The temperature is staying constant at 51 degrees
Your
fridge is probably suffering from a fan failure or defrost circuit failure. One (or
possibly more) of the following components has failed: 1) the defrost
terminator or sensor, 2) the defrost heating element or 3) the defrost
controller / timer. Items 1 & 2 will be found in the freezer
compartment - behind the back wall. The 3rd item can often be found in
the toe space at the bottom of the fridge - behind a kick plate. The fan I mentioned is located in the freezer - in the cooling coil compartment. It is used to pull air over the coil to cool it and circulate it in the freezer - and direct a portion of it into the fresh food compartment as well. If it has failed, temperatures in both the freezer and fresh food compartment will rise.
Before
we go further - check and clean the condenser coils on the bottom of
the fridge with a vacuum. They may be clogged with dust and dirt.
Listen for the compressor and fan - are they running? Since everything
inside the fridge is warm and getting warmer - the compressor should be
running to try to cool it. If left to run like this for a long time
however, can cause the compressor to fail. This is usually a deal
breaker for repair due to cost. If the fan or compressor isn't running -
you should probably call a repair person.
If you don't know how
to work with electrical meters and tools or are not comfortable working
in tight spaces (back wall of the freezer) with live electric parts, you
should call a repair person. Also, refrigerants are under pressure and are very dangerous.
If allowed to escape from the tubing, coils, etc. there is a very real
danger of instant frostbite if it comes in contact with your skin. You
can be blinded if it sprays into your eyes. These reasons make me believe
that this is a complicated DIY type job and really isn't a good one for a
beginner or even an intermediate to attempt. On the plus side, parts are
relatively inexpensive, and a qualified person should be able to quickly
diagnose the problem. Labor rates and parts markups can bring this
repair up into $200 and up range, however.
If you can't
swing that amount of money right now, unplug the fridge, empty the
freezer (& fridge if needed) and completely defrost the the freezer.
If you access the freezer coil behind the inside back wall, you can
greatly accelerate the defrost process by leaving the freezer door open -
or even faster still by directing a blow dryer at it. Once all the
frost is melted, plug the fridge back in, allow to get cold & reload
the freezer. Depending on how humid it is in your kitchen, you can
put off the repair at least a month or more. If after defrosting it still fails to cool down, the freezer compartment fan described in the top paragraph has probably failed. Ideal temps for fresh food is about 34-36 degrees and the freezer is about -5 to 0 F.
If / when you do finally
call, for service, have the freezer emptied & defrosted already -
will save the defrost time by the repair person.
If you are
comfortable performing this work, let me know and I'll get you more
information. I hope this was helpful and good luck. Please rate my
reply - thank you.
not Cooling or Fridge not Cooling
