils freezing-over causing the compressor to run non-stop and the refridge side to heat up to 65 degrees, the ice maker jamming up, and the door compartments coming loose and dumping everything on the floor...what a piece of junk. There should have been a class-action lawsuit for this model like the front-loading Maytag Neptune washing machine I also bought in 2000...yet another piece of junk!!!

This pig is nothing but trouble! Same problems as the list below. I can't believe it has not been recalled! in addition the plastic shelf pins inside of the fridge have all cracked and busted from the sides and I have plastic epoxied these back in. What a sad excuse for a refrigerator! I will never buy matag again!

Same issues as previous owners.

Deicing card replaced. Door shelves flexing out and dumping items. Now after 4 years I'm also finding water leaking out the bottom of the freezer door.

Make sure little thin plastic air valve behind lower vegetable trey is positioned properly for proper temperature control.

Have to say I'm disappointed in MayTag. This was my first and last product I'll purchase from them.

Apparently the problems I've been having with the Maytag MSD2756DE aren't isolated events. The defrost unit freezes up periodically and the icemaker stopped working after 2 years. The shelves are weak and I've had two of the plastic shelve supports break off. I won't be buying Maytag products in the future based on this experience.

Ok, I don't have this particular Maytag model, but just had to comment on the undependability and unreliability of Maytag products (refrigerator, washing machine and dryers). Have heard for years that Maytag products were dependable so when it came time to replace these major appliances, decided to go with Maytag. Big mistake. All was well for the first year, but after that, nothing but trouble. Will not be buying Maytag ever again.

My Maytag fridge (MSD2756AEB) is now 8 years old and I'm considering myself lucky after some of what I've read here today. I've been dealing with the ice water-supply tube freezing up for years. I usually use a hair dryer to defrost it. I've also wrapped a kitchen towel around it to help with its insulation to no avail. About 2 months ago, I found water under my freezer door. I was unable to track its origin. The same thing happened a few more times - one time I witnessed it and was able to find out that the water was pouring out from the freezer side - seeping through the door. I guess I need to defrost the self defrosting freezer - boo. Another problem we'd had lately is a loud clicking sound that comes from the top of the inside of the fridge side. I'm hoping we can replace it before any serious damage is done to our floors.

As a postscript, today I called Maytag today and was told by a CSR in their Yakima call center that NONE of the electronics (circuit boards, etc.) in the 2756DE is covered by the warranty beyond the first year after purchase. The way the owner's manual reads, the board is a subset of the defroster assembly and hence should be covered by the 5 year warranty. Because Maytag has failed to keep me happy with some incidental warranty protection, I cannot trust them to support any new Maytag applianced I might purchase, hence I will not purchase Maytag in the future! Our 5 year and 2 month old Maytag MSD2756DE ceased to cool on the frig side three days ago and we steadily needed to bump up the freezer side for any ice making ability. Eventually the frig side was 70F (toasty, eh!) and the Maytag repair guy came by for the autopsy. Icy frost was visible from the midsection of the rear freezer unit on down to the freezer base. The repairman quickly replace the Defrost Circuit Board ($49.99) and proceeded to squirt hot water onto the frozen mass of the cooling coils. He removed about 60% of the ice and closed up the system, saying that the Iconel heating element would melt the remaining ice and the cooling process could begin. Two hours later, I could see that the defrost drip tray was nearly full from the Iconel melting job, but the frig was still 68F. The repair guy said the frig gets it cooling from the freezer compartment. The huge freezer fan sucks air from the base of the refrigerator compartment through the oblong rectangular hole in the rear left base of the frig, circulates that air over the cooling coils and pushes the cold air back into the frig compartment via the upper left rear air return hole from the freezer compartment. Apparently the degree of cooling in the frig is controlled by the duty cycle of the freezer fan. Three hours after the board replacement, the frig was cooling down and we had 47.3F. I plan to call and email Maytag to recover my $49.99 for the board. Labor is only covered for the first year, so I will eat the $74, although the digital design is very weak. My 15-year old analog Amana is very reliable and has never been serviced, side from cleaning the coils every 3-mos of dust and cat/dog hair.

