My refrigerator is running..........however, everything in the freezer
has defrosted, and the refrigerator part stuff is just
semi-cold.......I turned the controls all the way to the coldest. I do
not understand what could have caused this, and what should I do? Is
it on its way out? It's a Whirlpool, and it does appear to be quite
old. It was here when I bought the house 3 yrs ago, I have no idea how
old it is.
thanks in advance for any advice!
Melissa

wrote in message
oups.com...
My refrigerator is running..........however, everything in the freezer
has defrosted, and the refrigerator part stuff is just
semi-cold.......I turned the controls all the way to the coldest. I do
not understand what could have caused this, and what should I do? Is
it on its way out? It's a Whirlpool, and it does appear to be quite
old. It was here when I bought the house 3 yrs ago, I have no idea how
old it is.
thanks in advance for any advice!
Melissa


Check out symptoms at www.applainceaid.com or www.repairclinic.com If you
are capable of doing the work, it may tell you what you need. If you are not
comfortable taking apart some of the unit, just call a service tech. Plan
on spending a minimum of $100 for the call, plus some parts. If it is old
and a low end model, it may be more cost effective to buy new.

wrote:
My refrigerator is running..........however, everything in the freezer
has defrosted, and the refrigerator part stuff is just
semi-cold.......I turned the controls all the way to the coldest. I do
not understand what could have caused this, and what should I do? Is
it on its way out? It's a Whirlpool, and it does appear to be quite
old. It was here when I bought the house 3 yrs ago, I have no idea how
old it is.
thanks in advance for any advice!
Melissa

Hi,
First thing I'd check, defrost timer and it's contacts, fan which push
cold air around. Defrost heater can be on or off all the time depending
on how it fails, then compressor could overwork leading to burn out, if
fan is stuck(seized), cold air won't circulate evenly.
Beyond that, I'd call service tech.
Good luck,

wrote:
My refrigerator is running..........however, everything in the freezer
has defrosted, and the refrigerator part stuff is just
semi-cold.......I turned the controls all the way to the coldest. I
do not understand what could have caused this, and what should I do?
Is it on its way out? It's a Whirlpool, and it does appear to be
quite old. It was here when I bought the house 3 yrs ago, I have no
idea how old it is.
thanks in advance for any advice!
Melissa

First I second Edwin's suggestion.

I would suggest removing all food and leaving the door propped open
overnight. (Remember to make it safe from children and animals while the
door is open - SAFETY first.) If it starts working then it was likely a
frosted up evaporator coil. Next problem is to find out why. (this is a
variation of what Tony was suggesting.)

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit

On Sun, 04 Jun 2006, Joseph Meehan wrote:

I would suggest removing all food and leaving the door propped open
overnight. (Remember to make it safe from children and animals while the
door is open - SAFETY first.) If it starts working then it was likely a
frosted up evaporator coil. Next problem is to find out why. (this is a
variation of what Tony was suggesting.)

Most likely the defrost heater died. They often do. If you take everything
out and remove the back of the freezer compartment you will see if this is
true. A fan blowing on the coils will defrost it faster. Then you can
reassemble and it will work fine for a week or two. Try to not open the
freezer door often. This will give you time to either get it fixed, or to
order replacement heating coil(s) to change them yourself.

It is possible that the timer went bad, but these fail less often. If you
look at the heater(s) you can tell if they are burned out.

Don www.donwiss.com (e-mail link at home page bottom).

wrote:
My refrigerator is running..........however, everything in the freezer
has defrosted, and the refrigerator part stuff is just
semi-cold.......I turned the controls all the way to the coldest. I do
not understand what could have caused this, and what should I do? Is
it on its way out? It's a Whirlpool, and it does appear to be quite
old. It was here when I bought the house 3 yrs ago, I have no idea how
old it is.
thanks in advance for any advice!
Melissa

I don't think it is dieing, I think it froze up, call the technician.

On 4 Jun 2006 10:06:16 -0700, "
wrote:

My refrigerator is running..........however, everything in the freezer
has defrosted, and the refrigerator part stuff is just
semi-cold.......I turned the controls all the way to the coldest. I do
not understand what could have caused this, and what should I do? Is
it on its way out? It's a Whirlpool, and it does appear to be quite
old. It was here when I bought the house 3 yrs ago, I have no idea how
old it is.

