Home Refrigerator Problem

Here's a pretty decent DYI checklist:

http://www.applianceaid.com/refrigerator-not-cold-enough.php

Also, put your hand on the compressor unit after it has run. If it's hot enough to burn your hand, it's probably toast, and time to replace the fridge.

Also, if the drain line from the freezer becomes clogged, the water from the defrost cycle will become frozen around the controls. You may have to remove the back or bottom freezer panel, but unplugging it and using a hairdryer to melt the ice will work...along with clearing the drain line.

yes its worth fixing. probably just a control, like a defrost control, just call around for service and explain the same as you did here, they should show up with your part on their truck.

If you can afford it, get a new one.....If money is tight call a service.....It could be the defrost control, bad gaskets, heater control or element, condenser or evaporator fan, refrigerant leak, start capacitor, door not closing all the way(bad hinges)....

Kramarat's find is very nice.

But, unless you are a gambler, I'd go with Fredski on this one.

First, if you've got a full refigerator the contents are likely to spoil while you are discovering what works and what doesn't, and then going (hopefully only once) to buy a good part.

Fix or replace is up to you. New ones are NOT CHEAP, but may be more efficient.

My wife bought a new Whirlpool a year ago. You cannot dispense crushed ice into a glass without spilling some, or a lot, on the floor. That sucks. Otherwise it's OK.

My GE is the same. I'm glad that my dog likes to eat ice

Lyn-

I am envious of your problem. Mine won't dispense anything but problems. The drive motor for the auger in the ice accumulator box is broken so the only way to get ice is to get it out with the digits. Appliance parts store wants close to $200 for just the parts. Thanks Heavens I do my own labor because that would probably go for at least $150-->$200 since they charge for travel time. With that type of robbery I'll wait until it is replaced and continue to use the 5 that mother gave me.

I'm still envious of you!

Good Luck, Old Salt

Remember these:

BP. Before Plastic.

Handy-

Some refrigerators have an adjustment within the freezer and refrig compartments. All that I have seen have two knobs, one to lower/raise both temperatures and one to make the difference between them smaller/greater. One controls the amount of air that goes from the freezer to the refrig. Read the directions for each and adjust accordingly.

I have one in my unheated garage and it needs to be adjusted 3-4 times a year. These knobs are located in the back of , and within, the refrig side of the unit.

Good Luck, Old Salt

There is a fan that moves cold air from the freezer to the lower part of the refrigerator.The freezer must cool properly in order to cool the bottom part,so the problem is originating in the freezer compartment.Check the coils inside of the freezer compartment.If they are covered in ice, they will not cool properly.This can be caused by a bad defrost timer,or defrost coil,or as previously mentioned also, a clogged drain line.

My first guess would be a clogged defrost line.If this is the case, check door gaskets also.A bad gasket can allow more moisture into the freezer than can be drained during the defrost cycle.This will result in a build up of ice on the coils resulting in poor cooling.

Considering the age,gaskets are also a likely cause.The number one enemy of door gaskets is sticky residue on the sealing surfaces,especially near the bottom.Eventually, the pull on the gasket when opening the door will cause the gasket to fail.

good luck!

Make certain the coils outside the refrigerated body are clean and the fan that blows across them is working. The fan on mine failed and the service man said that normally he finds a mouse in the works, stopping the fan.

This last year, we had two refrigerator problems, one just a couple weeks ago. The first one had problems like yours. Not cooling enough, but still working. One day, it quit cooling and had to be replaced.

The last one was interesting. There's a energy efficient mode (switch in the refrigerator section) my tenant switched on. Soon after, he had water on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator, which leaked on to the floor. I was talking to a friend, when he told me the same thing happened to his own refrigerator. He had to clear out the freezer section, remove the cover (inside the freezer at the back) and thaw out the drain line. He told me to get hot water from the sink, microwave it and pour it down the drain line. Worked like a charm and I told the tenant to turn the energy efficiency switch off.

