Whirlpool freezer and fridge too cold

Refrigerator & Freezer Repair
1

Hi all,
I have an old Whirlpool side by side Fridge/freezer. Over the past couple of months we started to find that food and drinks were freezing on the upper shelves. I also started to notice that the ice cream in our freezer is much more frozen (harder) than usual.

I have set both the freezer setting and the fridge setting to their warmest setting with no change. Food in the fridge is still freezing and the ice cream in the freezer is still like a rock.

The current temp in the fridge is about 30.
The current temp in the freezer is about -7.

I’m open to any suggestions on testing or replacing specific parts.

Thanks in advance.

2

It sounds like your cold control is sticking in the “on” position. It happens. The contacts inside get burnt and start welding themselves together. It takes extra pressure to pop them apart.

Whirlpool WP2198202 Cold Control - AppliancePartsPros.com

3

ThatGuy,
Thanks for the quick response. I have one question. Just to verify that the cold control is the likely culprit. I had never set the cold controls to such a cold temperature in the past. If the contacts did weld themselves together could the result still be that the temperature would drop even more than the last setting?

Is there a way to test the cold control prior to purchasing a new one?

Thanks!

[QUOTE=ThatGuy;914200]It sounds like your cold control is sticking in the “on” position. It happens. The contacts inside get burnt and start welding themselves together. It takes extra pressure to pop them apart.

Whirlpool WP2198202 Cold Control - AppliancePartsPros.com[/QUOTE]

4

[quote=1alembic;914203]ThatGuy,
If the contacts did weld themselves together could the result still be that the temperature would drop even more than the last setting?

Is there a way to test the cold control prior to purchasing a new one?

Thanks![/quote]

If the contacts are stuck together, the compressor will continue to run and the food will get colder and colder, regardless of the dial setting.

Not really. All the symptoms you describe lead to a conclusion. Most likely problem bad cold control.

You did try turning it warmer first?

5

Thanks for the clarification. I’ll get a new cold control and follow the instruction to replace it. Thanks for the help.

I did try turning it warmer first.

I’ll provide an update after I get the new cold controller installed.

6

Thought I’d follow-up on this thread. I ordered and received a new cold control and replaced the old one. The fridge and freezer are both now working as they should. Thanks for all the help!!

7

Hi all - So my Freezer/Fridge was working great after replacing the cold control. However, in the past 2 weeks I noticed that the Freezer was not as cold as it should be (the ice cream was much softer than usual). So I mover the freezer temp knob to a colder setting. That did not help so the next day I turned the knob to a much colder setting. The result was that now the freezer is running at -15 degrees. So now it is way too cold. I tried turning the knob back to a warmer setting but the temperature stays at -15 degrees.

I checked the Air Damper and it does seem to working properly.
Is the cold control I replaced already bad?
Is there something else that has gone bad?