refridgerator repair

[kyotekilr]

Needing some help here. My fridge is progressively getting warmer and warmer.

Does anyone know what might be going on or know of a good refrigerator repair guy/gal on the westside of indy or Plainfield area?

It all started a few weeks ago. I opened the freezer to find the ice cream had melted and leaked out of its container. Not knowing anything relevant about fridges, I tried my best to fix it. I cleaned all dust around the bottom in hopes it may be an air flow issue. I took the back panel out of the freezer and dethawed it. Finally I checked to see if everything seemed to be functioning properly i.e. fan going, nothing extremely hot, no strange noises.

Anyways, I plugged it back in and it worked great, I was really proud of myself. Unfortunately it has progressively started to warm up over the past couple of days. As of right now it is on the coldest setting and seems to be holding on by a thread.

 

[Boonl1776]

kyotekilr , I have a similar problem with my GE Profile POS fridge. My buddy is an HVAC guy and he believes its just a bad chip/circuit board. I have to unplug it, wait 10 minutes and then plug it back in. Then it works. I have done this for several months. 3 yrs. old and GE won't stand behind it.

But to answer your question, Walter Gregory of Gregory's Appliance in Plainfield is a straight shooter. He's also a gun guy. 839-9036 / 745-5710

 

[kyotekilr]

Not to completely blow your mind but, ours is a GE profile too! Thanks for the info. Unplugging right now.

 

[remauto1187]

Doublecheck the condenser fan is not locked up. Are the condenser coils(in the rear) super hot to the touch? If you take a regular house fan and blow it on the rear the fridge with covers removed it will get you by until you can get a new condenser fan and install it.

 

[Boonl1776]

kyotekilr I had a hunch it was.

 

[kyotekilr]

Do you mean the compressor or the condenser? The only fan I see is working and I think it is the compressor fan (according to the diagram on google search). Nothing is unreasonably hot and the air flowing around it is not too hot either.

Can this be fixed with tannerite?

 

[mcolford]

Did you clean the coils underneath (or on the back of it)... ? I clean mine every six months. Learned about this after I thought mine had taken a crap, and the father inlaw told me about this. Just use this nifty long brush, knocks the dust off, then sweep it up and go on with life. I do this about every 6 months (same week as clocks and smoke alarm batteries)..

 

[Buck69]

I've spent the past 50 years servicing HVAC and Ref eqpt. I commonly found the problem you've discribed to be caused by the freezer not defrosting properly. Ice builds up on the freezer coil and can't cool properly as air can't circulate properly. The problem progresses as the build up worsens. The best way to chech for this is to unplug the unit and take a hair dryer to melt the ice on the freezer coil. Typically the problem is caused by either a defrost termination thermostat, defrost timer or defrost heater heater.

 

[Colt]

There was just a thread on this three days ago. There may be some help there.

https://www.indianagunowners.com/forums/break_room/275046-warm_fridge.html

 

[remauto1187]

Do you mean the compressor or the condenser? The only fan I see is working and I think it is the compressor fan (according to the diagram on google search). Nothing is unreasonably hot and the air flowing around it is not too hot either.

Can this be fixed with tannerite?

Definitely the condenser. The condenser coil is how a refrigeration unit gets rid of the heat it has removed from the inside of the fridge. The condenser coil and fan on the rear of the fridge is the SAME EXACT system you would find outside of a house in the package unit outside for a central air sytem (split type).
If that fan stops moving air across the condenser coils they will get heat buildup because they are not rejecting the heat to the atmosphere as efficiently as they would with moving air (colder) going across them caused by the fan. CHECK THAT FAN TO MAKE SURE IT IS RUNNING!

 

[Paul30]

I worked on them a while back in the 1980's. It sounds like it is not defrosting. They should run a defrost cycle about every 8 hours. It has a defrost timer that is always running. About every 8 hours it clicks over to a defrost cycle for about 15 minutes then clicks back over to run. You can manually advance this timer with a flat screwdriver. You should hear several clicks then a thump where it switches to defrost, if you turn it a hair farther it will thump back to run . You usually miss it a time or two the distance is so short when you manually turn it but it doesn't hurt it to go around again. If you can manually advance the timer and it defrosts alright, it is the timer. You should hear lots of sizzling going on inside the freezer compartment as the ice melts and drips on the heating element.

 

[kyotekilr]

to me the defrost is probably the issue. When I defrosted it a couple of weeks ago the ice was completely packed around the coils. After defrosting it worked fine until just a couple of days ago. I will check on the manual defrost.

Than fan is working. It doesn't seem to have an obvious malfunction like that.

 

[Walt G]

I agree with buck69. I have been doing appliance repair for 18 years. Most likely it is a bad defrost heater or defrost thermostat. Unplug unit, take back panel off and inspect for ice build up if present defrost with hair dryer. This will get you going short term. You have to check thermostat before you use hair dryer with meter to make sure the circuit is closed and heater can be checked after defrosted.

 

[slidemuzik]

There used to be some free DIY websites that walked me through two different range repairs. They offered the parts I needed at good prices on one. They other I had to buy locally but I don't remember why. I do remember it was one dang expensive part. The main board with the brains.
Good Luck

 

[gunworks321]

Check here. Had good luck with them.
Appliance Repair Forum - Free Service from Appliance Parts Pros