The freezer cools half way top, below is warm.

Hello Karen;



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



The top half of your freezer is warm because your cooling (evaporator) coil is on the bottom.



With your unit there are generally two cooling problems:



1.) Frozen Drain - You freezer will go through a defrost cycle every 8-10 hours. When this occurs, everything shuts down with the exception of your lights. Your defrost heater turns on for about 20-30 minutes, defrost you cooling coil and them turns your unit back on.

Most common, is that you have a frozen drain. If you have a frozen drain, when your unit goes through the defrost cycle, if your drain is plugged then the condensate builds up on your cooling coil and restricts the air flow. Use a hair dryer and melt the ice.



2.) Freezer fan motor is bad - Your freezer fan motor may be bad. This is easily replaced.



Ok, Lets get it done. I have faith in you.

a.) Unplug your unit.

b.) With a screw driver remove the 6 screws holding the bottom cover. You control may be in the way.

c.) I know you can do this. Remove the back cover. Is you cooling coil blocked with Ice? Defrost with a hair dryer. Do not use metal tools, you may damage the cooling coil.



b.) After defrost, Is you cooling fan running. You can do this as well. There are only two contacts to remove and a ground wire. If it is not running purchase a new one.



I have faith in you Karen. Call me and I will walk you through this.

443-306-1362, Glen Burnie, Maryland, USA

Red light on for High Freezer Temperature Warning
or freezer not cooling, but fridge is and a lot of noise from compressor.
Also, fridge drain hole blocked, water in bottom of fridge.

This is a common fault in Hotpoint Fridge Freezers and can also happen if the door has been left open or has been a power cut.

1. Turn off fridge freezer, or at least turn down the freezer temp to minimum, though not ideal.
2. Open freezer door and remove all drawers.
3. Remove the back panel on the inside of the freezer. This is held in place with 4 screws, which might be 6mm hex head or star allen head. Pull the panel out.
4. Behind where the panel was, there is a cooling element for cooling, pipes, and below this a temperature sensor. If the fridge freezer is not switched off, then fold together a few layers of tinfoil and wrap around the sensor.
5. Use a hairdryer to slowly melt the ice. Melt it around areas where it appears to be hanging on, such as the corners of the cooling element or bolts, as well as any thin sections below the main block of ice around the cooling element, which will be supporting the main block. Use a plastic ice scraper to remove ice but not near pipes or sensor.
Warning: Be careful using electrics around water & melting ice & drips.
6. Below the cooling element, there is a drip channel & drain hole. If this hole is full of ice, pour a small amound of warm water down, leave for 10 seconds and pour a bit more until clear.
In the fridge, clear the drain hole in the same way.
Warning: Do not pour a lot of water down, as this water drains onto a tray above the hot compressor at the rear of the fridge freezer to be evaporated by the heat of the compressor and the tray will only hold a small amount.
7. When all ice is removed, dry all moisture. Put the shelves back. Close door. Turn on fridge freezer. Turn up the freezer temperature to your normal setting. Turn on fast freeze if available. After 1 hour, check with a thermometer. It should be cold enough after 1 or 2 hours.

Hi,

Many times a freezer and/or refrigeratordo not work right because of a dirty condenser coil...there are also many otherthings that can go wrong. If you are hearing a clicking or buzzing thencheck out the last two tips.

If your refrigerator is running but warm, then...

Check out these tips that I wrote about that... it is a great place to starttrouble shooting your unit...and something that you can do rather then callinga repair person to do a simple thing for you...

Refrigerator Condenser Coil Cleaning Refrigerator Repair

Refrigerator Troubleshooting Refrigerator Compressor

Refrigerator Compressor Start Capacitor and Start Relay
Refrigerator or Freezer not Cooling or Getting Cold

heatman101

I believe that the defrost system has malfunctioned. There is a timer that cycles the automatic defrost. The timer shuts off the freezer and turns on a heating element. Then it will cycle back to freezing. If anything goes out in this system the unit will not defrost. over time the cooling fins and below will fill up with ice and the fan can no longer recirculate air so the bottom becomes ice and the top warms up...

There is a fan behind the back wall of the freezer about 1/2 way up from the bottom, you should be able to hear this running when the freezer is on. If you do not hear this then you need a new evaporator fan motor.

If you hear the fan run then you most likely have a problem with the automatic defrost cycle that would most likely be the heat element that is located just below the coils inside the freezer behind the panel.

The evaporator coil must be lightly frosted from the top to bottom. This proves that all of the r-134a freon is still present in the system. If you visiblely see that it is not (half frosted the other half warm?no frost) then this is a sign that the r-134a freon has leaked out. Another way to determine for sure is to use refrigeration gauges to check the pressure.

let me know what you found then we can take it from there... hope this was helpful

check to see if the evap fan is blowing behing the freezer wall. if not it may need to be replaced. is there ice forming on the wall of the freezer? If so you might have a defrost problem.

check the seals on the fridge sounds like there might be a section not connecting with the fridge

Not enough information but  if you are refering to the compressor as the black housing below, it seems that the compressor is either seized or burnt out.

The outsides should will be warm.  This is normal because the condensor lines run thru the cabinet from about half way up the sides and over the top.  Which is why the you shouldn't have anything stacked on top of the freezer and enough room on the sides of it for air flow.  As far as the water leak, tell me exactly where you see the water and does the bottom of the freezer (inside) have a sheet of ice on it.  If there is ice there then the drain behind the bottom panel in the freezer is frozen over and will have to be thawed out.  Let me know what you find.  If you have further questions I may need the entire model # on the sticker inside the freezer.