Ask Me Help Desk - Refrigerator troubleshooting

I have a 4year old kenmore side by side model #53652991 afew days ago it got warm on both sides but everything else seems to be running like the motor & the fan. My plan was to call for repair but with today's economy any penny saved is a penny cherished. I'm a handy guy but I know nuthing about troubleshooting a fridge, I'm thinking the comppressor cools the fridge?(not sure) maybe it's a simple part that I could change out myself, any advice would be a big help, thanks guys.

Is it still cooling the inside?

For a quick improvement, look under it or behind it and see if there is a lot of dust/crud. Clean all that out with a vacuum. I'm not familiar with the model. You are looking for a bunch of wire like rods that are a little fatter than a coathanger. Get all the stuff off and see if it works any better.

Quote:

Originally Posted by real33169

i have a 4year old kenmore side by side model #53652991 afew days ago it got warm on both sides but everything else seems to be running like the motor & the fan. my plan was to call for repair but with todays economy any penny saved is a penny cherished. im a handy guy but i know nuthing about troubleshooting a fridge, im thinking the comppressor cools the fridge?(not sure) maybe its a simple part that i could change out myself, any advice would be a big help, thanks guys.

The cooling system (operation) is easy to explain, but difficult to repair, and requires special tools and coolant.
In a fridge a coolant is compressed (whereby heat is accumulated in the coolant), than still on high pressure the coolant is cooled to room temperature in the radiator panel. After that the coolant is released into the cooling elements by expanding to normal pressure, during which it absorbs heat from the inners of the fridge. After that the coolant returns to the compressor for another cycle. So far the technique involved.
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The heated coolant is also used to warm specific places in the fridge (door seals) to prevent opening problems. The warming of the fridge walls indicates as most probable cause of the problem that there is a coolant leak either in or outside the fridge walls.
Without special gas leak finding equipment, gas pressure measuring tool, soldering equipment, and a lot of special skills it is impossible to repair this fridge. This type of repairs is often time consuming and therefore expensive.
My advice is to replace this fridge. That is in the long run often a lot cheaper than repair.
;)

Believe it or not, many times the settings are what's causing the refrigerator section to be warm , while the freezers fine! What happens is this, Homeowner says the box seems warm and pegs the 2 dial settings to coldest, this seems normal, right? Well its not in this case as the actual thermostat that controls the compressor and has a on/off ability does in fact control the compressor as described, and pegging that to max cold is fine, However the 2nd setting, is not anything other than a flapper door, between the freezer and refrigerators side, the refrigeration is 100% a byproduct of the freezers evaporater, the refrigerator side has no evaporator or anything! So consequently pegging that to COLDEST actually "SHUTS' the flapper door between the freezer and refrigerator sides , allowing for a colder FREEZER! it says "freezer" in smaller print after the large COLDEST/COLDER print!
This is very misleading and a very common issue that i have rectified with simply setting the dial to medium/midway setting, not on the 1-10, on/off dial that shuts the compressor off, but the remaining dial ! $85 to adjust a dial really goes over like a lead balloon and many doubt my word actually, but if the ice is dry and being made, forget the refrigeration cycle's mechanical aspect, thats fine, if the freezers warm , then you have refrigeration issues.
If your freezers getting warm, is the compressor running? The defrost timer is a mechanical timer or a circuit board in many now, manually advancable or if a circuit board type advancing the timer to initiate the next stage is done by the door switch usually, clicking it 3 times fast and 1 long or something like that, each is brand model/specific .
GE's are fairly basic, either under the front bottom grille of in the roof of the refrigerator compartments ceiling, theres a timer, a slot is there to manually advance the timer forwards"clockwise facing it" If the compressors off , it will begin running after the timer clicks, you will feel it as well, if the compressor runs the timers usually bad and it went bad in the defrost mode, this is if the coils not iced solid.
If the evaporators iced up and the compressors running then advancing the timer will initiate a defrost cycle as the compressors shut off by advancing the timer. If you listen you'll hear ice sizzling, cracking in about 1 minute, take ana an draw to see if the units pulling 3-4-6-7- amps with the compressor off, if so its energized and defrosting, which is good it proves the heateras good and the timers bad having failed to initiate a defrost cycle. To defrost you may have to reinitiate defrost 2-4 times or use a heat gun/blow dryer to help it along, this will get it by until you get a timer 1 day or so before it ices bck up and stops cooling again.