Refrigerator repair?

[Jackie]

Our fridge is not staying cold enough to keep the food cold. Anyone have any experience in fixing one?

[Patrolman]

Jackie - we were recently having the same issue with ours. I slid the fridge out and used the vacuum cleaner hose to clean off all the coils. The coils on our fridge were underneath, but also wrapped up around the back a bit. I had to remove a 2 or 3 screws to take a piece of cardboard off the back of the fridge to get to the coils. There was tons of dust buildup, no letting it cool. Seems to have helped tremendously.

[Tom]

Jackie - we were recently having the same issue with ours. I slid the fridge out and used the vacuum cleaner hose to clean off all the coils. The coils on our fridge were underneath, but also wrapped up around the back a bit. I had to remove a 2 or 3 screws to take a piece of cardboard off the back of the fridge to get to the coils. There was tons of dust buildup, no letting it cool. Seems to have helped tremendously.I have to do that every year on my 2000 Kenmore

[ExplorerTom]

^yep

plus google search and search YouTube.

[Jackie]

Thanks guys! We're going to look into it! It's worth a shot before hiring a repairman (or buying a new fridge...)

[Jackie]

Hmmm... Pulled out the fridge, took the cardboard off the back, vacumed and used a toothbrush to clean the coil - but I think things might be getting worse. We can't even hear it running right now. The Freezer-side seems OK. I checked to make sure I didn't loosen any wires in the process...

The previous owners were dog breeders and there was so much hair built up in there... it was disgusting.

About a week ago, the fridge sounded like a helicopter ready to take off out the roof. Then the noise quit... and so did the fridge. :frown: We've lost at least 2 degrees in the past 2 hours. Anybody hungry??? We're about to lose everything in the fridge. I'm bagging up as much as I can and hauling it to our beer fridge in the garage...

[xaza]

Sounds to me like it is on it's way out. Refrigerators are made to be replaced now. Typically ends up cheaper to replace than repair. They are made with no service ports, so to even service it requires the installation of a port to access system. If the fridge gets laid over for any reason while cleaning you want to wait before plugging it back in for refrigerant to settle in accumulator. If coil was extremely bad compressor may have overheated before cleaning and may come back on and start working after it cools off and overload closes. Let it run overnight and let us know how it is working in morning.

[Patrolman]

That seems odd Jackie. Sorry to hear that it didn't help. Hope it comes back around for you.

[Hypoid]

We can't even hear it running right now.
Are you sure its not on the defrost cycle?

[javaman34]

What brand of fridge? I remember my mother having a problem with hers thar sounds similar. The freezer worked but the fridge didn't. We found out the in the back wall of the fridge there is a little fan that brings down the cold air from the freezer and it quit working. She had the little fan replaced and no more problem. Her fridge os a whirlpool.

[Jackie]

Ours is a GE Profile.

Mike - I'm glad you asked that question about it possibly being on the "defrost" setting. (It was not) but your question prompted me into looking at other options. We've never owned one with all the computer options so we've never messed with it since we bought this house. Well I decided to mess with it!:lmao: I found a setting called "Express Chill" and I set it for 15 minutes. I immediately heard fans kick on and the machine is now purring as it should. I put my hand in there a couple minutes ago and I could feel cold air moving. Fingers crossed that I can get the temperature down.

[Hypoid]

Our old fridge/freezers do that automatically. Far as I know, they have a timer built in, but, I could be way off base about that.

One thing that we do, is put jugs of water in the fridge to stabilize the temperature. The less stuff you have in the fridge, the more the temperature will fluctuate.

[carpenle]

Ours was doing that for awhile and had it looked at, guy said it was cheaper to buy a new one than fix the old. The compressor line was clogged and he said he could cut it out, but it would likely re clog. So we ended up getting a new scratch and dent model at Appliance Factory outlet.

[Jim]

I was thinking you just need to move higher up the mountain so you don't need a fridge...


:duck-for-cover:

[Jackie]

I was thinking you just need to move higher up the mountain so you don't need a fridge...

Yep! Winter is coming! As much as I hate winter, fridge space is never an issue in the winter if we use the garage (or the back porch etc...)! Thanks for finding a bright side!

[The StRanger]

Our fridge did the same thing about 3 months ago.
Sher and I both hated that fringe (was in the house when we got it 10 years ago)
So we went to Sear warehouse of 6th Ave and got a new one ..

[Jackie]

All of the appliances in this house need to be replaced. It's just bad timing (considering I'm losing my job). We would like to buy something nice, but under the circumstances... we might need to go back to the "college-days" mentality which isn't bad at all. We'll break out the coolers and buy ice! :lmao: If we successfully close on our old house on Sept. 1 as planned, then financially - things will look better. We'll hold out til then even if it means buying a lot of ice. (But we will try to get a repair man to come out. No one has called me back yet...) Is it a busy season for appliance repairmen or something?

[Jim]

Is it a busy season for appliance repairmen or something?

Or because we live in a "replace it" vs. repair it society there aren't any repair persons still in the biz...

[Hypoid]

Or because we live in a "replace it" vs. repair it society there aren't any repair persons still in the biz...Three billion Chinese need a job! ;)


we might need to go back to the "college-days" mentality which isn't bad at all. We'll break out the coolers and buy ice How many bags of ice does it take to buy a used appliance?

I have been happy in my dealings with Jensen Appliance, in Wheatridge.