Why is My Refrigerator Not Cooling?

refrigerator not cooling

There are many reasons why a refrigerator won’t cool. If you would like to spare yourself some time and inconvenience, give United Lynn Appliance Repair a call for refrigerator repair in Lynn, MA. We’re happy to come out and troubleshoot the problem as well as correct it for you.

When a refrigerator is no longer cold, it is time to determine what the problem is. A lot of times it’s something as basic as a good coil cleaning behind the appliance. But, with modern refrigerators, they’re manufactured with a variety of sensors too.

Before we investigate further, we inspect the most typical and easy causes for this problem. Here are a few of issues that we’ve found lead to a refrigerator not cooling:

Is it plugged into an outlet? This might seem like it’s a silly question, but we have been called out to appointments that this was the problem. For some reason, the refrigerator was unplugged. it’s possible a a pet did it, or an electrician doing a project. Whatever the reason may be, be sure it’s plugged in.

Look at the thermostat inside. This is a typical problem for anyone with children in the house. After all, children love buttons and dials and so, without knowing they are doing something wrong, they play with them. So, check that the thermostat setting is not the reason for the warm fridge.

Refrigerator Components to Inspect?

Check that the vents inside the freezer aren’t blocked with boxes or food. This is very common since frozen veggies get jammed in the back of the freezer. There might be food in the very back of a freezer unit that has been forgotten.

Check that the condenser cooling fan is clean and clear of all debris. To be sure, unplug the refrigerator and slide it out from the kitchen wall. The fan for many models is right at the bottom or somewhere in the back part of the freezer portion. Often times, homeowner don’t think about cleaning this section of the refrigerator. But, it’s important to keep it clean. And, it fills up with fuzz and dust quickly, especially with houses that have cats and dogs. So, get a clean rag and clean the collected dust out of the refrigerator coils and cooling fan.

This is not suggested for refrigerators that have a rear coil system. Once everything is clean, plug it back into the outlet and notice if the cooling fan spins.

The Freezer Unit is Cold but the Fridge Isn’t

There are a few more reasons for a refrigerator not cooling after these more common ones to start to check if the freezer is cool but your fridge is not. The evaporator coils are frosted over. This happens if there’s a failure in the defrost heating system. Or if the automatic defrost has an issue. The evaporator fan motor is another reason.

Every fridge has a set of evaporator coils. These evaporator coils are what cool and the fan pushes the cool air around inside the appliance. The damper control assembly working the right way. The temperature control board which carries the electricity to the fan and compressor, this probably is not the issue but it is worth mentioning.

And, the thermistor could be malfunctioning, which is a tiny sensor within the unit that tells the temperature. Having one of our technicians look at it is the best solution but these are a few of of the most common issues.

ADDITIONAL REFRIGERATOR RESOURCES