Kenmore Upright Fridge/Freezer - Freezer not cold enough

Refrigerator & Freezer Repair
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1

Greetings all!

We have a Kenmore fridge - Model 596.77272790. Upright, freezer on the bottom. Just 2 days ago we noticed the ice was not as frozen as normal and the ice cream is not frozen solid. The top fridge seems cold enough (seems normal) but the freezer if definitely not cold enough. I turned the temp selector in the freezer all the way up (it used to be in the middle) and that doesn’t help at all. Fridge temp is still set to the middle.

I removed the kick plate which had a ton of dust and vacuumed that out. Took a look at the back and it’s all covered so I haven’t taken anything off yet to look inside the back. Figured I’d ask here before tearing into it.

Again, this is not something that occurred slowly over time. This happened suddenly a few days ago. At this time the heavier meat items are still frozen fairly solid…it’s the ice cream and liquids that aren’t so it’s still getting cold, just not cold enough. Thanks very much in advance for any assistance! I will post whatever the resolution is.

3

Eye’s aren’t what they used to be!

4

Remove the freezer back panel and check the frost pattern, if partial,light frost, you have refrigeration problems.

5

OK. Removed freezer cover. It just happened to be right in the middle of the defrost cycle so frost had already melted but you can see ice buildup still in the circled area. I just checked again and there is frost developing already on one of the 2 metal tubes that feeds into the coil system. Any ideas?

I will take another pic when it’s a little further into the freeze cycle.

6

Let it run for a while, measure temperature, then check the frost pattern.

7

After running for at least 4 hours here are updated pics. Temp is leveling off at about 38f with just a little bit of buildup on the evaporator…mainly on the tubes.