K....I moved into my house with a brand new Maytag....OH YAY...or so I thought.... About a year after we moved in...my shelves in the door collapsed because the door is warped and none of the shelves are latched in firmly. The salad dressings and maranades allll over the floor. Well, thats not so bad..till it happened 3 more times....ugggg. Now we live in South Florida and have had some hurricanes...so we have lost power a few times. The first time a few months ago...then a few weeks after the fact...fridge is warm.. My Dad tells us to blowdry the coils...and it worked...YAYAY...till hurrican Wilma made us loose power for 13 days....now not warm again. I called maytag again and they are comin out..so my Lovey says "lemme look again at it"...yeppers..FROZEN AGAIN....so we have just finished defrosting them AGAIN...ok..so I supervised and am writing this review to help anyone who is looking to buy this unit.. Please do not... All joking aside...not fun at allll.. We will be moving again...and our new house will not have Maytags' appliances...

I've had a Maytag MSD2756DE for about 4 years and I have had so many problems with it that I am finally giving up on it and buying a Whirlpool. I have had all the problems listed that everyone else has mentioned here outside of problems with the compressor. The WORST thing about it is that once a month, I have to take everything out of the freezer, take the back panels off an defrost the coils with a hair dryer because they freeze up. I have been through over half a dozen service calls, they replace circuit boards and defrost heating elements (or whatever you call them), then a 3-8 months later it starts happenning again. The worst part is that it froze up when I was away on vacation and leaked water through the hardwood floors ruining them as well as the ceiling in the basement below. I just searched Consumer Reports and now I know why Maytag has the absolute worst repair rating for side by side refrigerators, I wish I would have checked the review sites like this one before I bought it. To sum it up, after 4 years I'm out $1300 bucks plus over $1000 in floor and ceiling repair. I have to admit I loved it when it was new but I simply can't handle having to spend half a day per month defrosting a $1300 "frost free" refrigerator. The last two repairmen that came I called myself rather than going through Maytag and they told me that that freezing up thing with Maytags is a very common problem. I don't know if thats true or not but I know it's true about mine. PLEASE PURCHASE AT YOUR OWN RISK.

I have owned the refrigerator for 5 years. I have put in 3 Defrost Circuit Boards which when they go out your freezer freezes behind panel in freezer and cooling is lost. Approx. $60.00 for each the board. (FYI- The last board I sprayed 3 coats of clear paint on the soldered connections to see if it will prolong the board from moisture). After a few months so far so good. My Start Relay (PTC Relay) for compressor went out today after 5 years which results in total cooling lost and you will hear a clicking noise from the overload protector switch. Approx. $15.00 for the relay. Shelves on the doors are weak water thru the door is slow but mormal for this model. All else seems okay. I will not buy Maytag again.

