Refrigerator problem - Ideas?

[reemoe2]

My 4 1/2-year-old Whirlpool refrigerator (with freezer on top) has been running warm lately.

I have a refrigerator thermometer which has been as high as 50 degrees in the refrigerator. I have it in the freezer currently, where it has been fluctuating between 20 degrees and 0 degrees.

What may be the culprit? I have tried vacuuming the dust from the coils at the bottom front, to no real help.

Thanks a bunch,
Ryan

 

[Tones]

Defrost boards go out on these. As I recall it was fairly easy to change.

 

[Colt45ws]

Make sure the internal fan is operating. The evaporator coils may also be frozen. I had a problem with ours doing the same thing, though its a upside down model. The blower motor had gotten water inside, which of course froze and locked up the motor. The refrigerator kept running the compressor and the evap coils turned into a solid block of ice. When it tripped the defrost cycle, it ran the defrost heater until the thermal fuse (70C) opened.
I had to replace the blower motor and the defrost heater wiring harness.

 

[Kira]

Hello, You asked for ideas. Here are mine. 1) the compressor is working because the freezer is cold. That's good, I guess. 2) Could this problem be caused by a bad thermostat? 3) There's a control in our fridge (a 30 year old GE which is rattling its way to death) which supposedly apportions coldness between the fridge and freezer. If your has one of those, see if it's working.

If "deflector doors" are involved (and I do not know if they are or not) maybe something spilled on them and gummed them up.

All the ideas I have at the moment. If it's cold where you are, take advantage. Empty your fridge and put the food outside in the cold and get another thermometer and go to town the best you can.

I know there have been articles on appliance repair and maintenance back when I was young in magazines like Popular Mechanics etc.

Hope some of my noise helps. Kira

 

[demarpaint]

Did you try cleaning the [censored] out that builds up around the coils and compressor? No insult intended but that was a problem I had which mirrors yours. Easy fix no cost at all. I'd try that first.

 

[Dan55]

There is a fan that blows on the compressor to keep it cool . If the fan stops the compressor will run constantly and the temps will rise as you have described.

 

[strongt]

Defrost heater or the timer that controls it.

 

[ZeeOSix]

Originally Posted By: Kira
There's a control in our fridge (a 30 year old GE which is rattling its way to death) which supposedly apportions coldness between the fridge and freezer. If your has one of those, see if it's working.


That's my guess too. I have a Fridgidair where the fridge half ran warm, but the freezer was just fine. On mine, there are two thermostats ... one for the freezer and one for the fridge.

How it works is the thermostat for the freezer determines how long the compressor works and is the "main cooling" for the freezer. The other thermostat controls a damper/door between the freezer and the fridge section. The cold freezer air is used to cool the fridge section when the door between the freezer and fridge section is opened by the thermostat.

If the thermostat failed, or the door mechanism failed with the door almost closed, then the fridge portion will run too warm. If the door failed nearly wide open, then the fridge will run too cold. The door is either fully open or fully closed, not proportional when working correctly. The thermostat opens and closes the door to maintain the proper temp in the fridge section.

So my suggestion is to play with the thermostat for the fridge section and see if it sounds like the door is working or not when the thermostat is changed up or down.

 

[TrevorS]

First step is a full defrost. This will melt away ice that is blocking proper operation in several areas. As mentioned, cold weather is your friend right now for this.

Then you have to wait a while to see if proper operation returns.

If not, I suggest you investigate ALL motorized doors that move air to and from fridge and freezer.

I had engineers visit twice, replacing parts without improvement. Turned out to be one of the motorized doors was stuck.