The freezer door in our bottom freezer fridge was left open. Everything inside was still cold, but thawed out. We took all the food out and closed the door so it could get cold again. Eight hours later, the freezer is warm and the fridge now isn't working (it's getting almost warm in the fridge). I adjusted the temp settings so that they are at the coldest setting. I'm afraid if it gets any warmer, it will ruin all the food in the fridge. Is there anything I need to do?

make sure the condensor fans are clean they are prob. full of dust. bottom rear of unit.

a common problem with bottom mount freezers is the door gets left open,open the freezer door and look at the ceiling,is there ice on it and is there also frozen water droplets on the packages,if so the door was left open,you can shut the fridge down or unplug it,remove the food from the freezer,get a hair dryer and blow the hot air onto the back inside wall of the freezer mostly blow it into the open slots in the back wall,it will melt the ice that's in the air ducts,you'll see water dripping down,when it stops you can start the fridge and stick your hand in the top middle of the fridge section to feel if cold air is blowing in,all that it does is there's a fan in the freezer,all it does is blow the cold air from the freezer into the fridge section,if the door was open the warm air gets in and mixes with the cold air and it freezes up the air ducts and blocking them.if this isn't the problem open the freezer door,you should hear the fan blowing,if not you could have a bad fan motor,also put your hand on the back inside wall of the freezer,if there's like frost or snow on the back wall you have a defrost problem,a bad defrost heater,defrost thermostat or timer or board depending what the model is,but most of the time the problem is behind the freezer inside wall,or depending on your model there could be a damper in the fridge section,if it's stuck closed then the cold air won't blow into the fridge section.so first open the freezer door,listen for the fan,if it's blowing,check for frozen water droplets and ice up on the ceiling near the light and on the food packages,if you see this the door was left open,if the fan isn't blowing most likely it could be bad,then check the back inside wall for frost or snow on it,if there's frost on the back wall you have a defrost problem,most likely it will be a bad defrost thermostat or heater,you'll need to check them with a maeter,hope this helps,next time send the model number so i can look up your machine.

send the model number off of the fridge,if the freezer is working fine then no air is being blown up to the fridge section,all it does is blow cold air from the freezer to the fridge section so either the door was left open and this is very common with a bottom mount freezer or the evap fan isn't blowing or on some models there's a damper inside the fridge section,the damper door opens and closes to let cold air in,when it reaches temp. the door closes,sometimes the door gets stuck in the closed position or the open position and the fridge freezes or gets warm depending on where the door is.first thing open the freezer door,do you hear the fan blowing,if not you could have a bad evap. fan motor,next look at the ceiling and on the packages,do you see frozen water droplets,if so the door was left open and the air ducts are froze up from the warm air getting in from the door being open and mixing with the cold air freezes up the air ducts,also stick your hand onto the back inside wall of the freezer,if there's like snow or frost on the inside back wall of the freezer you could have a defrost problem,bad defrost thermostat,heater,timer or board depending on the model or last a bad damper,when you open the fridge door there are air ducts usually up top and in the middle you should feel cold air blowing in,this is your problem the air isn't making it into the fridge section.if the door was left open,unplug the fridge,remove the food from the freezer and with a hair dryer heat up the back inside wall of the freezer and blow the hot air into the air vent holes in the back wall to melt out the air ducts,keep heating it up until you don't see any more water dripping,you can see the water dripping through the vent holes.so let me know what you find,send the model number and we can go from there.look up near the ceiling in the fridge section on the right hand wall and you should see a tag with the model and serial numbers,send the full model number so i can see what you have in your machine.

There are two reasons for bad smells. 1. Long time not being used. 2. Lack of cleaning inside compartment.

