When freezer is in defrost, inside temperature rises to 40 degrees F. The technician says this is normal. Problem is, the food is defrosting and we get frost on the food. Ice cream turns to liquid.

If there is ice build up on the inside back wall of the freezer or fresh food section, then you have a defrost problem. One way to check this is to remove the food, unplug the refrigerator and leave the doors open for a few hours. This will manually defrost the fridge and freezer. Once it has defrosted plug the refrigerator back in, do not put your food back in yet, wait about two hours and see if the temperature is back to normal. Once defrosted the fridge will work fine for about a week, then it will need to be defrosted again. There are three components that control defrost, the defrost timer, the defrost thermostat, and the defrost heaters. Any one of these could be the problem.

If you have a frost free refrigerator then temp jumps as you discribe are somewhat normal during a defrost cycle. However it sound like your defrost temp may be getting too high. There is a limit thermostat on the freezer coils that keep the defrost temp from getting too high. The part is called a (defrost termination thermostat) and is a round disk about 1 to 1.5 inch in diameter clipped to the top of the freezer coils with 2 wires coming out of it. When cold, it allows power to the defrost heaters. At around 35/40 degrees it opens and shuts off power to the heater. 35/40 degrees sounds high for a freezer temp but that is behind the wall and only for a short time. Yours may be staying on too long or out of temp calibration needing replaced.

Hello Jennifer;

My name is Peter. I am a retired field service refrigeration technician.

No. Your problem is not defrost.

The normal temperature setting for a freezer is -2 to +2 degrees F. or -18.8 to -16.7 degrees C. The fresh food section should be set at 35-40 Degrees F. or 1.6 to 4.4 degrees C.

Reset your temperature controls to the recommended settings.
Up plug your unit for 10 minute to power down. Plug your refrigerator in.

Hello,

It's normal for the center divider to be warm but it should never be so hot it will burn you when touching it. A few things to check are;

The coil on the the bottom of refrig. behind the grill under the doors, check and clean all dust from it using a vacuum and ref. coil brush to clean all dust from it

The condenser fan motor..its behind the rear access plate in the back of the unit,remove back plate and check that fan motor by the compressor is running.

Good luck, GENE

Hi,
Some models designed today or in the last 10 years use a super cool model prior to defrosting, this is in two models off the top of my head, Kitchen Aid, and GE or more common. This is to protect the food in the freezer, so the drop the temperature within the compartment to allow temps to rise in defrost mode without affecting the temperature of the food. What you see is cabinet temperature in the display, if you unit fails to produce ice of notice food not frozen then I would be concerned. It sounds like this is what your talking about. I would not worry, this is normal to most units today. If you are still uneasy, you can alway call the manufacture and inquire about temperature issue that you see. Most units use a variable speed compressors and is designed to drop temperature faster after defrost than any other time.
I would not worry as long as it holds temperature and produces ice on demand.

I’m happy to help further over the phone at https://www.6ya.com/expert/gere_bf68e6055dd61249

as for high tempreture do u mean it is above the 0 degree normal that its supposed to be set to your freezer goes into a defrost cycel once every 6-8 hours.if your tempreture is rising on the other hand there are a couple things for you to check make sure the fan inside the freezer compartment is running.the following things you will need a meter for to measure the resistance while the power is off check the t-stat,heater to make sure there is continuity if you have continuity in both of these then you would need to check the defrost timer If you are unable to do these tests i strongly suggest you call a technician

All refrigeration products have a defrost set point. Most residential units defrost about every six to eighteen hours. This process should take about 30 minutes to 1 hour. The temp goes up so high inside because there is a heating element in the coils to thaw any residual ice. The temp should not exceed about 45 degrees though. If it does the the compressor is signaled to come back on and start cooling again. This is perfectly alright. The time at higher temp is not enough to spoil the food. Hope this helps. Good luck.

the normal temperature for a refrigerator is 35-40 degrees F, so 40 at full cold setting is not correct.

If this is a side-by-side or top-freezer, make sure that the air vents between freezer and fridge are not blocked by food items or ice.

Make sure defroster operation is working normally as ice will block airflow.

Also, there is a circulating fan in most models that moves cold air from freezer to fridge. make sure that's working.

If the temperature fluctuations occur (at least the ones to 20-30 degrees) at intervals of 6 hours or so then you are catching it in it's defrost mode which occurs on a timer. The timer shuts off everything except lights every 6 hours for an average of 20 minutes. This usually isn't enough to thaw things but I have seen it cause some crystale. Look closely at the back inside wall of the freezer for an accumulation of frost. If you see it there then you may have a defrost problem. Usually this is accompanied by steadily rising temperature in the freezer and fresh food secions both. The temps you listed (0to10) are fine. Good luck, AJ

Hi dgh1,
The freezer should stay within 5 degrees of 0 while in operation. While in defrost the freezer may reach as high as 20 to 25 degrees. If any higher temperatures are reached your food will spoil as they are defrosted and refroze everyday. If you find that the temperature is allowing your food to defrost you may want to replace your defrost thermostat. This device is located on top of the evaperator coil inside the back of the freezer. It is made to turn the heater off when a temperature of 55 degrees is reached. One other possible problem could be your defrost timer is taking to long to restart the cooling cycle after defrosting. I hope this will help you and please send any other questions you may have, I am happy to help. and dont forget to rate me.
Mike Anderson
Anderson Appliance
(865)945-3808