Refrigerator works fine for 1 day at a time

Refrigerator & Freezer Repair
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1

I have an old Montgomery Ward side by side refrigerator which i use in my shop. Can’t find a model number. It has worked fine for years, then I noticed the refrigerator section wasn’t keeping cold enough. Finally the freezer started warming up, and both sections quit cooling at all.

If I leave the unit turned off for a day or two and then turn it back on, it will cool down rapidly to the proper temperatures (0 degrees freezer and 40 degrees refrig, no problem) and appear to run normal for the day, but the next day or two, when I check it, it is completely warm again, and the bar between the doors is HOT, HOT, HOT.

An appliance repairman (over the phone) told me the condenser fan was probably not working. I pulled the unit away from the wall, and it has the coils covering the back of the unit with no fan (static?).

Where to next?:confused:

2

If it is a self defrosting model more than likely it is a defrost problem. Let it run and then when you notice it goes down then pull the back wall off of the freezer and see if everything is frosted up. That’s about as much as we can tell you without more info.

3

I haven’t run it again yet to test for ice, but I remember that the first time I noticed it not working, I saw frost coming out of the freezer back panel. I will check it again.

In the mean time, I did discover the model number. It is UFO-1625-OOB .

4

there should be a thermostat on the coil behind the back wall and a heater
they should both ohm out to near 0 (not open) if they are both good needs a timer

5

[quote=jdappl07;32304]there should be a thermostat on the coil behind the back wall and a heater
they should both ohm out to near 0 (not open) if they are both good needs a timer[/quote]

I assume you mean the back wall of the freezer as there is nothing on the condenser coils. I will check this later.

Also, I ran the unit day before yesterday, and by yesterday afternoon, it was warming up again. No ice except for some frost coming down from the ceiling of the freezer compartment. I don’t think the refrigerator section ever got down to below 60 degrees this time.