Is there any label on it, that would give a date of manufacture?

thanks in advance for any advice!
Melissa
--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.laughingsquid.com

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what
to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb
contesting the vote." - Benjamin Franklin

Mark Lloyd wrote:
On 4 Jun 2006 10:06:16 -0700, "
wrote:

My refrigerator is running..........however, everything in the freezer
has defrosted, and the refrigerator part stuff is just
semi-cold.......I turned the controls all the way to the coldest. I do
not understand what could have caused this, and what should I do? Is
it on its way out? It's a Whirlpool, and it does appear to be quite
old. It was here when I bought the house 3 yrs ago, I have no idea how
old it is.

Is there any label on it, that would give a date of manufacture?

thanks in advance for any advice!
Melissa
--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.laughingsquid.com

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what
to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb
contesting the vote." - Benjamin Franklin

old fridges were energy piggies, a new one can pay for itself by saving
electricity

I have to say it........hands shaking in an effort to restrain myself

Why is your food coming out a different color than when you put it in there?

Alright I'll shut up and get back to cleaning the basement.

wrote in message
oups.com...
My refrigerator is running..........however, everything in the freezer
has defrosted, and the refrigerator part stuff is just
semi-cold.......I turned the controls all the way to the coldest. I do
not understand what could have caused this, and what should I do? Is
it on its way out? It's a Whirlpool, and it does appear to be quite
old. It was here when I bought the house 3 yrs ago, I have no idea how
old it is.
thanks in advance for any advice!
Melissa

I just had the same thing happen to my 12 year old refrigerator about 8
months ago. I took it out doors and using a air compressor, I blow all the
dust/dirt off the coils under the refrigerator. Working excellent ever
sence. Have a look at the coils first to check an see if they are dirty,
If they are make sure you take it out doors or enclose the fridge with
plastic before you clean it, I was completely cover in dust after I blow
mine out.


wrote in message
oups.com...
My refrigerator is running..........however, everything in the freezer
has defrosted, and the refrigerator part stuff is just
semi-cold.......I turned the controls all the way to the coldest. I do
not understand what could have caused this, and what should I do? Is
it on its way out? It's a Whirlpool, and it does appear to be quite
old. It was here when I bought the house 3 yrs ago, I have no idea how
old it is.
thanks in advance for any advice!
Melissa

On 4 Jun 2006 10:06:16 -0700, "
wrote:

My refrigerator is running..........however, everything in the freezer
has defrosted, and the refrigerator part stuff is just
semi-cold.......I turned the controls all the way to the coldest. I do

If the problem is the thermostat, this might work. But if it is not
the thermostat, it's already not cold enough to satisfy the thermostat
so this probably won't have any effect.

not understand what could have caused this, and what should I do? Is
it on its way out?

Everyone on earth is dying, but some of us have 99 years left in us.

It's a Whirlpool, and it does appear to be quite
old. It was here when I bought the house 3 yrs ago, I have no idea how
old it is.

My Kenmore, probably by Whirlpool, is 27 years old and working fine**.

A few years ago I had just the symptoms you had, plus no air blowing
out the front (it was a model where the air was supposed to blow out
the front. I don't think all models are like that.) So I rolled it
away from the wall, took off the rear cover, and with a flashlight saw
that the little fan wasn't spinning. Looking more closely, I saw that
there was a mouse stuck in the fan. Didn't want to touch the thing,
so I poked at the fan with a stick a few times. The mouse fell out
and the fan began to spin (and we all joined hands and threw the
fellow in. Oops). Then everything was fine.

A couple months later, same symptoms. Some people when they have the
same problem more than once seem to think it will happen again and
again forever, but not so. This time a piece of foam rubber had
fallen into the fan. Picked it out and everything was fine.

I let 2 or 3 months go by the first time, and 2 weeks go by the second
time, knowing or believing I might permanently ruin the fridge, when
the most it needed was a new fan, because I was lethargic and had
other things to do. But it's been three years or more and so far, it
doesn't seem to have hurt it, but I would recommend fixing it as soon
as possible. In my case, it actually only took 10 minutes and no
parts.


