Why is My Refrigerator Not Cooling?

refrigerator coolant

There are many reasons a refrigerator isn’t cooling. If you would like to save yourself a little time and hassle, give Frontier Appliance Repair a call for refrigerator repair. We are happy to come out and troubleshoot the cooling issue as well as fix broken appliances in El Paso TX.

When your refrigerator isn’t cold anymore, it’s time to determine what the issue could be. A lot of times it’s something as common as a good coil cleaning behind the refrigerator. But, with these modern refrigerators, they are manufactured with various sensors as well.

Before we investigate further, we inspect the most common and common reasons for this problem. Here are some issues that we’ve found can lead to a refrigerator that won’t cool:

Is the cord plugged into an electrical outlet? This will seem like a odd question, but we have been hired for appointments that this was the issue. For some reason, it was not plugged in. Maybe a kid did it, or an electrician while doing a project. Whatever the cause might be, make sure the refrigerator is plugged in.

Look at the thermostat inside. This is a very common problem for families with children in their house. After all, children are fascinated with dials and buttons and so, without knowing they’re doing something wrong, they play with them. So, check that the thermostat setting is not the cause of the warm refrigerator.

Which Refrigerator Parts to Troubleshoot?

Be sure the vents in the freezer area aren’t blocked with food or containers. This is common since bags of frozen vegetables get stuck in the back. There can be food in the back of a freezer that has been forgotten about.

Check that the refrigerator’s condenser cooling fan is clear and clean of all debris. To be sure, unplug the fridge and pull it out from the kitchen wall. The fan for many models is right at the bottom or somewhere in the back of the freezer section. Many times, people don’t think about cleaning this section of the refrigerator. But, it’s very important to keep it clean. And, it builds up with dust and fuzz quickly, especially in homes that have cats and dogs. So, grab a clean rag and get the built-up dust out of the refrigerator coils and fan.

This is not recommended for refrigerators that have the rear coil system. Once all clean, plug it into the wall and see if the fan moves.

The Freezer is Cold but the Refrigerator is Not

There are several reasons for a refrigerator not cooling after these obvious ones to start to take a look at if the freezer is cold but the refrigerator isn’t. The evaporator coils have frost on them. This happens when there is a malfunction in the defrost heating system. Or when the automatic defrost has an issue. The evaporator fan motor can be another reason.

Every fridge has a set of evaporator coils. These evaporator coils are what cool and the fan circulates the cold air around inside the appliance. The damper control assembly isn’t working correctly. The temperature control board which transports the electricity to the compressor and fan, this isn’t likely the issue but it’s worth mentioning.

And, the thermistor could be defective, which is a tiny sensor inside the appliance that displays the temperature. Having Frontier Appliance Repair look at it is the best course of action but these are some of the most common problems.

ADDITIONAL REFRIGERATOR RESOURCES