the freezer usually goes through a defrost cycle heres how it works
What you probably didn't notice was that the freezer has not been going through it's normal defrost cycle. Because of this un-noticed event going on, there has been frost building up on the evaporator coils that doesn't belong there. After this frost continues to build up over the course of a few days to a week or so, now you are going to start to notice the effects.
Here is what's happening when you have a malfunction in the defrost system.
- Air cannot circulate from the freezer(where the cold happens basically) to the fresh food section.
- Your refrigerator will run constantly to try to cool the fresh food section. This will develop a new set of problems with your refrigerator. More on that later....
- Excess frost builds up within the coils inside the freezer. This is what is blocking the air flow to the fresh food section
- Usually you will notice the icemaker will stop making ice. Poor air flow and not quite cold enough temperatures in the freezer cause this
- Water will not come through the dispenser on the door. Cold air settles, the water resovoir will freeze.
- Compressor may overheat and shut off. This is when you hear, click, click, click. Not good
- Ice Cream in the Freezer will start to get soft. That's really not that bad. lol
What can you do about this. Let me explain the defrost system in general so you get an understanding of what is going on.
The coils inside the freezer are the only part inside the whole refrigerator that "get cold". They need to stay free from excess frost build up so that air can pass through the coils and reach the refrigerator section of your
refrigerator. Every eight hours or so, depending on the type of defrost timer or control you have, the compressor and fans will shut off and the machine will go into defrost modeWhen the refrigerator is in defrost there is a heater that is tied into the evaporator coils inside the freezer that comes on. This heater is behind the rear panel inside the freezer where the evaporator coils are located. It melts the frost that has accumulated over the course of time. After about thirty minutes the machine comes out of defrost and goes back to normal operation.
Now the air can continue to pass through the coils and keep the freezer frozen and the refrigerator cool and everybody is happy.. these are issues that happen when the defrost cycle stops working best thing to do is pull off the rear panel inside the freezer and see if you have any ice build up on the condensor if you do or if the fan is not running then you would have a defrost problem and I could tell you how to go about checking which part of the defrost cycle was problematic also message me back your model number and i will be able to send you schematics on your machine as well you can either wait to remove the rear panel till i send your diagram or you can remove it and message me back with your finds on if there is any ice build up and if your fan in back of that same panel is working you said that your temp in fridge is 38 if the fan wasnt working it would just get warm in frige but be cold in freezer and please also remember when our chat has fully concluded to rank how this opinion has helped in your appliance situation it allows me to help others in the future with similar situations Thanks again Rick
