Please Diagnose My Refrigerator Problem

The freezer, even with the thermostat at the “Coldest” setting, is only cooling to 20F. I know this because I stuck a thermometer in there and left it overnight. The fridge portion, at the coldest setting, is cooling to about 45F.

I’ve pulled it out of its cubby and cleaned and vacuumed out the screen & coils & such, and unplugged it for a few hours to let it thaw out. I emptied out all the food and ran it overnight to allow it to fully cool again, and I wound up back at square one.

Any idea what’s up?

Overpacked? The air needs to circulate fairly well in a typical refrigerator/freezer combination unit.

You may need to leave it unplugged for longer than a few hours. If the channel between freezer and fridge is iced up, a few hours won’t fix it. Unplug it for a whole day then plug it back in and see if that doesn’t fix it for you.

Yeah, from dealing with my own fridge, I found this to be a common problem that is generally one of two things:

  1. The coils are working like crap, because they are frozen. Sometimes just giving them a day to thaw will this, as mentioned above.
  2. Frequently, the above problem occurs because the timer is busted. This device switches off the cooling at intervals to prevent frost from accumulating. It’s cheap and easy to replace, and I got the diagrams I needed to locate it and the parts numbers from the Sears website.

Actually, frost-free fridges have a point on the timer that heats the cooling coils to melt off the ice build-up; which runs down the back into a pan underneath the fridge to evaporate.

Common problems -
The drainpipe (clear plastic pipe on the back) for frost-free is plugged, the water never drains; it may just ice up, eventually you get a puddle in the bottom of the fridge and then all over your floor. When you have the fridge unplugged, see if water runs down that rear pipe.

the timer is shot, as mentioned. If you are lucky, it sticks on cool and you just get more and more ice buildup until the coils are plugged and the fridge barely cools. unplug for a day, let it cool, a ton of water drains down the pipe into the pan, and it’s good for another few weeks.

The ice plug in the drain may be one of the last things to thaw; pull the pipe off the back of the frdige if you can and see that the line is not plugged by ice - or crud. Fluffy crud from the freezer (i.e. onion skin bits?) may blow into ice coil area and congregate where it drains.

If you are not lucky (I had this once) the timer sticks in the heat mode and your fridge actually becomes very warm.

I had one where I used to unscrew the freezer compartment interior and thaw the ice on the coils with a hair dryer (careful on the styrofoam insulation) every two months.

However, if the fridge simply does not cool enough (rather than getting worse over the weeks as you leave it alone) then it may be coolant problems? Then it’s time for a new fridge.

If you know the model, it is possible to buy a replacement timer and put it in yourself. Ask an appliance repair store. Take a photo of your timer. They used to be mechanical, IIRC the newer ones are electronic. The wires usually have those slide connectors or plugs. Don’t electrocute yourself - unplug anything you work on.

I had a similar problem and the timer/thermostat for the freezer was shot and had to be replaced.