Advice? Refrigerator no longer cooling. Freezer is working. Turn off for 24hrs?

[barrysumpter]

Hi all,
Posted a quick AirTasker Task to help fix my refrigerator that is no longer cooling.
The freezer is still freezing fine.

I didn't realise the Task was assigned for one day when I posted it late last night.

So it only received a single comment.

The comment instructed me to turn it off for 24 hours.
Which should fix the issue?

Anyone experience this and tried this and it worked?

[Greg Ward]

Same happened to my Samsung. No one wanted to repair, so it had to be dumped. 5 years old....
Good luck, you may need a new fridge
Greg

[barrysumpter]

Yeah been wanting one forever.

Mines an admiral and I just spent a ridiculous $100+ on a new crisper shelf.
Saved $50+ on the drip try by fixing it myself with plastic-dip.

Research says to defrost manually myself.
Done.
There was nothing blocking the tunnel between the freezer and fridge.
But went ahead and hot hair blow drier'd the cooling grill/flanges/wings.

Will see what happens now.

Also, I found the dial for the fridge at 2.
The dial shows 1 is cool and 7 is Coolest.
Whoever designed that was trying to be funny.

I mentioned it to the good lady wife who argued with me about the setting a little too earnestly.
I'm thinking now while we were on holidays the fridge at the resort was freakin cold.
And on return she adjusted the our dial hoping 2 would make it colder.

I'll set it to 7 for a day to see how it goes.

[barrysumpter]

yep she had turned it to 2 instead of 7.

defrosted manually myself.
And woke the next day with frozen food in the fridge.

But now three days its back to not cooling enough in the fridge.

Back to looking for a repairman.

[ian]

Hi Barry

the symptoms you describe are either the dial setting for the fridge or the door seals.
The freezer and the fridge use the same mechanicals,

[barrysumpter]

setting some great support from Vic west of melbourne (about 40 mins from me) on AirTasker.

Found a few vids on YouTube on how to test the thermostat and the timer.

I'll start with the thermostat.

[barrysumpter]

I've removed the back panel and again manually defrosted with a hair dryer for 15 mins.

It's now running again.

Hopefully it will cool the fridge until I can get a repairman or fix it myself.

I have pics and videos I can offer for better diagnosis if needed.


About the same price for either the timer or the thermostat.
Around $85 - $95. Plus $16 postage.

I've found the thermostat and looks easy enough to remove and test in a cup of ice water and multimeter.

Can't seem to locate the timer unless its not in the freezer area.

just finished testing the thermostat in a cup of ice water. After 6 mins circuit closed. Will re-assemble now and look for timer.

Held the closed thermostat circuit thawing in my hands till I heard a click and circuit opened.

Found the timer on the bottom of the fridge.

Lucky to have easy access to it.
Marked the dial and the case right next to it to see if it moves.

It hasn't moved after a few hours so ordered one online.

So while I'm waiting on the new one to arrive,
I'd prefer NOT to have to manually defrost every 12 hours. i.e. removing freezer contents opening back panel and using a blow dryer to defrost the elements over a 15 to 20 minute span.

I was thinking while experimenting with the timer by turning it, I noticed things were activating or de-activating on each of the clicks in a 3 or 4 click range.

I wonder if I could get away with manually turning the timer one click every 15 minutes for three or four clicks say around 8am and 8pm.

Any thoughts?

[barrysumpter]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBUVMwShvw4

[barrysumpter]

Ordered 6hr 20min defrost timer from Allied Appliance.
Emails only. All replies within a decent timer frame.
no contact phone listed. Anywhere.

Saved about $40+ in comparison to the other mob.

Took 7 calendar days (4 working days) to get here over the Queens Birthday holiday long weekend.

Plugged in and working properly now.

Gotta post $100 for a plastic timer is pretty expensive.

Got it sorted so the lady can rest assured she won't be loosing any perishables.

Isn't it just the weirdest thing having a heater in the freezer!

Was turning the defrost timer every 12 hours to defrost cycle.
8am then 8pm.
You can hear the click on the timer and the pump stop.

Then set a reminder on my phone for 20mins.
Then turn the timer to set the defrost cycle off.

Not too distracting.
And got off super cheap in comparison to having a repairman out.

[ian]

got off super cheap in comparison to having a repairman out.

or buying a new fridge

[barrysumpter]

yeah, too right mate!