Frigidaire Cycla-Matic refrigerator section too warm

[mrcoppertone]

Hi All,

I've had this coppertone Cycla-Matic for a while now without any issue whatsoever. I'm pretty sure the previous owner never even had to have it serviced.

This morning, I noticed the refrigerator section dripping a bit. I have a thermostat in there and it only measures about 41 degrees if I leave it closed and on max cool for a while. It will quickly go over 50 if I open the door and stay there a while. It was hovering around 33 before and I had the cooling set barely halfway up so something definitely happened. If I had it on the max setting before, it would probably have frozen everything in the fridge.

The freezer section is ice cold and no issues there. I am noticing that the cooling plate in the back of the refrigerator section seems not as "frosty" on the right side.

Wondering if anywhere here has any troubleshooting/advice? Really would like to avoid a repair person if at all possible. They either say they can't fix it or that I should get a new fridge. I'm sure you can all imagine my reaction to that I will say, the freezer compartment was severely frosted before this happened. I melted and cleaned up all the frost in case that was somehow causing this.

 

[oliger]

It seems to me like something in the defrost has failed. Unplug the fridge and let it sit a day with the door open. Clean up all the water from melted ice in the fridge/freezer. Plug it back in and let it run a day then monitor temperature. The built up ice will kill airflow around the coils and not transfer the cold air to the refrigerator efficiently. Causing a cool, but not cool enough refrigerator.
It could be something very simple like a failed defrost timer. Many refrigerators have a manual advance knob at the bottom under the grill plate. You could also try that to test.
No sense in getting rid of a perfectly good fridge. Check it out and let us know what you find.

 

[rp2813]

I don't think this fridge has an evaporator fan that moves air from the freezer to cool the fresh food section.  I'm pretty sure the cold plate in the back of the fresh food cabinet serves that purpose.

 

This sounds more like an issue with a blockage or leak in the sealed system, which would be a real drag if that's the problem.  As the OP stated above, these days a so-called repairman -- likely less than half the age of the fridge itself -- would quickly dismiss it as not worth fixing since it would be far beyond his minimal scope of capabilities.

 

[mrcoppertone]

Thanks Oliger. I think you're right that it has something to do with ice build up. I think there was some kind of blockage that seems to have resolved. I just checked the fridge and it was way down to 30 degrees. I probably just need to be better about defrosting the freezer more often. If the problem comes back, I'll try unplugging the fridge and letting everything melt.

There is absolutely no way I would get rid of this fridge. It's really beautiful and has worked extremely well. It's not an energy hog either. Only thing I would ever replace this with is a coppertone GE Space Saver with the lazy Susan's. That's my dream fridge but nearly impossible to find in the larger size. I would still be hesitant to do that as those have quite a few more parts that can fail.

 

[mrcoppertone]

To respond to RP2813 - that's correct. There's no fan or airflow between the freezer and fridge. It uses a cold plate like you said.

Where I'm confused is, I'm not sure how that plate actually functions. And if there is some kind of blockage or leak, how on earth would that be fixed? It seems like after its last defrost cycle, it resolved the problem which leads me to think it was a frozen blockage of some sort. I am crossing my fingers that's all it is and the problem doesn't come back.

 

[rp2813]

Good to know the issue seems to have been resolved.

 

I'm a big fan of GE Combinations with revolving -- or better yet, swing-out shelving.  Defrosting is an easy job thanks to the drains GE provided in the freezer sections, and GE also designed the cooling system for the freezers so that only the top and rear of the freezer accumulates frost.  This means freezer contents never get coated with much, if any frost.  It truly is the next best thing to frost-free, without the marked increase in energy consumption.

 

[mrcoppertone]

That's really interesting. I did not know that about the top and back only accumulating frost. The drain is a huge upgrade. Would definitely save me some mess!

Unfortunately, this fridge does have a gasket leak in the freezer so it builds up frost quite quickly. I still haven't found a great replacement for it. I don't want to do end up with an even worse leak. I tried repairing the existing gasket but it's still letting some air through.

 

[rp2813]

Here's a link to a source for door seal gaskets.  You can order a sample ring or try to match what you have through images of individual types.

 

I think someone recently posted a link to another source, but I can't find that thread.

 

I replaced the freezer gasket on my GE Combination and it made a world of difference.  Defrosting intervals went from every other month to less than twice a year.  Granted, that fridge wasn't my daily driver so the freezer could go for days without being accessed, but a new door seal will certainly decrease the frequency of your defrosting jobs regardless.

https://www.coolergaskets.com/sample-gasket-ring/

 

[mrcoppertone]

Thank you! I just ordered the sample ring. Will be great to finally get that sorted out.

 

[goatfarmer]

Restriction in the sealed system. Moisture?

 

[gizmo]

Moisture

I'm not super knowledgeable about this stuff, but I understand that moisture in the sealed system can do this. A bit of moisture can freeze into a bit of ice, causing an obstruction to refrigerant flow. Turn the machine off, the ice melts, when you restart the (now liquid) moisture moves along. It can be a recurring problem, depending if the moisture keeps circulating or finds somewhere harmless to hang out. Most likely it can get stuck in the capillary tube, where it joins the evaporator. The area is cold enough to freeze water, and the capillary tube is very fine diameter so it is easily blocked or obstructed. service people can add a dryer to the refrigerant line to catch any moisture.

It can also be a partial loss of refrigerant.

If you are considering calling for service, maybe think about using a commercial refrigeration business - someone who does restaurant systems and similar. They face a wider variety of systems than people who only do domestic stuff, and might be more willing to keep the old girl alive than advise replacement.