Freezer appears to be ok, but refrigerator side not cold.

mgreer65

Anyone,

I realized for the past couple of days that the refrigerator side of my unit was not as cold as usual. Today, it finally got to a point where it was just slightly below room temperature. I found the owners manual (http://manuals.frigidaire.com/prodin...18955101en.pdf) and performed the following troubleshooting actions:
-Cleaned front 'toe grille'
-Cleaned condenser coils
-Wiped down condenser fan
-Basically, cleaned everything I could get to behind, under, and in front of the unit.

When I first pulled the fridge out, the condenser fan was not on and I noticed that the compressor was extremely hot to the touch. After I cleaned and plugged the unit back in, the condenser fan turned on. I have also pointed a small fan at the compressor to try and cool the compressor and under the unit.

Is there anything else I should be checking? The evaporator fan seems to be on and the vents are not blocked. The problem I have still seems to persist...and since I have typed this, the condenser fan has turned off again.

I am a new homeowner and have never had to deal with this before, so any help is appreciated!

-Michael

SAMCRO

the reason I ask is normally the refrigerated side comes from the frozen side.

you can try putting the fan back on and blow thru the coil to compressor...and see if that will keep the compressor on...and if its already on,then it should help to keep the refigerated side cool.

it sounds like the compressor is overheating...and going off,on ,overload from the condenser fan not working.

mgreer65

To answer your questions:
- The freezer section is working
- I am assuming the compressor is on because it is warm. Also, it is making a slight sound.

I originally thought maybe the compressor was overheating, but now it seems to be at a reasonable temperature and the fridge side still is at room temperature...

mgreer65

I have also verified that the evaporator fan is working.

jfrotten

Odds are your compressor is working just fine. It sounds like there is a restriction in air flow between the freezer and the fridge. There is probably a build up of ice on the coils causing the freezer to appear cold and the fridge to not cool. Take everything out of your freezer and see if you can remove the back panel to expose the coils. If they are frozen up then you either have a bad defrost thermostat, defrost heater or defrost timer. I'm not too familiar with frigidaire but I see this in GE's quite often...

mgreer65

Thanks for the advise. It was frozen solid - along with all of the vents to it. I am defrosting it now. I plan to turn it on and see if it works or if I need a new part.

Some people keep telling me the defrost thermostat/timer is broken. Is there any way I can check this - other than trial and error?

jfrotten

Well, once it defrosts it will cool perfectly normally for about 3 days, give or take, mostly because it will take that long for all of the ice to reaccumulate. I'm not too familiar with frigidaire but in my experience, the cheepest and most common problem is the defrost heater. You can unplug the two wires that go to it and test for continuity. If it reads open, it's bad. If the heater test good, look at the thermostat. It should be clipped onto the coils. If it appears swollen or discolored, it is probably bad. If those two are both good then it's the defrost timer which, depending on your model, is a seperate part or part of the main control circuit board. Either way, you definitely have a bad part, it will definitely appear to function properly for a few days and then it will freeze up again...

hardwareman

defrost thermostat most likely culprit. Defrost heaters usualy do not go bad (except GE glass tubes)

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