Our refrigerator is on the fritz

[retropia]

Why is it that all of our appliances seem to be having problems at the same time? It's a conspiracy!

There is some sort of appliance training session in town, so I can't get anyone out until tomorrow to look at it. I bought around 12 pounds of dry ice to keep things cold in the meantime.

Is it safe to put a block of dry ice in the refrigerator and another in the freezer? Or is it better to pull everything out and put them in containers with the dry ice?

 

[cfz2882]

What kind of fridge is it?-is it totally dead or is it
running but not cooling?If the compressor runs but no cooling
might be a fan motor not working?

http://hhat

 

[retropia]

It's a Kenmore-by-Whirlpool side-by-side, built Oct. of 1997. I'm not sure if the compressor is running or not, but it sounded like the defroster fan was running non-stop.

I was able to reach a technician, who was at training, and said every other technician in town was likely also at training and thus not available today. So far, I haven't been able to reach anyone else, so that seems to be the case. I should be able to get someone out tomorrow morning.

When I told this technician that it seemed like the defroster fan was running non-stop, he told me to turn off the refrigerator, so that's what I did. I've got dry ice in both the refrigerator and freezer sides now, but I'm not sure if that's going to keep it cold enough until the morning. I may go out and buy some more.

I'll admit that I don't know what type of fan was running non-stop, so maybe it was the one for the compressor? It just sounded like it normally does when the defroster cycle is on.

 

[neptunebob]

Sometimes the fan for the condenser under the refrigerator may be jammed or seized. If you have a room fan, aim it toward the bottom at the condenser, that may help shed the heat.

 

[cfz2882]

check the condenser fan

check the condenser fan and if it has gotten stiff you might
be able to "help"it get started when the fridge is turned on
and compressor starts(if the compressor is running)
if the compressor just hums and you hear the overload
protector trip off you could have a bad start relay(or bad
compressor)
Also,if the fan runs,make sure the cardboard panel is in
place at the back as that is needed to direct air through
the condensor.

 

[rp2813]

I don't know what you mean by "defroster fan" and am thinking you're referring to the evaporator fan inside the cabinet. It would indeed be running non-stop if the cold control was calling for cooling and no cooling was being provided.

I agree that the condenser fan (presuming the coils are under the fridge and there's a fan in back that draws air over them through the front grille) is the prime suspect. If you plug the fridge in and don't feel any air blowing out the front of the grille (usually on the left side) then your condenser fan isn't operating. Aiming a fan into the front of the grille is a temporary solution until you can replace the condenser fan, which is no big deal to change out.

On the other hand, if you can't hear the compressor kick in or run, then it could either be a relay (also easy to change out) or time for a new fridge.

 

[retropia]

What a day

I'd vacuumed the coils under the fridge not that long ago, but checked them again and they were fine. Air was blowing.

Every repair technician in town was attending a Whirlpool training seminar on their new washing machine(s) in Dayton today. At least, everyone I tried to call.

So, I made a second trip to procure more dry ice to keep things cold. After 5 pm, I decided to try one more repair tech listed on Angie's List. As luck would have it, he answered, had just returned from Dayton, and was available to come over right away.

The first thing he checked was the compressor, which he said was fine. Then he removed the back panel of the inside of the freezer, and the coils there were iced over. He said the culprit was a blown defroster thermostat, pictured below.

Luckily he had a replacement on his truck, and we're back in business.

As a side benefit (there's got to be something positive about the day), I was able to clean out the freezer and am in the process of doing so with the refrigerator.

Up until 1993 I had an older GE refrigerator with a manual defrost freezer. While it was annoying to have to do a manual defrost every so often, it was good in that it forced me to clean the refrigerator and freezer on a regular basis.

Oh, as an aside, the tech today told me the Whirlpool impeller model is coming out first, to be followed by an agitator model, if I understood him correctly.

 

[rp2813]

Nice that it was a relatively inexpensive repair.

So can someone advise on why cooling action was impacted? Might it be due to the evaporator coil being colder than the ice that had formed a thick layer of insulation around it?

 

[cfz2882]

sounds like the evaporator froze up into a block of ice and
blocked the airflow

 

[DADoES]

^ What he said. People are often surprised that an iced-over evaporator will prevent the unit from cooling ... but the trick is that frost-free depends on proper airflow to cool the box. No airflow (blocked by frost/ice accumulation) = no cooling.