OT - Refrigerator not cooling, Freezer works UPDATE

Kirk Grau · Aug 4, 2016

Thanks for all the helpful things to look for.

Last night I got all the food out of the Refrigerator and Freezer and cleaned everything while I had it unplugged. Probably had an inch of solid ice on the freezer floor. Was hoping the cleaning process would give it enough time to get defrosted, but when I looked at the coil behind the grill at the back of the freezer it was still pretty frosted up. Wife is worried that one of her cats would hop in the open door and get trapped somehow so I couldn't leave it open over night so I plugged it in and put the stuff back in the freezer. This morning it is obviously still frosted. Seems like getting everything defrosted is the first task so I am wondering what is the best approach to accelerate this besides just leaving everything open for half a day. Can I just leave a hair dryer blowing in the freezer and walk away for a bit?

Once I get it all defrosted how much disassembly do I need to do to get to the drain that seems to be a likely issue?

Thanks Again,

Kirk

Janicholson · Aug 4, 2016

A small electric heater is best, hair driers are Ok but are not continuous duty cycle and need attention every 10 min or so to assure safe operation. Jim

Janicholson · Aug 4, 2016

An infrared red bulb of 250 watts is also a "hot" item, and safe. Jim

Bob in SD · Aug 4, 2016

I've used hair dryers before. Don't use a heat gun, you'd probable melt important things. Mom used to put pans of boiling water in to defrost when I was a kid. My office fridge (smaller) get's done in less than an hour if I keep moving the hair dryer around and remove any big chunks of ice as soon as they are loose rather than having them melt in the fridge. I normally cheat and use a larger screwdriver to gently pry or chip some big chunks out. Not recommended, since you risk breaking stuff.

Bob in SD · Aug 4, 2016

I also normally let it go until the small freezer compartment is a solid block of frost, which is why it takes so long.

glennster · Aug 4, 2016

use a 20 inch house fan, set it on high and point it in the fridge, works pretty fast.

TomIn · Aug 4, 2016

For defrosting a refrigerator or freezer I've always just used a small fan set on high speed aimed into the freezer (compartment).

As for disassembly, it probably depends on your brand and model of refrigerator. There are a lot of instruction videos on YouTube. An example is: http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=sears+refrigerator+ice+in+freezer+compartment&&view=detail&mid=AA79885CC7D74FB21883AA79885CC7D74FB21883&FORM=VRDGAR

I haven't had to work on a refrigerator for many years now. One time I had similar problems and had to replace the defrost timer/switch because the refrigerator never went into a defrost cycle. Another time I had a similar problem and had to replace the fan that blows cold air from the freezer compartment into the refrigerator compartment.

Google search and YouTube are your friends when working on appliances these days.

Russ from MN · Aug 4, 2016

I empty our chest freezer and put an electric heater set to a lower setting, (750w) inside and shut the lid, in about 20 minutes I can pick out the frost and sponge out the water. It's an all plastic heater so I don't worry about electrocution and it's plugged into a GFCI. We put the food in coolers while we are doing this. Usually do it before deer season! (being optimistic!)

gnellist · Aug 4, 2016

You can also use a shop vac with the hose plugged into the 'blow' end. After a few minutes of running, the blown air is warmed up so it melts the frost even faster. No problems with duty cycle on a shop vac. You can point the hose directly at the area you want to melt or just prop it in one position and let it go. I can get my freezer defrosted in less that half an hour and it it usually very thick - I don't defrost it as much as I should.

dhermesc · Aug 4, 2016

First get the cats out of the house and keep them out.

Next open the freezer and refridgerator and set a fan in front to circulate air while it sits unplugged.

After everything has defrosted I would vacuum the coils on the back and clean the fan area.

Melting the ice out of the freezer will take quite a while and you will be dumping the defrost pan several times. Only melting it part way and reusing before done will only make the problem worse.

MarkB_MI · Aug 4, 2016

> Once I get it all defrosted how much disassembly do I need to do to get to the drain that seems to be a likely issue?

You'll need to expose the drain pan inside the freezer. Which is to say you'll have to take out pretty much everything that's removable.

One way to thaw the freezer is to put a pan of hot water inside.

If you want to leave it open, just drape a folded towel over the door to keep it from closing. You can then leave it almost closed, which should discourage the livestock from crawling in, and it will prevent the door from sealing should they get inside.

Traditional Farmer · Aug 4, 2016

Pan of really hot water will help it defrost.

Steve@Advance · Aug 4, 2016

Being that it is iced up, the problem won't just be a drain clogged.

There is a defrost timer somewhere, usually behind the front kick plate. Typically it's a white box about 2" square with a thumb knob or slotted knob that you can turn to initiate a defrost cycle. (Look on Youtube for your make and model for defrost timer.) If this is a newer model, there may be an electronic timer.

Once you find the timer, with the fridge plugged in and running, turn the timer until it clicks. The compressor will go off and the heater element or elements will come on. You should see water start to drip, possibly hear some sizzle. If not, either the element(s) are bad or the timer contacts are bad. Check for voltage across the element. If voltage and no heat, the element is bad. If no voltage, the timer is bad.

If it does start to melt the ice, leave it be foe a while, see if the timer cycles through and turns the compressor back on. If it doesn't, the timer motor is not running, need to replace the timer switch.

fixerupper · Aug 4, 2016

Dad put a heat lamp in a chest freezer, shut the lid and left it overnight. The next morning the liner on the underside of the lid was sagged way down from the heat.

Geo-TH,In · Aug 4, 2016

Kirk.
I moved my food to another refrigerator. Left my doors open 24 hrs because I was thinking the drain line inside the refrigerator was full of ice too. Day later went to the back of refrigerator, removed the cardboard cover, located the drain hose, removed the hose from refrigerator. Used air to blow out the drain pipe and blew up to insure that hose was clean. It was blocked where it drained into the drip tray. Good time to make another mess, blow out the dust bunnies from condenser.