**It doesn't have any broken plastic or other broken parts. Of course
I'm careful not to break anything, especially since I know plastic
gets somewhat more brittle with age, as the solvents inside evaporate.

The door gasket didn't have any cracks until 5 or 10 years ago, but it
has quite a few now. None go all the way through, certainly not
through both sides of a box shaped gasket, and I don't think they have
effect on keeping the cold in, especially since it is all compressed
when the door is shut. If it gets bad, I'll replace the gasket, even
though they are expensive for just one part. 50 dollars? plus I have
to cut the pieces to the right length? 10 minutes?

thanks in advance for any advice!
Melissa

On Sun, 04 Jun 2006 20:36:36 GMT, "Waylon"
wrote:

I just had the same thing happen to my 12 year old refrigerator about 8
months ago. I took it out doors and using a air compressor, I blow all the
dust/dirt off the coils under the refrigerator. Working excellent ever
sence. Have a look at the coils first to check an see if they are dirty,
If they are make sure you take it out doors or enclose the fridge with
plastic before you clean it, I was completely cover in dust after I blow
mine out.

I forgot to mention that. Mine was dirty too. I have a policy to now
to clean it every 19 years.

Or every two years, whichever comes first.

wrote in message
roups.com...
My refrigerator is running..........however, everything in the freezer
has defrosted, and the refrigerator part stuff is just
semi-cold.......I turned the controls all the way to the coldest. I do
not understand what could have caused this, and what should I do? Is
it on its way out? It's a Whirlpool, and it does appear to be quite
old. It was here when I bought the house 3 yrs ago, I have no idea how
old it is.
thanks in advance for any advice!
Melissa

First, turning up the controls is worse than useless. The thermostat
already knows it's warm. And turning up the freezer control keeps
whatever cold in the machine into the freezer. Just closes a little
door between the freezer and refrig.

From what you're describing, the unit has a slow leak, and is low on
freon. You should call an appliance repair guy. Or a refrigeration
guy. Look in the phone book yellow pages.

--

Christopher A. Young
You can't shout down a troll.
You have to starve them.
..

wrote in message
oups.com...
My refrigerator is running..........however, everything in the freezer
has defrosted, and the refrigerator part stuff is just
semi-cold.......I turned the controls all the way to the coldest. I
do
not understand what could have caused this, and what should I do? Is
it on its way out? It's a Whirlpool, and it does appear to be quite
old. It was here when I bought the house 3 yrs ago, I have no idea
how
old it is.
thanks in advance for any advice!
Melissa

If the defrost heater died, the back of the freezer would be frozen
solid. Not "all defrosted". Bad online diagnosis, here.

--

Christopher A. Young
You can't shout down a troll.
You have to starve them.
..

"Don Wiss" wrote in message
...

Most likely the defrost heater died. They often do. If you take
everything
out and remove the back of the freezer compartment you will see if
this is
true. A fan blowing on the coils will defrost it faster. Then you can
reassemble and it will work fine for a week or two. Try to not open
the
freezer door often. This will give you time to either get it fixed, or
to
order replacement heating coil(s) to change them yourself.

It is possible that the timer went bad, but these fail less often. If
you
look at the heater(s) you can tell if they are burned out.

Don www.donwiss.com (e-mail link at home page bottom).

She said everthing in the freezer defrosted. If it was a defrost
problem, the back of the freezer would be cold. You have a good
solution, but you are applying it to the wrong problem.

--

Christopher A. Young
You can't shout down a troll.
You have to starve them.
..

"Joseph Meehan" wrote in message
news

I would suggest removing all food and leaving the door propped
open
overnight. (Remember to make it safe from children and animals while
the
door is open - SAFETY first.) If it starts working then it was likely
a
frosted up evaporator coil. Next problem is to find out why. (this
is a
variation of what Tony was suggesting.)

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit

What part of "everything in the freezer has defrosted" don't you
understand? D'uh.

--

Christopher A. Young
You can't shout down a troll.
You have to starve them.
..

"dno" wrote in message
oups.com...

wrote:
My refrigerator is running..........however, everything in the
freezer
has defrosted, and the refrigerator part stuff is just
semi-cold.......I turned the controls all the way to the coldest. I
do
not understand what could have caused this, and what should I do?
Is
it on its way out? It's a Whirlpool, and it does appear to be quite
old. It was here when I bought the house 3 yrs ago, I have no idea
how
old it is.
thanks in advance for any advice!
Melissa

I don't think it is dieing, I think it froze up, call the technician.

Yep, dusty coils is the other problem that causes these symptoms. As
also bad condensor fan.

--

Christopher A. Young
You can't shout down a troll.
You have to starve them.
..

"Waylon" wrote in message
news I just had the same thing happen to my 12 year old refrigerator about
8
months ago. I took it out doors and using a air compressor, I blow
all the
dust/dirt off the coils under the refrigerator. Working excellent
ever
sence. Have a look at the coils first to check an see if they are
dirty,
If they are make sure you take it out doors or enclose the fridge with
plastic before you clean it, I was completely cover in dust after I
blow
mine out.

On Mon, 05 Jun 2006 02:50:50 GMT, "Stormin Mormon"
wrote:

She said everthing in the freezer defrosted. If it was a defrost
problem, the back of the freezer would be cold. You have a good
solution, but you are applying it to the wrong problem.

--

Christopher A. Young
You can't shout down a troll.
You have to starve them.
.


Not necessarily.
I've seen this problem quite a few times.

The most common cause is that the refrigerator simply isn't
defrosting, the evaporator coils are iced over and the fan is often
jammed with ice.

The back of the refrigerator won't be cold - nothing will be since
there is no air moving thru the iced up evaporator.

Most common reasons:

1. Defrost timer has died or is simply stuck. The older clockwork
ones, such as this refriegerator undoubtedly has, can be rotated thru
their cycle by turning the knob on them, either by hand or with a
screwdriver. By cycling the timer by hand two or three times, you can
force a manual defrost much faster than simply leaving the door open.

2. The fan motor has simply died due to stuck bearings or other common
failure.

3. In my experience, the actual defrost heater element rarely fails
but sometimes the upper temp limit snap-disk thermostat in series with
the heater element does fail.

4. The drainage tube typical at the bottom of a drip pan below the
evaporator has clogged with ice or some foreign substance. Some mid
70's refrigerators, Amana among others, had a chronic problem with ice
accumulating in this drip tube. Retrofits modifications were needed,
such as a metal tube bringing more defrost heat down into that
drainage tube.

5. A badly torn or leaking door gasket allowing so much warm air to
enter the unit that the defrost sequences don't keep up with ice
formation.

6. A refrigerator simply low on refrigerant due to a leak in the
sealed system. If that's the case, scrap the old unit.

Doug

mm wrote:

If the problem is the thermostat, this might work. But if it is not
the thermostat, it's already not cold enough to satisfy the thermostat
so this probably won't have any effect.

not understand what could have caused this, and what should I do? Is
it on its way out?

Everyone on earth is dying, but some of us have 99 years left in us.

It's a Whirlpool, and it does appear to be quite
old. It was here when I bought the house 3 yrs ago, I have no idea how
old it is.

My Kenmore, probably by Whirlpool, is 27 years old and working fine**.


It may be working fine, but rest assured it's costing you a bundle to
operate. Depending on how much you spend, a new refrigerator would
probably pay for itself in under two years. Unless you live somewhere
that energy is free or extraordinarily cheap. I suggest you take a
look he

http://www.homeenergy.org/consumerin...n2/article.htm

I witnessed this first hand when we replaced our refrigerator in 2005.
It was original to the home which was built in 1964. It ran fine; no
problems what so ever - but it was ancient. Anyway, after it was gone,
our electric bill dropped roughly $55 per month. The new refrigerator
paid for itself in nine months.

Doug

On 5 Jun 2006 08:41:01 -0700, wrote:


mm wrote:

Everyone on earth is dying, but some of us have 99 years left in us.

It's a Whirlpool, and it does appear to be quite
old. It was here when I bought the house 3 yrs ago, I have no idea how
old it is.

My Kenmore, probably by Whirlpool, is 27 years old and working fine**.


