My Kenmore side-by-side refrigerator now only works for 2, 3, 4, or 5 days and then stops cooling. Here is what is happening…
One day I went to get water out of the dispenser, and nothing came out. Then I noticed the tray under my glass is full of water. I opened the freezer and it was running, but it sounded weak, and it was not very cold inside. As it turned-out, melting ice was dripping from the ice-maker bin. So I empty the bin and I’m thinking the unit has died, or maybe just frozen-up. So I turned it off for a couple of hours and when I turned it back on, it worked again, but only four or five days, then it quit cooling again.
So, I’ve gone through these steps a few times, and it will cool for 2 to 5 days and quit. The funny thing is, I had a very similar problem with it about 2 years ago, and a Sears guy came out and replaced the condenser (I think) and some copper tubing. It seemed like a lot of copper to me, but I’m not sure how much.
I’m good with electronics and some electrical stuff. I even used this forum to troubleshoot my range and ordered a part to fix it.
But I don’t know where to start with refrigeration.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
What you described sounds suspiciously like a defrost problem. Plug the unit in and set the temperature controls to midway. When you notice that it has stopped cooling again, closely inspect the freezer. Is there a snowy frost build-up? Does there appear to be a sizable build-up of frost behind the panel at the (inside) rear of the freezer? If so, this is an indication of a defrost failure. Either the defrost heater is broken or burnt out, or the defrost termination thermostat is faulty. Let us know what you discover.
Seems like an electrical problem, next time it fails, tell us what is running/not running. Check evaporator fan, condenser fan and compressor.
Guys. Thanks for the quick replies.
After making sure the controls were set to half-way, I placed a thermometer on the top shelf of each side. When the unit was cooling, the freezer side measured about 15’F, and the fridge side measured about 40’F.
When I noticed it had stopped cooling last night, the temperatures on both sides were about 50’F. The water dispenser would go through the motions, but gave no water. There was no frost on the back wall inside the freezer section, and the back panel didn’t feel very cold anywhere from top to bottom. As before, it sounded like the unit was running, but it sounded weak, like it was just idling or something.
I turned it off for a couple of hours. and back on before going to bed. This morning it is cooling again, with the same temps as above (15’F/40’F), and ice-making & water-dispensing is normal.
What else can I check to narrow it down? Or does this give enough information to isolate the problem?
Thanks again.
It sounds like you’re having compressor problems. The temperatures are right at the upper limit (You really need freezer temperature to be less than 17 degrees, for making ice); refrigerator is best at about 38 degrees. I would check the start relay and overload protector on the compressor, but it sounds like a weak compressor to me.