IF your boss is going to yell at you for the dust bunnies, move refrig outside, which is another pain in the butt.

If you ask me there isn't a real good short cut. Let it sit for a day to completely thaw out.
geo.

old · Aug 4, 2016

Find the defrost timer and make it turn on he defroster. As I said before I have a side by side that did what yours is doing and all I had to do was start cycling the defrost timer by hand. Or you may need to pull the timer off and replace it which maybe in the long run your best bet. Only reason I did not replace the one on my side by side is because no one could find me a new one in this area

Kirk Grau · Aug 4, 2016

Thanks for the thoughts, all of 30 minutes and plenty of answers.

Just to be clear, I have the Ref. and Freezer boxes clean and clear of ice/frost. The frost I see is behind the louver in the freezer on what appears to be a finned coil.

I went looking for a defrost timer the other night and there is nothing that I see at the front of the kick/toe space. While I had that off I stuck a vacuum hose in there and sucked out a bunch of dust bunnies.

I did find some trouble shooting help on a Whirlpool site the other night. Mostly repeated what you guys were saying about the defrost timer and/or coil. Didn't have any graphic help as to where or how to replace these items though that is why I am back here.

~Kirk

K Effective · Aug 4, 2016

appliancepartspro.com or universalapplianceparts.com The first one includes troubleshooting videos and tech chats by the model number, also videos on how to install specific parts for some models. After using them, I will never call a tech again! Cheap parts, as well, although the stove top burner switch I ordered this morning was $4 cheaper on Amazon than app.com...

JMOR · Aug 4, 2016

(reply to post at 12:14:58 08/04/16)

Age meters. One I have is so old that it does not have timer/automatic defrost!

MarkB_MI · Aug 4, 2016

I think the newer refrigerators handle defrost timing with electronics, so there is probably no dedicated defrost timer. Look for a schematic, probably inside the back cover.

old · Aug 4, 2016

Those timers can be hidden pretty good under a fridge. Plus some have them in the back not the front so you have t do a little digging at times to find it if it has one.

Kirk Grau · Aug 4, 2016

Thanks to whoever noted appliancepartspros.com. They have exploded diagrams that I couldn't find on the Whirlpool site the other night.

A little more research indicates that this appliance has a defrost thermostat in lieu of a timer.

Kirk

Dick2 · Aug 4, 2016

NO, you can NOT leave the heat gun (nor hair dryer) laying on the plastic floor. A hair dryer doesn't get real hot to melt ice, but a heat gun will - but it will also melt the plastic liners if you hold the gun in one spot too long.

Sounds like the defrost drain tube may be plugged and caused water to backup and freeze. I had to pull the fridge out, take off a cover and find that there was no water coming down to the drip pan. I took off the rubber drip nipple, cut a large opening with a scissor, replaced the nipple and re-started the fridge after the ice all melted. That was 2 years ago and fridge is working fine.

Ivan in Mich · Aug 4, 2016

They used a hair dryer ours. He keep working it around and peeling the rost off as it softened. DO NOT USE PICK to get it of. Took him about an hour and he had a dishpan full of frosted material. As soon as he put the part on on finished defrosting. Until the part came he told me to use a hair dryer on it if it frosted up again. As soon as some of the fins opened up it started blowing cold air

John(OR) · Aug 4, 2016

Remember the mold in the drain pan of a frost free is the same mold that causes farmers lung shouldn't be breathed, wash with bleach. House wives have been know to get it.

rvirgil_KS · Aug 4, 2016

Keep looking for a timer, it feeds power to the compressor circuit for a pre-determined amount of run time and then switches from compressor to defrost for a predetermined amount of defrost time. Compressor run time is controlled by the temperature control. It must have a timer.

The defrost heater area in the freezer section should also have a high limit thermostat to prevent overheating if the demand for defrost heat was satisfied before the timed duration ended, or in the event the timer failed in defrost cycle.

Geo-TH,In · Aug 4, 2016

Kirk,
If you can't locate defrost timer or electronic device, after you thawed it out, it should cool just fine for a day or two, then slowly lose it's cool as it ices up. That would be a good clue you have a problem in the defrost circuit, timer, heater, temp control that tells heater things are cold enough to defrost.

If you turn it on, record the freezer temp. If freezer is very cold and the top is warm, good chance fan isn't getting cold air there, fan isn't working, something is blocking air flow.

jimg.allentown · Aug 5, 2016

Here is a little primer on how refrigerators work.
Since the evaporator coil operates at temperatures BELOW the FREEZING POINT of water, they will accumulate frost from moisture in the atmosphere. To deal with this and still be able to keep the freezer cold, there is a defrost circuit. This circuit causes the compressor to stop and activates a heating element to melt the frost/ice out of the evaporator. The circuit consists of a timer, a heating element, and a thermostat. The timer turns the defrost circuit on to accomplish the defrost and off when it is finished. Normal cycle is 12 to 24 hours between defrost cycles. The heating element is located below the evaporator coil. When activated, it gets very hot and will glow. The thermostat in the circuit is to prevent the heater from being activated at a temperature outside of a predetermined range of temperatures.
There is also a fan behind the evaporator to distribute the cold air throughout the refrigerator. Failure of this fan will also cause the refrigerator section not to be cooled.

When the defrost circuit fails, you can manually defrost the evaporator coil, but it will continue to build up frost/ice and will need periodic defrosting.

OT - Refrigerator not cooling, Freezer works UPDATE

Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Member

Member

Well-known Member

Member

Well-known Member

New User

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Member

Well-known Member

Member

Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Similar threads