Why is My Refrigerator Not Cooling?

 

refrigerator coolantThere are a few reasons why a refrigerator is not cooling. If you would like to save yourself some time and burden, give Brentwood Appliance Repair a call for refrigerator repair in Brentwood, NY. Our repairmen are happy to come out and troubleshoot the cooling issue and fix it for you.

When your refrigerator has lost its cold, it’s time to see what the issue might be. Often times it’s something as common as a good coil cleaning behind the refrigerator. However, with these modern fridges, they are equipped with various sensors too.

Before we look too deep, we inspect the most typical and simple reasons for this issue. Here are some issues that we’ve found can lead to a refrigerator that will not cool:

Is the refrigerator plugged in? This might seem like a odd question, but we have been hired for jobs that this was the issue. Somehow, the refrigerator was not plugged in. Maybe a child or pet unplugged it, or an electrician during a project. Whatever the reason may be, be sure it is plugged in.

Check the thermostat inside. This is a very typical problem for customers with children in the home. After all, children love dials and buttons and so, without knowing they’re doing anything bad, they play with them. So, be sure that the thermostat setting isn’t the cause of the warm refrigerator.

Which Refrigerator Parts to Troubleshoot?

Check that the vents inside of the freezer area are not blocked with food or boxes. This is very common because sometimes frozen veggies get stuck in the back of the freezer. There could be food in the way back of a freezer unit that has been forgotten about.

Be sure the condenser cooling fan is clear and clean of debris. To be sure, unplug the refrigerator and pull it away from the wall. The fan for a lot of models is just at the bottom or somewhere in the back part of the freezer unit. Many times, customers don’t think to clean this section of the appliance. But, it is important to clean it. And, it clogs up with dust and fuzz quickly, especially in houses that have cats and dogs. So, grab a rag and clean the dust out of the coils and cooling fan.

This is not suggested for refrigerators that have a back coil system. Once everything is clean, plug it back into the wall and see if the cooling fan moves.

The Freezer is Cold but the Refrigerator is Not

There are many causes for a refrigerator that won’t cool after these more common ones to start to take a look at if your freezer is cool but your refrigerator is not. The evaporator coils are frosted over. This happens because there’s a malfunction in the defrost system. Or when the automatic defrost has an issue. The evaporator fan motor is another reason.

Every fridge has a set of evaporator coils. These evaporator coils are what gets cold and then the fan moves the cold air around inside the appliance. The damper control assembly isn’t working properly. The temperature control board that carries the electricity to the fan and compressor, this probably is not the problem but it is worth mentioning.

And, the thermistor might be defective, which is a tiny sensor within the appliance that tells the temperature. Having one of our technicians look at it is the best option but these are a few of of the most typical issues.

ADDITIONAL REFRIGERATOR RESOURCES