We spent $1500 in this pig (Maytag MSD2756DE) when we moved into a new home in 2000. We paid extra for the Maytag name. We've experienced various issues that others have reported in their reviews. #1. The fridge leaked water and ruined our brand new hardwood floor in our new home. The fridge was under warranty. The repairman said issues with this model are common. Maytag eventually paid to have the hardwood floor replaced as the fridge was under warranty. #2. The shelves in the refrigerator door are not stable and collapse, dumping all contents onto the floor, wasting food, and making a huge mess... broken glass, etc. Our hardwood floor is dented in front of the fridge. This issue did not occur until the 1-year warranty had expired. #3. It's impossible to regulate the temperature. The freezer is too cold and the fridge is too warm. We've shut it down several times and followed the directions in the manual exactly to no avail. We've come to the conclusion that it's simply a poor design. #4. The icemaker freezes up on a regular basis (once every month or two). When this occurs, water leaks down the back of the freezer and eventually freezes up the fan and other mechanisms below. I have to shut it down to defrost. Icemaker is also slow and messy. Water dribbles out and is room temperature. It didn't become an issue until after the 1-year warranty had expired. #5. The refrigeration unit (behind the panels in the bottom of the freezer) freezes up. It becomes covered in frost and eventually loses it's cooling capabilities. The frost covers the hole to the fridge, which warms up fast. A user's first instinct is to increase the cooling via the controls, but this simply makes matters worse. The only solution is to shutdown and defrost the entire unit. I'm guessing that the heating element has failed and the auto-defrost feature doesn't work. It didn't become an issue until after the 1-year warranty had expired. #6. Vegetables freeze in drawers. All in all, we are not satisfied with Maytag. We paid extra for the brand name and reliability. In reality, our Kenmore side-by-side lasted 7 years (maintenance free) in our previous home for about half the price. After working on this unit repeatedly, I find that it's very cheaply made for the high price. Maytag might have been high quality 20 years ago, but those days are long gone. I could see this on a low-end unit, but not a $1,500 model. I must have got the first model off the assembly line. I strongly believe that Maytag is aware of this issues and that most/all of them have been addressed via Company internal service notes. These issues have not been communicated to Maytags partners that perform services. I guess they need to keep their expenses down! My current plan is to write a letter to Maytag giving them one chance to address these issues even though my unit is well out of the warranty. If unsuccessful, Ill pay for one last repair to get this thing working as good as possible and then sell it cheaply to some unlucky individual. Then, Ill be on the market for a new fridge and you can be sure that Maytag will not see one red cent from me ever again. I will also work to spread the word on Maytag via the Internet and word-of-mouth... don't do business with Maytag!!! This ordeal has been a huge inconvenience for my wife, 3 kids, and myself. Luckily, I have small fridge in the garage to cover us when the Maytag fails. On top of the inconvenience, we're going to lose a lot of money on the deal AND have the added expense of a new (non-Maytag) refrigerator. I have pictures to support my claims. Best regards, Barry Wilson

Our refrigerator is now 4 years old and is great except that: Refrigerator door shelves drop off, plastic shelf in refrigerator is broken, Icemaker dispenser relay sticks on and we have to open the door to stop ice from dispensing all over the floor. Monthly defrosting is necessary to correct water supply tube freezing and/or coils in freezer ice up regardless of temperature settings. Sometimes makes crushed ice. Vegetables often freeze while top of refrigerator is too warm at over 45 degrees. We already replaced the Maytag Proforma washer (4 transmissions went bad) and dryer (automatic settings never worked, etc)at the same time as the refrigerator. Guess what's getting replaced this weekend with a Kenmore or GE ... ANYTHING BUT MAYTAG!

Granted the refrigerator is huge, but the icemaker is the worst we have ever owned. It's slow, noisy, makes hollow cubes, freezes the water in the bottom of the ice bin and clogs up. After 2 years of unsuccessful service calls, the extended warranty is offering a GE replacement. Yea!!!!

First the molded door panel was sprung so the shelves did not fit properly. This meant bottles would often fall on the floor when you opened the door. Then the ice maker keeps jambing up, the light stays on after replacing the water/ice filter and the vegs keep freezing in the vegtable drawer. In the last two years we have had four separate failures. Good thing we had an extended warrenty!!!!! If the maytag repairman is lonely it's because his phone is broke and he has no life.

This frig is huge! It has an adjustable glass shelf, lots of lights to see everywhere in the frig, the glass shelves pull out to reach in the back, milk can fit in the door. The freezer is great because they have wire shelves so circulation can go everywhere. The shelves pull out so you can reach the back, and the door shelves are also metal and tip out for easy access. The icemaker has a filter system and access through the freezer door. My only complaint is that when you access the ice through the door, it is a little loud and slow.