Why is My Refrigerator Not Cooling?

There are many reasons a refrigerator isn’t cooling. If you want to spare yourself some time and burden, give Gibson Appliance Repair a call for refrigerator repair in CITY, ST. We are happy to come out and troubleshoot the cooling problem and correct it for you.

When your refrigerator is not cold anymore, it is time to determine what the problem could be. Most times it’s something as basic as a good coil cleaning behind the appliance. However, with latest models of refrigerators, they’re equipped with various sensors as well.

Before we look too deep, we monitor the most typical and simple causes for this problem. Here are some of the issues that we have found lead to a refrigerator not cooling:

Is the refrigerator plugged in? This may seem like it’s a silly question, but we’ve been hired for appointments that this was the problem. For some reason, it was unplugged. Maybe a kid unplugged it, or an electrician doing a service visit. Whatever the reason may be, make sure it’s plugged in.

Check the thermostat inside of the appliance. This is a very typical issue for customers with small children in the home. After all, kids love buttons and dials and so, without understanding they’re doing anything bad, they play with them. So, check that the thermostat temperature isn’t the reason for the warm refrigerator.

Which Refrigerator Parts to Troubleshoot?

Be sure the vents in the freezer are not blocked with food or containers. This is very common because sometimes frozen vegetables get jammed in the back of the freezer. There could be food in the very back of a freezer unit that has been forgotten about.

Check that the refrigerator’s condenser cooling fan is clear and clean of all debris. To check this, unplug the refrigerator and slide it out from the wall. The fan for a lot of models is just at the bottom or somewhere in the back part of the freezer unit. Often times, customers don’t think to clean this area of the refrigerator. But, it is important to clean it. And, it fills up with fuzz and dust quickly, especially in homes that have pets. So, find a clean rag and get the collected dust out of the refrigerator coils and cooling fan.

This is not recommended for refrigerators that have the rear coil system. Once everything is clean, plug it back into the wall and monitor if the cooling fan spins.

The Freezer Unit is Cold but the Fridge Isn’t

There are several causes for a refrigerator that won’t cool after these more common ones to start to check if your freezer is cold but the fridge is not. The evaporator coils are frosted over. This happens if there’s a malfunction in the defrost heating system. Or the automatic defrost has an issue. The evaporator fan motor is another cause.

Every refrigerator has a set of evaporator coils. These coils are what cool and then the fan circulates the cold air throughout the unit. The damper control assembly isn’t working properly. The temperature control board provides the electricity to the fan and compressor, this probably isn’t the problem but it is worth mentioning.

And, the thermistor could be defective, which is a small sensor inside the appliance that tells the temperature. Having one of our repairmen look at it is the best option but these are some of the most typical issues.

ADDITIONAL REFRIGERATOR RESOURCES

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