Everything cools, but doesn't cool enough

Refrigerator & Freezer Repair
,
1

My old top and bottom fridge completely died while I was on vacation, so "intelligent" me picked up this 2 year old Hotpoint side by side from a guy on Craigslist. Sigh.

He had it plugged in and running, and it seemed cold, so I went ahead and bought it. Got it home, and the fun began.

It gets cold, but the freezer does not freeze, even with both sides on 9 (coldest). Stuck my thermapen in the freezer, got 38 degrees, and 46 in the fridge. No unusual sounds, no clicking, etc.

Last night, I pulled the unit out. Took the access panel off the back of the fridge, vacuumed out a ton of dust and fuzz from around the big motor there (which seems to be running fine).

Opened the freezer, took the false back out. Fan inside the freezer is running fine. Coils appear to be clean. Light frost on the bottom half of the coils, little bit heavier at the very bottom. Very slight layer of slushy ice just below the coils, around the drain area. Poured a little water into the drain just to verify that it did, indeed, drain out (it did).

Reassembled everything, set both sides to 8, went to bed.

This morning, no freezing. Temp reads 36.4 degrees in the freezer side. I get 36.8 in the top of the fridge, 44 in the bottom.

Just for grins, I set the controls to 5 and went to work… but I doubt that I’m lucky enough for it to be something silly like a backwards setting on those knobs.

What are my next steps? From the reading I’ve done, I’m afraid that I’m out of the free/cheap repair possibilities.

Thanks so much for your help.

3

Sounds like you may have a sealed system problem from your description of the evaporator coils.
it is important that the unit has run for an hour or so before checking the coils. If you check them shortly after or during a defrost cycle then you may end up with the wrong diagnosis.

I am assuming that the compressor runs all the time other than when the unit is in a defrost cycle.
During defrost the compressor, the condenser/compressor fan and the evaporator/freezer fan will all be off.

Below is a link,.
Check out the example pictures about half way down the page.
http://www.applianceaid.com/refrigerator-not-cold-enough.php

When you cleaned around the compressor did you also clean the fan blades and the condenser coil. Also make sure the vents at the front and the back of the unit are clean.
By "big motor" I am assuming you mean the compressor.
It compresses the liquid/gas so keeping it clean/cool is a good idea.
But it is the condenser coil which actually gets rid of the heat that the freon has absorbed from the freezer so it is more important to keep that clean.
Also the fan pulls air through it to assist in cooling it.

4

Thanks for the help, Denman.

More Googling today has educated me. By "big motor", I was actually referring to the condenser coil. This was positively filthy - covered in dust and fuzz - I’m quite sure that I didn’t clean it nearly well enough. I noticed that my vacuum itself couldn’t pull the crud off the coils. The brush attachment did a better job if I scrubbed it around, but I was only able to reach perhaps a third of the total surface area.

If it’s all as dirty as what I saw, and I don’t really feel like I got even that part as clean as it should be, I wonder if this could be causing my issues.

Regardless, I probably need to do a good cleaning of this. Can this be removed for cleaning by a non tech? Or do I simply need to see if a local shop sells one of the task-specific brushes that I see for this job?

Thanks again for the help!

5

Can this be removed for cleaning by a non tech?
No.
Even a tech would not remove it. Get a crack in the tubing or a solder joint and you loose freon.
This then becomes a very expensive repair.
So also be gentle when cleaning it.

Or do I simply need to see if a local shop sells one of the task-specific brushes that I see for this job?
Yes. One of those swiffer brushes might do the job.

I roll my fridge outside and clean the coils with an air compressor. Also have been told by others that a leaf blower does a good job.
But this is easy with my kitchen layout and may be more hassle than what it is worth for you.

6

Okay, thanks. Will do!

7

Cleaned everything nicely, but it’s not going to matter. Pulled the panel off again, still only have frost on bottom third of the evaporator coils. Frost goes halfway up the little copper pipe on the left side, and stops abruptly at a funny bump there.

My best guesstimate is that I’m looking at a repair that I cannot do myself, that will cost more than I paid for this thing already.

Time to do what I should have done to start with, and go buy a cheap fridge on credit. :frowning: