The Daring Dufas wrote:
On 7/26/2010 9:34 PM, Marilyn & Bob wrote:
Our upstairs tenants (two family house, we live downstairs) thought that
their refrigerator was too warm, so they set both the freezer and
refrigerator to maximum cold. They now say that both areas are much too
warm. This is a 12 year old basic frostfree top-freezer Hotpoint
refrigerator.

I told them to set both freezer and refrigerator controls to "normal"
and to
wait 24 hours. However, if this does not solve the problem, is there
anything I should try before just replacing the refrigerator? At 12
years
old (although ours is 24 years old) I don't think it's worth a
professional
repair; nor do I want to spend a long time on a fix as our tenants
deserve
working appliances. On the other hand, I don't want to throw things
out if
there could be a reasonable fix especially because delivery is an
issue (to
get to the second floor, the refrigerator will have to be turned
horizontal
and lifted over the banister on the second floor landing).

Someone has already mentioned cleaning the condenser coils.
That's the hot part with a fan and more than likely, it's
underneath the fridge behind a grill. A long cleaning brush
is made for reaching under there and shop-vac helps too.

http://www.energyproaz.com/Refrig_brush

Things that go wrong with your basic top freezer, bottom
fan cooled condenser refrigerator have to do with dirt
first. There are two fans, the condenser fan underneath
to blow air over the condenser coils, the evaporator fan
in the freezer which blows air from the freezer section
throughout the refrigerator and the defrost timer which
can be located in several locations. The most common
locations for the defrost timer are inside in the same
housing as the thermostat or underneath behind the grill.
Those little motors usually last for many years but I've
seen lighting strikes knock them out without damaging the
compressor. The first thing to quit working from wear is
usually the defrost timer and this will keep the fridge
from cooling effectively. Whenever Summertime rolls around,
a refrigerator in marginal condition or one that has a
dirty condenser will stop cooling. Remember, clean first.

TDD
Be sure to check the timer.
All the timers I've ever seen have a slot so you can manually turn
them to check the run/defrost cycle while it's still in place. I'd
check the timer for sure because if the frig is iced up solid the
circulating fan will be unable to circulate air {thus the fridge will
get warm) and it will need to be thawed out so the fan can circulate the
air after a new timer is installed.
Here ya go,
http://www.acmehowto.com/howto/appli...frosttimer.php