Repair guide
Refrigerator not cooling? Causes and what to check
By Deven Alcantara, EPA 608 certified technician ·
When a refrigerator stops cooling, start with the simple things: make sure cooling is on and not in demo mode, set it to 37°F, clear food away from the vents and check that the doors seal. If it's still warm a day later, the usual causes are an iced-over evaporator coil, a failed fan or a defrost problem.
Safety first
Unplug the refrigerator or switch off its breaker before you clean the condenser coils or move it, and don’t disturb the water or ice lines behind it. Condenser fins are sharp, so wear gloves and long sleeves. Don’t use a hair dryer to melt frost. If you’re going to book a repair, leave the refrigerator plugged in so I can see what it’s doing.
What to check first
- Make sure cooling is actually on. Some refrigerators have to be switched back on by hand after a power outage or surge, and cooling can get turned off by accident during cleaning. Look for Demo, Showroom or Shwrm on the display too. In demo mode the lights and display work, but the refrigerator won’t cool. Samsung shows it as OF OF or OFF OFF. The steps to exit demo mode differ by model, so check your manual.
- Check the temperature settings. Whirlpool and Frigidaire both recommend 37°F for the refrigerator and 0°F for the freezer. Change the setting one step at a time and wait 24 hours between changes. A new refrigerator needs time too: Whirlpool says 8 to 12 hours to reach temperature and up to 24 hours to settle, and Samsung says a new setting can take up to 28 hours.
- Clear the vents. Cold air reaches the shelves through vents inside the cabinet, and food packages pushed against them block it. Samsung suggests keeping food about 2 inches away from the vents. Move tall items forward so air can move.
- Test the door seals. Close the door on a dollar bill and pull it out. You should feel a little resistance. If the doors don’t swing shut on their own, raise the front with the leveling legs or rollers until a door closes from halfway open. Overfilled door bins, a drawer that isn’t seated or an ice bin out of place can also hold a door open. The inside light should go off about an inch before the door closes. A light that stays on adds heat.
- Look at the coils and the space around it. Most homes don’t need routine coil cleaning, but Whirlpool suggests checking every 3 to 6 months if you have pets or a lot of dust, and GE says most of its refrigerators made since 2001 have a condenser that never needs cleaning. Give it the air space your manual asks for. GE says at least 1 inch on each side, the top and the back, and Samsung asks for 2 inches.
- Allow for the defrost cycle. The compressor and fans stop during defrost, which GE says can last 30 to 45 minutes once or twice a day, so a refrigerator that seems to have stopped may just be defrosting. Judge the temperature by touching the food or containers, not the air.
- Reset the control. Samsung’s advice is to unplug the refrigerator or turn off its breaker for 2 minutes, then plug it back in. You should see the temperature start to drop within about three hours.
Refrigerator not cooling but the freezer works
This is one of the most common versions of the problem, and there’s a clear reason for it. On most models the refrigerator side has no cold source of its own. As Whirlpool explains, a fan pushes cold air from the freezer through vents into the fresh-food section. So when the freezer is fine and the refrigerator is warm, something is stopping that air.
Check the vents between the two sections, on both sides, for food or frost. Samsung notes that frost can form on the refrigerator’s back wall near the vents, and once it covers them it has to be cleared or it keeps growing. Frost comes from warm, moist air getting in: a door left open, hot food put away, or a poor seal.
If the vents are clear and it’s still warm, the usual causes are the ones I repair most often: an evaporator coil that has iced over because the defrost system failed, an evaporator fan that stopped, or a stuck air damper. Open the freezer, press the door switch and listen for the fan. If you hear nothing, tell me when you book. GE’s guidance is that if frost doesn’t clear within 24 to 48 hours of a manual defrost with the refrigerator unplugged, it needs service.
Arizona heat and garage refrigerators
Room temperature matters. Whirlpool designs its standard refrigerators for rooms between 55°F and 110°F, and GE and Samsung both say a refrigerator may not cool properly above 110°F. If yours is in the garage, Whirlpool doesn’t recommend that for a standard model unless the space is insulated and climate-controlled, because garage heat in hot weather can overwork the cooling system.
Garage-ready models are built for it. GE rates its Garage-Ready top-freezer models for 38°F to 110°F and warns that above 110°F the compressor oil can overheat and damage the compressor or sealed system. Inside the house, keep the refrigerator out of direct sun and away from the oven and heat vents. A warm room also makes a new refrigerator take longer to cool down.
When to call a technician
Call me if the refrigerator is still warm 24 hours after you’ve worked through these checks, if there’s frost you can’t clear, or if you can’t hear the fans running. Those point to the defrost system, a fan, the controls or, less often, the sealed system. I’m EPA 608 certified, so I can repair the sealed system when that’s the cause. Keep food in a cooler while you wait.
For a freezer that isn’t freezing or an ice maker that’s stopped, see freezer and ice maker repair.
Upfront pricing
$65
Service call, waived when you approve the repair. You get an exact price before any work starts.
Stacked washer and dryer units have a $125 service call, also waived with the repair.
From My Recent Repairs
- Whirlpool Refrigerator Coil Iced Over: Defrost Heater Replaced
The evaporator coil behind the freezer panel of a Whirlpool refrigerator was completely iced over. I replaced the defrost heater. - Samsung Refrigerator Compressor Locked Up: An Honest Estimate
A Samsung refrigerator's compressor had a locked piston inside it. I diagnosed the sealed system and gave the customer the diagnosis and an estimate for the repair.
Refrigerator Error Codes
Sources for This Guide
The checks and numbers in this guide come from the manufacturers’ own support pages and manuals, plus the public sources listed. Your owner’s manual has the final word for your model.
Sources
- Too Warm in Refrigerator Compartment (Whirlpool)
- How Long to Wait Before Adding Food to a New Refrigerator (Whirlpool)
- Demo Mode, Bottom Freezer Refrigerator (Whirlpool)
- Doors Not Closing Properly (Whirlpool)
- How and When to Safely Clean the Condenser Coils (Whirlpool)
- How to Check the Air Vents for Blockage (Whirlpool)
- What Is the Proper Location and Environment for a Refrigerator (Whirlpool)
- Refrigerator Not Cooling (GE Appliances)
- Condenser Cleaning (GE Appliances)
- Normal Defrost Cycle (GE Appliances)
- Garage-Ready Refrigerators (GE Appliances)
- Refrigerator not cooling (Samsung)
- Frost build-up in the refrigerator (Samsung)
- Freezer not freezing or not cooling (Frigidaire)
Ready when you are
Fridge still warm? Book your refrigerator repair.
Call or text (480) 292-4746, Monday to Saturday, 9am to 6pm. Same-day and next-day appointments are often available.