Hi all, my original post is below;

"I have a problem with my fridge, it is a side by side. The top half of both
sides are not cold, all the food in the top half of the freezer side is
thawed and only the stuff in the bottom half of the fridge side is cold.
Anyone know what could be causing this? Should I call someone in or just go
look for a new refrigerator? Thanks."

All that replied said it seems like a problem with the circulating fan. Last
night I starting pulling things a part and I found that all the parts in the
back behind the cover were covered in dust, I cleaned it out. Then I took
all the spoiled food from the freezer and threw it out, after doing that I
noticed a frost build-up on the metal plate that covers the coils, I removed
that cover and there was a lot of frost there, I manually defrosted the
freezer and that frost is forming back again. I put 3 bowls half full of
water in there and they are freezing fine.

Is it normal for the frost to form on those coils?
Could the excessive dust have caused this original problem?

I have left the cover off for now so I can watch it for a while.

As you guys can tell I am very inexperienced with fixing things but willing
to give it a shot.

Thanks!!

Is it normal for the frost to form on those coils?
CY: The coils inside the freezer normally do have a light
frost. But, they should not be a block of ice.

Could the excessive dust have caused this original problem?
CY: No, excessive dust causes them not to frost at all.

I have left the cover off for now so I can watch it for a
while.
CY: Bad move. The covers are necessary to direct air flow.
The cardboard on the back by the fan, and the metal plate
covering the coils in the freezer. both are essential.

As you guys can tell I am very inexperienced with fixing
things but willing
to give it a shot.
CY: We reccomend .44 magnum with armor piercing bullets. FMJ
with tungsten core would be good way to shoot a fridge.


Thanks!!
CY: You're welcome. Incidentally, from what you've written,
you didn't actually repair the problem.

Question wrote:
Hi all, my original post is below;

"I have a problem with my fridge, it is a side by side. The top half of both
sides are not cold, all the food in the top half of the freezer side is
thawed and only the stuff in the bottom half of the fridge side is cold.
Anyone know what could be causing this? Should I call someone in or just go
look for a new refrigerator? Thanks."

All that replied said it seems like a problem with the circulating fan. Last
night I starting pulling things a part and I found that all the parts in the
back behind the cover were covered in dust, I cleaned it out. Then I took
all the spoiled food from the freezer and threw it out, after doing that I
noticed a frost build-up on the metal plate that covers the coils, I removed
that cover and there was a lot of frost there, I manually defrosted the
freezer and that frost is forming back again. I put 3 bowls half full of
water in there and they are freezing fine.

Is it normal for the frost to form on those coils?
Could the excessive dust have caused this original problem?

I have left the cover off for now so I can watch it for a while.

As you guys can tell I am very inexperienced with fixing things but willing
to give it a shot.

Thanks!!

I'm going to guess that there is
something wrong with the defrost cycle. I
had a similar problem where gradually
the freezer and fridge got warmer
and warmer. The Kitchen Aid authorized
no-nothing wanted to charge me
$1500 for a new compressor. I guess he
actually knew a lot .... how to
get $1500 from a sucker. BTW, this was
a built in unit. Anyway, he
basically looked at nothing. I noticed,
when he turn the unit back on, that
it was pouring out cold air in both
sides. It worked after that for almost 3
years, until it did it again. I
disassembled the covers in the freezer
and found
a solid chunk of ice. The defrost
heater was not on. I checked the heater
with an ohmmeter and it seemed ok. The
thermostat went from a closed
circuit to open as the ice melted away,
so it was probably good. Only one
component left in the defrost hardware,
the timer. I replaced it and never
had the problem again. And actually,
the unit worked better with the new
timer. I think the original was
defrosting way to often, where as the new
one did it based on actual compressor
run time. Of course, it hasn't been
more that about a year and I sold the
house, so guess I'll never know.

Wow, that sounds expensive. I can understand why you didn't
tell him to go ahead with it.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"Art Todesco" wrote in message
...

I'm going to guess that there is
something wrong with the defrost cycle. I
had a similar problem where gradually
the freezer and fridge got warmer
and warmer. The Kitchen Aid authorized
no-nothing wanted to charge me
$1500 for a new compressor. I guess he
actually knew a lot .... how to
get $1500 from a sucker. BTW, this was
a built in unit. Anyway, he
basically looked at nothing. I noticed,
when he turn the unit back on, that
it was pouring out cold air in both
sides. It worked after that for almost 3
years, until it did it again. I
disassembled the covers in the freezer
and found
a solid chunk of ice. The defrost
heater was not on. I checked the heater
with an ohmmeter and it seemed ok. The
thermostat went from a closed
circuit to open as the ice melted away,
so it was probably good. Only one
component left in the defrost hardware,
the timer. I replaced it and never
had the problem again. And actually,
the unit worked better with the new
timer. I think the original was
defrosting way to often, where as the new
one did it based on actual compressor
run time. Of course, it hasn't been
more that about a year and I sold the
house, so guess I'll never know.

