Have you noticed that your fridge is no longer cooling the food, and you wonder what to do if your fridge stops cooling? Well, there are plenty of things you can do to bring your appliance back to working order. And the beauty is you don’t have to hire a refrigerator repair professional to help with fixing it.
Some of the things you should do include:
Condenser coils are located under or behind the fridge (depending on the fridge model), and their role is to cool and condense the refrigerant. When you go for a long time without cleaning your appliance, dirt collects on the coils, and this prevents the heat from being released efficiently, and it ends up in the fridge.
You should inspect the coils, and if dirty, clean them with a handheld vacuum or special refrigerator coil brush.
Fix the broken condenser fan
The condenser fan is located in a cabinet at the bottom of the fridge, near the condenser coils and compressor. Its job is to keep the compressor and coils cool.
When is the last time you hired an appliance repair contractor to inspect your appliance? If it has been long and your fridge is still not cooling, chances are high the condenser fan is broken, and when the fan breaks down, the fridge begins to heat up.
To restore your fridge to proper working condition, check whether the fan blade is broken. While at it, inspect it to see if dust or debris is present on the fan blades.
If the fan blade is broken, you might have to hire a contractor to help you replace it, but you need to gently wipe the blades with a clean towel if dirty.
As you are cleaning them, rotate them. Are they rotating? If they aren’t, you might be having a problem with the fan’s motor.
Motors don’t come cheap so before you replace them, consider the age of your appliance. If your fridge is over 10 years and it has been consistently developing problems, you are better off simply replacing the unit as there is no point in installing an expensive fan motor on a dying refrigerator.
On the other hand, if your appliance is just a few years old, you can go ahead and buy a fan motor for your appliance. When buying a new unit, ensure that it’s high quality and will last for a long time.
Fix the evaporator fan
Evaporator coils are located in a panel behind the freezer, and the refrigerant runs through the coils and turns to gas and makes the coils cold, and consequently, the food in the fridge cools.
The evaporator fan draws the cool air from the coils to circulate throughout the entire unit, where it begins from the freezer and then into the refrigerator.
If the evaporator fan is broken, cool air doesn’t circulate properly, and it’s not uncommon to end up with a freezer that is cold as the freezer area is near where the coils are located. Although the freezer will be cold, the food compartment doesn’t get cold as the cold air isn’t getting pushed there.
If the problem is due to a faulty evaporator fan, you should replace the fan motor. Like in the previous scenario, only install a new motor if your appliance is still new and in good condition. Don’t install an expensive motor on an appliance that is on its deathbed.
Remove frost from the evaporator coils.
As mentioned above, the evaporator fan draws cool air from the evaporator coils and moves it throughout the entire refrigerator, including the freezer.
When the fan stops working, and you don’t fix it early enough, the coils might frost over.
To remove the frost from the coils, you should remove the back panel and let the coils thaw for a day or two.
If the fan has been running, but the coils have frosted over, the frosting might be due to another reason that should be looked at by an experienced and certified commercial appliance repair Fairfax professional.
You should never ignore the frosted coils as they can bring about a plethora of problems such as a malfunctioning defrost heater and broken defrost thermostat.
