So I mentioned earlier this morning that we’re having problems with our fridge. I decided that the first step I would take in attempting to solve the dilemma would be to defrost the freezer. It was long overdue and I thought perhaps this might have something to do with the situation, that the condenser wasn’t working properly because it was so frosty or something along those lines. Talk about wishful thinking…
The freezer compartment is now spotless and still works perfectly but the fridge doesn’t seem to have gotten any better. The current temperature is 19.7 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit) which is FAR from normal. The optimal temperature for your fridge should range from 1-5 degrees Celsius (34-40 degrees Fahrenheit). Ours has cooler areas at the bottom than at the top so your temperature readings may vary inside your fridge.
I found a pretty good troubleshooting guide at repairclinic.com which targets the condenser and the evaporator coils as the possible culprits. So my first order of business was to vacuum and brush down the coils on the back of the fridge (it was still unplugged after the defrosting and your fridge should always be unplugged or turned off when you work on it). I also found a lot of dog fur nestled underneath the fridge while I was moving it around and removed that as well. They say that if you have pets that shed, you should clean these coils about every 6 months. I think with a Newf that translates to every 2 months or so…which will probably coincide with defrosting the freezer.
Those attempts didn’t work but I did see written in their discussion about evaporator coils that if you have noticed a build up of ice or condensation in your fridge, the coils could be frozen. So you can attempt to thaw it out and then assess whether it seems to be a defrosting component that is out (if the fridge starts working again properly) or if you might have a compressor or coolant problem (if the fridge still doesn’t cool). Joy. So it would seem that our next option will be to get the small fridge out of the barn which was in the former kitchen and plug that in so it can be used for our regular fridge stuff. Then I will see about defrosting the coils which could take 24-48 hours. Or maybe we will just move the stuff into the small fridge and call a repair guy.
Thank goodness we have a back up fridge! I was wanting to move it anyway because we’re going to use it during our housewarming party coming up in a few weeks. So we’ll sort of be killing two birds with one stone there…