Solution: Unplug fridge. Keep open fridge door. Dip a dry cloth in soap water and start cleaning each and every compartment. Keep freezer door also open. And then clean with another dry cloth. Keep both doors open for nearly 5 hrs. It will be enable fresh air to **** the smell inside fridge.
After 5 hrs close the fridge and run on empty for one hour. Keep food items after one hour. Please keep all food items closed vessel. Not only it's avoid odor but also be hygienic.
If you use to keep fish items in freezer, clean fridge once in a week.(Spray roo spray in the room when you keep fridge door opened. Don't spray into fridge.)Helpful.

the evaporator coil inside the freezer compartment is iced over and can't transfer cold air in thes condition,remove panel inside freezer on back side of freezer compartment and thaw it out with a hair dryer,then check the defrost heating element for continuity,if its open replace it,if its good, ,check the defrost control that powers the defrost heater

If it has ice buildup on the back wall inside the freezer, it appears to have a defrost problem. Unplug it, put your food in another unit (or ice chests), open the freezer door and let it thaw out overnight for at least 12 hours or more, or until all the ice has melted from *behind* the back wall. Then close the doors and run it for 4 hours and check to see if the fresh food side is cold. If it is, call a repairman to fix the defrost problem. That could be a burned out heater, terminator, or defrost timer depending on your exact model.

I'll assume you don't have much food/items in the freezer section. Because you have the fridge set on the max cooling setting and the freezer set higher than the mid setting, it could be that you have frozen the cold air passage from the freezer to the fridge.

If you can, 1) remove all contents that would spoil; 2) turn off the fridge 3) open both doors and allow the fridge to manually thaw out completely (this will speed up the opening of the cold air exchange passage between the freezer and fridge, which is likely blocked and frozen solid. Have plenty of towels handy to soak up the water from the defrosting process,

After a FULL day of being left off and doors open to thaw out, check for any further thawing and dripping water inside, if present wait another 8 hours (you really want to get it thawed out the first time!) When that's done, reset BOTH temperature controls to the factory mid-point setting (5?) as marked on your control knobs.

The key to having a refridgerator run properly is to allow for it to run at the factory settings for at least 24 hours BEFORE you adjust the controls higher and/or lower for each section. Adjust it up or down in ONLY 1 setting increments so as to not cause ice build-up and freezing of the internal air exchange passages.

Also, as you've relegated this fridge as a garage "beer & backup" unit, make sure to keep the freezer as full as possible to make it run as efficiently as possible. You can freeze jugs of water and pack it with cheap thrift store bread to help it run correctly. An empty freezer has to work harder to keep just air at freezing temps. As such, it will pass much colder air into the fridge, and cause these types of freeze ups. By the way, turning up the temp controls only makes it worse and just results in a total "freeze up" inside the cabinet panels that you can't easily see or get at to rectify, hence the reason to shut it off and let it fully defrost.

When you're done, you should have your fridge back in action working like it should, but remember, don't rush temperature adjustments, even thou we all want those frosty beverages, it'll take a couple of days to achieve the desired "chill" you're likely used to getting when it was your primary fridge.

Hope this helps and Best Regards! Semper Fi!

Here's what I did, I defrosted! I found out that the fridge temp is monitored and maintained by the freezer. Because we had a power outage one night, my freezer thawed while we all slept and then when power came back on, freezer re-froze but this cause an ice build up on the vent on the back wall of the freezer. Well, ice must have been in one (or more) vents, causing blocked air flow in my top half of the refrigerator. I turned the dial in the freezer to "off" which also shuts down power to the fridge half. I then unplugged the refrigerator, hauled all my food items into coolers, opened the freezer door and refrigerator doors and left them open for a little over six hours. I took advantage of this empty fridge and freezer and wiped everything down. After this time frame passed, I plugged the fridge back in, turned the freezer dial to my preferred freezer temp, and wah-lah! Within two hours I had a cold fridge and solid ice cubes in the freezer. I then put all my food items back into their appropriate compartments, and went to work. Bear in mind, a total 24-hour period is needed for the fridge to re-set itself, but still, after two hours the fridge was noticeably cold. Who knew, besides our parents' generation: DEFROST!

the coil is frosted over and no air is being pushed to the fridge it may clear up after a few defrost cycles or remove the food from the freezer and allow it to thaw completely (12hrs) the ice behind the back wall takes a long time to thoroughly melt or you will have soild ice instead of frost and then it will never thaw soild ice.

You have a failed component or components in your automatic defrost system. This is why you have excessive frost inside the freezer along the back wall. The timer could be stuck in run mode. The defrost thermostat (bi-metal) could be defective or the defrost heater could be open or shorted.