It may be working fine, but rest assured it's costing you a bundle to
operate. Depending on how much you spend, a new refrigerator would
probably pay for itself in under two years. Unless you live somewhere
that energy is free or extraordinarily cheap. I suggest you take a
look he

http://www.homeenergy.org/consumerin...n2/article.htm

I witnessed this first hand when we replaced our refrigerator in 2005.
It was original to the home which was built in 1964. It ran fine; no
problems what so ever - but it was ancient. Anyway, after it was gone,
our electric bill dropped roughly $55 per month.

In the last 5 months, my total bills have been $47.50, $52.44, $45.00,
$49.19 and $39.20. Not every month is the same length. Average 46
dollars.

The much ballyhood 72% increase in Maryland effective July 1, after 6
years of no increases, is only on no more than half** of the bill, so
the increase will average 16.50 dollars for me, for an average monthly
bill of 62.56 dollars, so I don't think I can save 55 dollars like you
did.

**This was made clear at the beginning in a long article in the paper,
but neither the broadcast news nor the commercials by the electric
company itself have mentioned this for months. I think they said it
once. The radio and tv here is not too good, I guess.

I'm paying 4.82 cents a KwHr and it should increase to 6.56 cents

The new refrigerator
paid for itself in nine months.

Maybe if I wait longer the new ones will be even more efficient. This
would also cut down on the amount of shopping I have to do.

And I would also have to replace my stove, which also works fine,
since they are matching colors and I don't think I can get harvest
gold anymore, except used.

Also, just because the url says I can find one with standard features
for under 450, that doesn't mean that's the one I want. There are
posts here all the time that tell us to avoid the less reliable brands
and get better ones. Sometimes that means spending more money. Plus
as the url points out, I will lose the interest on 450 dollars or
more, plus tax and delivery charge. Maybe that will only be 4
percent, but that's more than 20 dollars a year, which I think is
between 2 and 4 months worth of electricity savings.

Much of what I would pay for the new fridge and stove is expended by
the manufacturer and vendor for fuel, including making and shipping
packaging and the appliances themselves. Plus there is some cost to
the county of disposing of my appliances.

Rememnber that I wasn't complaining about the cost of electricity.
Maybe your post will have some effect on the OP.

When I have time, I'll get the model number of my fridge, but I don't
like shopping or throwing things away, so it won't make me buy
something.

Maybe I'll measure the door gasket and keep my eyes open for a used
but in good condition door gasket.

It seems like the major variable is the length of the 4 pieces.

Oh yeah, if I wait long enough, someone will give me one for free,
plus shipping. I read some mailing lists where free stuff is offered,
including a couple refrigerators in the last 2 months, but they may be
older than that efficiency change, and I don't want one yet.

Doug

On 6/5/2006 9:10 PM or thereabouts, mm appears, somewhat unbelievably,
to have opined:

On 5 Jun 2006 08:41:01 -0700, wrote:

mm wrote:
E

I'm paying 4.82 cents a KwHr and it should increase to 6.56 cents


Doug


Wow, you certainly have extraordinarily inexpensive electricity there.
It's more than double that price here in western Texas. I think I would
keep all of my old appliances as long as possible if I lived where you
do. I have all relatively new Energy Star rated appliances (oven,
microwave, dishwasher, fridge) and quite a few compact fluorescent lamps
to help combat the high electric cost. My electric bill averages about
$150 monthly. It's higher in summer, lower in winter due to central a/c use.

"Dennis Turner" wrote in message

I'm paying 4.82 cents a KwHr and it should increase to 6.56 cents





Wow, you certainly have extraordinarily inexpensive electricity there.
It's more than double that price here in western Texas.

About triple in Connecticut. 16.2¢ now.

"Edwin Pawlowski" wrote in message
. com...

"Dennis Turner" wrote in message

I'm paying 4.82 cents a KwHr and it should increase to 6.56 cents





Wow, you certainly have extraordinarily inexpensive electricity there.
It's more than double that price here in western Texas.

About triple in Connecticut. 16.2¢ now.

Uhg! I'm still at 10 cents here. The electric utility sent a nice letter
last year stating how the price had been constant for many years and will be
incresing in 2007.
John