Yesterday both freezer and fridge were running warm, 14F/45F or so, I turned cooling on/off a few times and rearranged food in freezer in case there was an air flow blockage. Before I went to bed freezer was at 0F but fridge still around 47F. This morning after running undisturbed all night, freezer still at 0F, fridge at 50F…YIKES!
Freezer fan seems to be blowing fine, but air is barely (if at all) blowing out of diffuser in top left of fridge, and air flow feels the same whether door is open or door is “closed” (by holding light switch levers closed).
Remove the rear panel in the freezer and check how the evaporator coils are covered with snow/frost. Normally it suppose to be about 100% covered with thin snow.
Remove the top grille and make sure the condenser coils are clean and the fan next to the compressor is working. It should be on as long as the compressor is on.
Since I couldn’t even figure out how to get freezer door off, which was necessary to get to back panel as suggested, I called for service. He could barely figure out door removal either, so I didn’t feel so bad
Turns out the top section of the coils were pretty iced up, seemed to miss an auto-defrost cycle in his words because thermostat and heater checked out fine and manual defrost worked fine. He said this can happen with a power bump, which are frequent this time of year in Tucson with thunderstorms, since everything is computer controlled. Nothing else seemed amiss, so he left hoping it would cool down today and be fine by evening. We shall hope…
It has been 17 hrs since the manual defrost (both compartments were room temp ~70 degF) and the temps are still not down to normal. Freezer is 15 deg, fridge is 47 deg. I would think they would have cooled down to proper temperature by now, no? I will call repair shop this morning to check, but wanted the forum’s two cents…
[quote=Gene;510790]Very likely the system is low on Freon. Did the guy checked the pressure?
Gene.[/quote]
I have the same fridge and same problem. Freezer stays consistantly between 0 and 5 degrees and the fridge stays around 50-55. The fan in the freezer is blowing ice cold air, but very little is coming to the fridge side. By raising the freezer setting (and closing the little damper) I can get the fridge down to around 45 degrees but then the freezer shoots up to the same temperature. There is very little air flow on the fridge side.
UPDATE: When I got home from work, both compartment’s temps were proper (zero and 37 deg)…however, after loading a few groceries in there and then opening and closing it normally during dinner prep (never leaving it open for an extended time), fridge temp shot up to 50 and has stayed there (is at 52 now) and freezer is 12 or so. UGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
Will get the guy back here in the morning…no, I don’t believe he checked refrigerant pressure or otherwise anything in the compressor section other than operation and fan.
EDIT: Also, compressor is working HARD…hasn’t stopped running since I got home and is a bit noisy (buzz/hum) although that’s not the first time it has sounded like this.
EDIT EDIT: Also, when I open fridge door(s), I don’t feel much resistance like normal with a fridge. You know, it should almost feel like you’re breaking a vacuum seal or something…at least my old kickass Kenmore (made by Amana) was like that…damn I miss that fridge
Tech came back today, once again the coils were iced up, not letting air flow across them and up into fridge compartment (freezer temp fine, fridge in high 40s).
Diagnostic step 07 gave an 02 Code (Defrost Heater energized) which he said indicated that a thermostat (bi-metal) that controls the heater was bad…so he replaced it. We’ll see…