I don't think the second option is your problem, since our refrigerator was keeping everything cool. My guess is that you have a bad compressor, which can fail at any time. If it fails when you're not ready (most cases), you'll have a lot of food spoilage. To save you from this, I recommend biting the bullet and buying a new unit. Here, we get a rebate for buying an energy efficient model. For our own personal refrigerator, we bought an LG model. The first salesman talked us into a GE unit, which didn't work out of the box. We had them pick up the defective unit and due to the bad advice, we chose a different store. The second salesman told us to go with Samsung or LG (for medium priced units), as they are much more reliable and cost about the same.

I do have one complaint, which is a minor one. Our personal refrigerator has those dutch doors, with the freezer below. I think it's a great idea and I love the pull out drawer of the freezer. One thing I don't like is how quiet the door open alarm is. We've had a few instances where the doors don't close all the way. The alarm is on very low volume, hence we've had the refrigerator doors open for a few hours. There is no volume control on our unit - when I have the time, I'll work on that one!

Good luck.

I managed to have that same fridge running for 19 years before the cost of running it became crazy.

During that time I got really good at trouble shooting it.

First check:

In the cold section's LHS at top there is an air register that delivers air from the freezer into the cold compartment. Cold compartment temp is regulated by a flap that modulates the air flow. Feel if there is any cold air blowing out of that. If not then your freezer has iced up and you may even see ice on this register.

Normally the freezer will cyclically defrost via a timer with an electric heating element fixed to the evaporator inside the freezer. If that timer (electromechanical clock) dies then it won't cyclically defrost and icing happens. The timer's cam axle can be manually rotated to invoke a defrost cycle.. When you open the cold section door there will be visible a circular hole about 10mm dia in the underside of the door frame head. Look inside and you will see a plastic slotted shaft end. Use a butter knife to rotate that until you hear/feel a pronounced click. The compressor will stop and the heating element gets to work. The ice melt will drain into the pan under the freezer which has ample capacity. After say 30 minutes, access the timer knob again and rotate it past the click and the compressor should roar into action. Feel for the airflow at the cold air register.

Second check:

If you think that the airflow from the register is ample (subjective I know). Then you may have diminished refrigeration capacity overall.

When the fridge is running there should be a steady stream of warm air flowing out from under the freezer door where the dog/cat always lies. If not then the condensor fan may be inoperative.

If no air is flowing then significant capacity can be temporarily restored with a small personal fan blowing onto the condensor through the gap under the cold section door. You will eventually have to replace the fan motor which is easily accessed through the back. (I ended up installing an array of small "computer" fans which gave me some condensor cooling redundancy.)

If there is air blowing but not very warm then the condensor coil under the cool compartment is covered in fluff, dust, hair etc and needs a clean. I found that a vacuum cleaner and a large bottle brush to be the way to go here. This became routine maintenance.

Easy things to check and try before calling a service tech.

I hope we are talking about the same fridge.

If anyone needs the icemaker section then it's their's for free if they come and get it. It was hardly used, idle for 18 of it's 19 year life, the mechanical bits are like new. I should get USD0.25/kg for the rest of the fridge when I sell it for scrap.

I have "Whirlpool" fridge, I had similar problem in refrigerator section. I called the mechanic from the company, he replaced the thermostat and problem was solved. It may be due defective Thermostat.

check the vents and sensor outlets- sometimes they are blocked - outside ones with dust or particles and in the interior proucts placed too close which throws off readings

It is probably easy to fix, but is the power used indicative of an old style minimum insulation.....? Then get a new one.

Sometimes water gets in the insulation and you will find very cold spots on the outside of the fridge. Then get a new one.

I have a small unit, that plugs into the mains and it logs the power used over say 2 days. Compare this to a modern unit and see how good it really is....such test logging units are really cheap nowadays.

Even after a repair, you still have a 20 year old fridge that may break again soon!!!

The value of the food stored may exceed the value of the fridge....by a factor of 20!!! Its not good enough for freezer insurance I would think....

Buy an alarm to warn you (after fixing) if it stops working....

Thanks for the many lessons learned and ideas shared. The problem was the fan. bearing was well worn allowing the fan from time to time to bind and stop. Could hear the "noise" of the fan but did not realize it could bind and later restart. New fan and the refrigerator has been working fine. Thanks for helping.