Refrigerator Doesn't Stay Cold

I haven't sent a tip in a long time. Here is one that may help. If your refrigerator is not cooling as it should, the defrosting mechanism in the freezer may have gone out and the defroster coils are iced up. If you don't have money to run out and buy a new refrigerator, here is what you can do.

Two years ago, we paid about $200.00 to get the defroster in our freezer replaced. Well, lo and behold, it went out again last week. Since my husband and I watched the repairman and my husband helped him, we know what to do. First, unplug the refrigerator. Remove all the shelves from the freezer. Take the panel from the inside back of the freezer.

You will need a screwdriver and/or wrench of the right size to undo the screws. Plug the drain hole in the bottom of the freezer to keep water from dripping through to the floor. You will see an ice buildup on coils at the inside back of the freezer. Get plenty of old towels. Put one in the bottom of the freezer and change it when it becomes soaked. Melt the ice with a hairdryer.

Use common sense and don't get any water on the hair dryer or let the floor get wet. It may take two people to do this; one to use the hairdryer and the other to handle the wet towels. When you get the ice melted, put the panel back in and it will run fine until it ices up again; we let ours go a week before we thawed it again. Don't forget to plug it back in.

If you decide to get a repairman, it will save his time (and your money) if you have it ice-free when he comes. I may get a less-than-year-old Energy Star refrigerator from my friend in June and it seems silly to spend the money on getting the more than ten-year-old fridge repaired. So, we are going to do this once a week until then.

By Jan Hickerson from Whitewright, TX

Answers:

Refrigerator Doesn't Stay Cold

One thing that helps is to vacuum out the coils in the bottom of the fridg, they are under the bottom. Use a vacuum with a small crevice tool and get one of those long brushes, so you can get all the way to the back. You will be amazed at the amount of dirt and accumulated dust. This should be done about every 6 months. This allows the motor to cool better and not overheat the motor. You could end up damaging a lot of parts by not doing this. (05/15/2009)

By christine M. Thayer