The kitchen is the culinary paradise of your home, and at the heart of this getaway is your beloved refrigerator. But what happens when your refrigerator malfunctions and stops cooling? Your cooking escape turns into a culinary desert where frozen food has thawed out, dairy products have spoiled, and all your fresh produce has gone to waste. When your fridge stops cooling, it throws everything else out of order and puts you on a timer for maintaining your ingredients. So, what now?
Before taking a crack at your uncool fridge, take a look at our guide filled with reasons why your refrigerator isn’t cooling. You’ll also find tips on what to look out for in your refrigerator, DIY fixes, and issues that may require a look from an experienced repair technician.
At a Glance:
Why Is My Refrigerator Not Cooling?
Reasons Why My Refrigerator is Not Cooling
How to Fix My Refrigerator: DIY Solutions
When to Request Professional Service
Why Is My Refrigerator Not Cooling?
If your ice pops have turned into flavored puddles in your freezer and the food in your fridge feels warm to the touch, your refrigeration appliance may have stopped cooling. This could be happening for a few reasons, and our experts have listed a couple to look out for.
Reasons Why Refrigerator is Not Cooling?
If you take a look here, we have outlined just a few things to check when your fridge has stopped cooling that could be a quick fix or need professional attention.
Thermostat Setting
Before you make a call to a repair service, check your refrigerator thermostat to make sure it’s no lower than the recommended temperature setting. Typically, the higher the number, the more power is used for cooling, keeping your fridge’s temperature between 36–40°F and your freezer at 5°F.
Blocked Vents
Vents are essential to the air circulation of your refrigerator to ensure a cold and consistent temperature throughout. Sometimes when we overstuff the unit with groceries, leftovers, and other items that need to be refrigerated, the internal ventilation can become partially or fully blocked, resulting in the obstruction of airflow that keeps your refrigerator’s temperature from rising.
Dirty Condenser Coils
If everything else appears to be working except the fridge not cooling, you have a problem with the condenser coils. A refrigeration system with dirty condenser coils will affect your refrigerator’s performance as they work harder than normal to release heat from inside the appliance.
Condenser Fan Motor
If your refrigerator is still not getting cold, the problem may be the condenser fan motor. The fan motor draws air to cool the condenser coils, and a malfunctioning fan means your kitchen appliance is more likely to overheat and not cool.
Evaporator Fan Motor
Depending on the model of your refrigerator, your appliance may have one or more evaporator fans. These fans distribute the evaporator coils’ cold air throughout the entire freezer compartment. Unfortunately, you’re having a problem with this refrigerator fan because the motor has stopped working, only your freezer will continue to be cooled while the fridge no longer gets cold.
Control Boards
Today, most modern fridge models are equipped with at least two circuit boards: the main and temperature control boards to manage the major functions of the refrigerator. For your refrigerator to not cool, one or both circuit boards had to have suffered from damage, leading to spoiled and rotten food products.
Electric Supply
Before taking apart your fridge to find the problem, sometimes it’s just as simple as checking if your unit is plugged in. If the electrical plug is not fully placed in the outlet, it’s likely to come loose, and your refrigerator will lose power.
Location
This one may be surprising, but where you place your refrigerator can affect its performance. If your kitchen or garage is too cold or hot, your fridge’s cooling capacity will suffer. Having hot appliances like ranges, dishwashers, and ovens next to your model can also affect its cooling abilities.
Uneven Leveling
Did you know that the leveling of your refrigerator model can disrupt its cooling capacity? If the side-to-side level of your fridge is even a little off, it’ll throw things off and prevent the cooling system from working.
Clearances
If your built-in or counter-depth refrigerators are too tightly packed into their space, air circulation is cut off, preventing your model from cooling down.
How to Fix Refrigerator: DIY Solutions
For homeowners who consider themselves to be quite the handyman around their home, you know sometimes all it takes is a little elbow grease and a new part or two to get things up and running. So, our team has provided a few simple DIY fixes for your refrigerator’s cooling problem that will save you a call to your local repair service.
Unblock the Vents and Fans
The best way to prevent vents or fans from being obstructed and clogged by food and bags, remove, rearrange, or relocate the items and produce that is in the way of air circulation to the rest of the refrigerator.
Properly Stock Your Refrigerator
Although the weight of produce and food items stocked in your refrigerator helps its performance in maintaining its coolness, an under-or overstocked refrigerator works harder to provide a consistent temperature. The best solution is to make sure your unit is well-stocked to avoid fluctuating humidity.
Check Level and Clearance with a Level Checker and Ruler
Another easy fix is to correct the level and clearance of your refrigerator. To check the leveling of your refrigerator, use a bubble or laser level to check from side-to-side and then make sure from front-to-back that there is a 1/4-inch of a tilt toward the back so doors can also shut properly. Clearance-wise, we recommend leaving 3/8-inch of space on the sides and at least a 1-inch in the back when positioning your built-in or counter-depth models.
Check Electrical Supply with an Outlet Tester
To resolve a faulty electric supply on your refrigeration unit, just make sure the plug is secure in the outlet. But we also would suggest not plugging your models into a ground-fault circuit-interrupters (GFCI) outlet. This outlet may shut off your fridge’s power at any time, and if the GFCI is behind your appliance, you will have to move it to reset the outlet.
When to Request Professional Service
Have you gone down our checklist of why your refrigerator isn’t cooling? If you have attempted to fix your fan motor, thermostat, or compressor yourself, but nothing has worked, there could be a bigger issue. We highly recommend getting in touch with your local repair service if your fridge is experiencing any of the following:
- The fan motor isn’t working
- The thermostat is malfunctioning
- The compressor won’t turn off/on, or the relay needs replacing
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– Rob Nicholson, President of East Coast Appliance.
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