Why is My Refrigerator Not Cooling?

There are several reasons why a refrigerator won’t cool. If you want to save yourself a little time and burden, give Valor Appliance Repair a call for refrigerator repair. Our technicians are happy to come out and diagnose the cooling problem and fix it for you.

When your refrigerator is no longer cold, it’s time to see what the issue might be. A lot of times it’s something as simple as a good coil cleaning. However, with new fridges, they’re manufactured with various sensors as well.

Before we investigate further, we inspect the most typical and easy reasons for this problem. Here are a couple of issues that we have determined can lead to a refrigerator that won’t cool:

Is the refrigerator plugged in? This will seem like a silly question, but we have been called out to jobs that this was the reason for the problem. For some reason, it was not plugged in. Maybe a a pet unplugged it, or an electrician during a service visit. Whatever the case might be, be sure it is plugged in.

Look at the thermostat inside. This is a very typical problem for families with children in the home. After all, children like buttons and dials and so, without understanding they are doing something wrong, they play with them. So, be sure that the thermostat temperature isn’t the cause of the warm refrigerator.

Which Refrigerator Components to Inspect?

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

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

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

The Freezer is Cold but the Fridge Isn’t

There are a few more causes for a refrigerator that won’t cool after these obvious ones to start to check if your freezer is cool but the refrigerator isn’t. The evaporator coils have frost on them. This occurs when there’s a failure in the defrost heating system. Or when the automatic defrost has a problem. The evaporator fan motor is another cause.

Every refrigerator has a pair of evaporator coils. These evaporator coils are what cool and then the fan pushes the cool air around inside the unit. The damper control assembly isn’t working properly. The temperature control board which transports the electricity to the compressor and fan, this probably isn’t the problem but it is worth mentioning.

And, the thermistor might be defective, which is a small 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 typical problems.

ADDITIONAL REFRIGERATOR RESOURCES

• Ice Maker Isn’t Working
• How Does a Refrigerator Work?
• Refrigerator is Noisy
• Refrigerator Water Dispenser Not Working