Why is My Refrigerator Not Cooling?

There are many reasons a refrigerator is not cooling. If you want to save yourself a little time and burden, give St. Petersburg Appliance Repair a call for refrigerator repair in St. Petersburg, FL. We are eager to visit and troubleshoot the cooling issue and fix it for you.

When a refrigerator is not cold, it is time to figure out what the problem is. Often times it is something as basic as a good coil cleaning behind the refrigerator. However, with modern fridges, they’re equipped with a variety of sensors too.

Before we investigate further, we look at the most common and easy causes for this issue. Here are a couple of issues that we have found can lead to a refrigerator not cooling:

Is it plugged in? This might seem like a silly question, but we’ve been hired for jobs that this was the issue. For some reason, the refrigerator was not plugged in. Maybe a child or pet did it, or an electrician during a service visit. Whatever the case may be, be sure it’s plugged in.

Check the thermostat inside of the unit. This is a common issue for families with small children in the home. After all, children love buttons and dials and so, without understanding they’re doing anything bad, they mess with them. So, check that the thermostat setting isn’t the cause of the warm refrigerator.

Refrigerator Parts to Troubleshoot?

Be sure the vents inside the freezer area aren’t blocked with boxes or food. This is very common because bags of frozen veggies get jammed in the back of the freezer. There might be food in the very back of a freezer unit that has been forgotten.

Be sure the refrigerator’s condenser cooling fan is clear and clean of all debris. To be sure, unplug the fridge and slide it away from the wall. The fan for many models is right at the bottom or in the back of the freezer portion. Many times, customers don’t think about cleaning this section of the appliance. But, it’s very important to keep it clean. And, it piles up with fuzz and dust quickly, especially in homes that have pets. So, grab a rag and get the collected dust out of the refrigerator coils and cooling fan.

This is not recommended for refrigerators that have a back coil system. Once all clean, plug it back into the wall and monitor if the fan spins.

The Freezer is Cold but the Fridge is Not

There are a few more reasons for a refrigerator that won’t cool after these more common ones to take a look at if your freezer is cold but your refrigerator isn’t. The evaporator coils have frost on them. This occurs when there’s a failure in the defrost system. Or when the automatic defrost experiences a problem. The evaporator fan motor can be another cause.

Every refrigerator has a set of evaporator coils. These coils are what cool and the fan moves the cool air throughout the appliance. The damper control assembly isn’t working correctly. The temperature control board that carries the electricity to the fan and compressor, this probably is not the issue but it’s worth troubleshooting.

And, the thermistor could be malfunctioning, which is a tiny sensor in the appliance that tells the temperature. Having one of our technicians inspect it is the best course of action but these are some of the most common problems.

ADDITIONAL REFRIGERATOR RESOURCES

• Ice Maker Isn’t Working
• How Does a Refrigerator Work?
• Refrigerator is Noisy
• Refrigerator Water Dispenser Not Working