Freezer is cold, fridge is not

Refrigerator & Freezer Repair
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1

I have a Kenmore Side By Side Refrigerator model# 106.53552201 that has a cold freezer but warm fridge. I had a repair man out earlier in the day to look at it and when he took the panel off the back of the freezer to look at it the coils had some ice on the bottom quarter of them but the top quarter was wet and not frosted. He told me that I had a "low cool" situation and it wouldn’t be worth fixing the freezer. So my husband and I spent the next three hours out shopping for a new Refrigerator. We bought one that was a lot of $$$ for us. We then got home and out of curiosity looked at the coils again and they are now all evenly covered in frost with no ice in the bottom quarter as it had been only a few hours prior. I told the repair man that the fridge and freezer had sat open for a bit while we emptied them into coolers and our garage freezer and that I had looked at the coils earlier and thought the top part that was now defrosted was frosted when I had seen them, but he convinced me that they couldn’t have been based on what he was seeing right then. Well I am now starting to wonder if our Refrigerator is actually fixable since it appears to NOT be a low cool situation like he originally thought, I think the coils defrosted at the top while it was open and getting unloaded. I took the freezer alarm that I have on my garage freezer and stuck in in my refrigerator freezer and I am getting a reading of 14 degrees fahrenheit with the temp still slowly falling on the thermometer.

I guess I just need to know based on that info if I should have another company come out and look at the refrigerator before I have the new one delivered. I can get my money back on my new one, but need to cancel the delivery for tomorrow if it sounds like my old refrigerator can be fixed. I am all for fixing it myself if I can, just not sure how to figure out what is wrong with it.

Thanks

2

Ok I let it run all night the freezer is nice and cold, ice maker is making perfect ice. I am thinking it is the damper door that seems to be stuck in the closed position. I can’t seem to make it open at all other than manually sliding it open, but then it just closes again. Is it usually just that part that goes bad or do I need to worry about some other thing causing the damper door to not open, like the control board.

Also it seems that the fan that is above the coils is running all the time, is that normal for that to run non stop. I haven’t actually seen the unit when it is in defrost mode so maybe the fan stops then??

3

I think it will turn out to be the temp control for the fridge section. You can prop the damper open till you get it fixed. I would go with a different repairman. Of course you can replace the part yourself.

Part 12 on this diagram is the air diffuser assembly(damper)>http://www.searspartsdirect.com/partsdirect/getSubComp.pd?modelNumber=10653552201&productCategoryId=0165000&brandId=0582&modelName=REFRIGERATOR&diagramPageId=00002&componentDescription=REFRIGERATOR%20LINER&documentId=P0203369&backToLink=Return%20to%20Sub%20Components%20list

Part 6 is your control board,temp control>http://www.searspartsdirect.com/partsdirect/getSubComp.pd?modelNumber=10653552201&productCategoryId=0165000&brandId=0582&modelName=REFRIGERATOR&diagramPageId=00010&componentDescription=CONTROL&documentId=P0203369&backToLink=Return%20to%20Sub%20Components%20list

4

So I need to replace both of those right away or should I do one and then the other? Could it be the diffuser is fine and that just the control board is bad??

I am just trying to decide whether or not to try to fix this refrigerator or by a new one. Of course it has to be a weekend when the parts stores are all closed!

Both sides of the refrigerator are empty, we didn’t want to leave the food in it since we weren’t sure what was wrong with it. I am so torn on whether to spend the $275 for those two parts and try it vs. buying a new one vs. having another repairman out to look at it.

5

I believe the control part is all you need. The diffuser assembly seem to be going where it’s told to. It’ll have to be your call on which way to go. There’s not a reason it won’t last for 10 more years if fixed and replacing parts is not that complicated.