Hayward and the East Bay
Fridge Not Cooling but Freezer Still Cold?
When the freezer stays frozen and the fridge side warms up, cold air isn't getting through. The tech starts at the fan and the frost.
Why is the freezer cold but the fridge warm?
On most fridges, both sides are cooled by one evaporator coil behind the freezer's back panel. A fan pushes that cold air into the freezer and up through a duct to the fresh-food side. When the freezer still works and the fridge doesn't, the cold is being made but not delivered.
Three things usually stop it: frost that has built up over the coil and blocked the air path, an evaporator fan that quit, or a damper that's stuck closed. Some fridges give each side its own coil and fan, and on those a warm fridge with a cold freezer points straight at the fridge side's own parts.
Hayward Appliance Care sets up refrigerator repair visits in Hayward and across Alameda and Contra Costa counties. Before you call, the checks below take five minutes and sometimes solve it.
Numbers to aim for
GE and Frigidaire both set fridges at 37°F and freezers at 0°F from the factory. FDA's food safety limit is 40°F or colder in the fridge. A thermometer in a glass of water on a middle shelf gives a truer reading than the air does.
Food already warm? The first-ten-minutes page has the holding times.
What can you check yourself in five minutes?
None of these involve tools or taking panels off. If one of them fixes it, give the fridge a day to catch up.
The settings
Someone may have nudged the dial or the panel. Set it back to 37°F and 0°F, or the middle of the range. A Samsung reading OF OF, or a panel that says OFF with the lights on, is in showroom mode with the cooling switched off.
The air vents inside
A tall carton or a stack of containers pressed against the vent at the back of the fridge, or the one inside the freezer, blocks the air. Samsung asks for about 2 inches of clear space at the vents.
The door seal
Close the door on a dollar bill. If it slides out with no drag, the gasket isn't sealing there. Frigidaire suggests cleaning the gasket with warm, soapy water. A torn or flattened gasket is a repair.
The coils and the space behind
Whirlpool says most homes don't need routine coil cleaning, but every 3 to 6 months with pets or heavy dust. Unplug the fridge first. A fridge jammed tight against the wall can't shed its heat either.
The sound at the freezer vent
With the freezer door shut, listen at the back of the freezer for the fan. Silence where a fan should be, or a ticking and scraping that sounds like ice, is worth telling us.
Frost on the back wall
A light frost is normal. A thick white sheet of frost or ice over the freezer's back panel means the defrost cycle isn't working, and it's the most useful thing you can describe on the call.
When does a warm fridge need a tech?
If the checks didn't help, one of these is likely. The tech tests them in roughly this order, because the first ones are the most common and the quickest to rule in or out.
| What you see | Usually points to | What the tech checks |
|---|---|---|
| Freezer cold, fridge warm, frost on the freezer back wall | Defrost system: heater, sensor or control | Coil frost pattern, heater and sensor readings |
| Freezer cold, fridge warm, no air from the fridge vent | Evaporator fan or a stuck damper | Fan motor and blade, damper movement |
| Both sides warming, fridge clicking every few minutes | Compressor start parts | Start relay, overload, compressor windings |
| Both sides warming, compressor running all the time | Condenser fan or dirty condenser, then the sealed system | Condenser airflow, temperatures across the system |
| Lights and display on, nothing running | Control board or the power reaching it | Voltage at the board, the board's outputs |
Frost on the back wall or a silent fan? That's what the tech wants to hear first. Call with the model number from inside the door.
Call (XXX) XXX-XXXXSamsung or LG fridge flashing a code?
Read the code to us exactly as it shows. Samsung asks owners not to unplug the fridge or press buttons to clear a code before a tech sees it, because the code is part of the diagnosis.
Samsung
21E points to the freezer fan and 22E to the fridge fan; Samsung says the fan isn't sensing rotation, and ice is a common reason. 5E is the fridge defrost sensor. Samsung also notes that fan noise from ice goes away after a manual defrost and comes back unless the cause is fixed.
LG
Er FF is a freezer fan problem, which LG says is sometimes caused by frost. Er dH means the fridge spent more than an hour trying to defrost; if it returns after LG's two-minute unplug, it needs service.
Other brands show their own codes. Whatever it says, write it down before anything else.
Warm fridge
What else do people ask about a warm fridge?
Should I unplug the fridge and let it defrost?
Hold off until you've talked to us. Melting the frost can bring the cooling back for a few days, which hides the part that caused it. Samsung notes that fan noise from ice comes back after a manual defrost unless service fixes the cause.
I turned the temperature down. How long until it gets colder?
Longer than you'd think. GE says to allow 24 hours after any setting change, and Samsung says reaching a new setting can take up to 28 hours with the doors closed. If nothing has changed after a day, call.
Is an older fridge worth repairing?
Often, when the repair is a fan, a defrost part or a relay. A 2007 NAHB study put the typical refrigerator life at about 13 years. Weigh the tech's written price against the fridge's age and what else is wearing.
Why does the garage fridge quit every summer?
A garage that bakes all afternoon can push a standard fridge past the room temperatures it was built for. Inland garages get it worst: NOAA normals show about 51 days a year at 90°F or hotter in Concord, against about 9 in Hayward. Say it's a garage fridge on the call.
Done the checks
Still warm? Check your ZIP.
Type the ZIP where the fridge is. If it's on the list, call with what you found at the vents and the back wall.
Is the fridge inside our area?
The first ten minutes
Want the fridge side back at 37 degrees?
In the first ten minutes we'll go over the frost, the fan and any code on the panel, and the visit will be set.