In article , (Art Todesco) writes:

| I'm going to guess that there is
| something wrong with the defrost cycle. I
| had a similar problem where gradually
| the freezer and fridge got warmer
| and warmer. The Kitchen Aid authorized
| no-nothing wanted to charge me
| $1500 for a new compressor. I guess he
| actually knew a lot .... how to
| get $1500 from a sucker.

I had a problem with a Kitchen Aid except in my case it clearly (to me
anyway) _was_ the compressor and I had an extended warranty. It's
amazing what they went through to avoid replacing the compressor.
They started with the door switch and then the defrost timer and then
the fan. In between each "repair" of course they made me wait a few
days to a week to see if it would "settle in" or such. At that point
I was using a little dorm fridge because the Kitchen Aid wasn't cooling
at all. Finally they replaced the compressor and it worked (well, at
least as well as it ever worked) for a few years. I suspect they don't
get to charge the warranty place quite what they would charge us directly
so they don't have an incentive to do hard work...

Dan Lanciani
ddl@danlan.*com

Stormin Mormon wrote:
Wow, that sounds expensive. I can understand why you didn't
tell him to go ahead with it.

Well, as soon as you say the magic
words, "built in" it increases the
cost many fold. When the guy came to my
house, the 1st thing he
did was yell at me for shutting the
unit off. I told him that if I left
it on, he would have told me that I
broke something. Of course he
said that he wouldn't say that. But,
when he turned it on, I felt very
cold air coming out of the freezer and
fridge vents. His exact words
were, "well it's been 7 years since you
had the compressor replaced,
so that's what is needed!" No
diagnostics. That made me extra
suspicious.
I figured we could probably buy a non
built in for a whole lot less. So we
paid him his $75 and showed him out.
The rest I already told. BTW,
the defrost timer cost me $40 and it was
in stock at the local appliance
parts place.

On Sat, 23 May 2009 11:54:35 -0400, Art Todesco
wrote:

I'm going to guess that there is
something wrong with the defrost cycle. I
had a similar problem where gradually
the freezer and fridge got warmer
and warmer. The Kitchen Aid authorized
no-nothing wanted to charge me
$1500 for a new compressor. I guess he
actually knew a lot .... how to
get $1500 from a sucker. BTW, this was
a built in unit. Anyway, he
basically looked at nothing. I noticed,
when he turn the unit back on, that
it was pouring out cold air in both
sides. It worked after that for almost 3
years, until it did it again. I
disassembled the covers in the freezer
and found
a solid chunk of ice. The defrost
heater was not on. I checked the heater
with an ohmmeter and it seemed ok. The
thermostat went from a closed
circuit to open as the ice melted away,
so it was probably good. Only one
component left in the defrost hardware,
the timer. I replaced it and never
had the problem again. And actually,
the unit worked better with the new
timer. I think the original was
defrosting way to often, where as the new
one did it based on actual compressor
run time. Of course, it hasn't been
more that about a year and I sold the
house, so guess I'll never know.

Speaking of fridge timers, we had a Crosley Shelv-a-dor refrigerator
boought around 1951 - 54 that had a defrost timer along with defrost
heaters.

My current fridge doesn't require me to do this but that one required
the owner to set the time, and then it would defrost at 3 in the
morning. Unfortunately, my mother didn't read the manual, or the label
next to the timer, and she kept setting it to the time she wanted it
to defrost. Since she never did this at 3 in the morning, it never
defrosted when she wanted it to.


(Had it as a second fridge from 60 to 66, when my mother moved)

On Sat, 23 May 2009 21:15:21 -0400, Art Todesco
wrote:


Well, as soon as you say the magic
words, "built in" it increases the
cost many fold. When the guy came to my
house, the 1st thing he
did was yell at me for shutting the
unit off. I told him that if I left
it on, he would have told me that I
broke something. Of course he
said that he wouldn't say that. But,
when he turned it on, I felt very
cold air coming out of the freezer and
fridge vents. His exact words
were, "well it's been 7 years since you
had the compressor replaced,
so that's what is needed!" No
diagnostics.

Pitiful.

That made me extra
suspicious.

big grin.

I figured we could probably buy a non
built in for a whole lot less. So we
paid him his $75 and showed him out.
The rest I already told. BTW,
the defrost timer cost me $40 and it was
in stock at the local appliance
parts place.