Sides of Haier Compact Fridge are very hot to the touch

Feel the compressor top Kim. I need to know if it is too hot to keep your hand there. If yes it is too hot then unplug untill someone can perform the test listed below. If there frigerator compresasor pass that test it will be safe to replace the start relay=> RF-4800-48 Start Relay or here=> RF-4800-48 There are no photos of the overload start relay and the part installs under the cover on the side of the compressor.
Unplug the refrigerator and remove the back panel that covers the compressor. There should be 3 wires going inside the cover of the compressor. Mark all 3 and mark their location so if compressor is OK you can put them back in same order. The plastic cover may snap on and you may need to squeeze the sides to unlock the cover and sometimes there is a metal clip holding the cover in place. Remove the cover. May look hard but it's simple. There will be three connections under the cover and 2 will go through the start relay. Unplug them leaving the three prongs exposed. They may be marked R =Run, S=Start and C=Common. Set your meter on continuity and then begin by testing 2 at a time until you have checked S to R and R to C an C to S and S to R again. You should get a reading all the way around. If no reading between any of the pairs as you go around you should get no reading between any two the compressor has an open winding and is defective. Then if it passes that test then touch one probe to R and the other to the copper pipes or clean metal on outside of compressor, then S to metal outside and C to metal outside. If you get a reading this way even just a little. The compressor is a burnout. Then let me know what you find. Thanks, Sea Breeze

unplug and reconnect

Don't panic about the hot sides of the freezer. It is quite common on all the freezer (make/model).

After defrosting, your removing the full temerature out of the system. It will take atleast 30 ~ 60 mins to come back to set temperature. This again depends on the load inside.

This heat is normal. The refrigerator you have in your kitchen will have the condenser coils which get very hot on the bottom or back of the frig. A deep freeze has the condenser coils inside the walls of the freezer. Hot temps are normal when it is running.

Try to leave an inch or so of space around it for air flow and that will help.

Are you having any temperature related symptoms, i.e., soft ice cream that appears to have melted slightly and refrozen, soft breads in the freezer, warm or hot outer surfaces anywhere? If cooling is not a problem whatsoever, are any of your ice cubes smaller than normal, or do you have hollow ice cubes; you would be able to crush the cubes in your hand? If either of these pertains to you, you have not enough water coming to the ice maker, due to a faulty water valve not opening completely, or your water source pressure is low. disconnect your water line from the fridge, test pressure of the water line by placing end in a bucket, turning water on. It will be obvious how the pressure is. if pressure is good to really good, you have a bad water valve on the fridge. If pressure is so-so to bad, change source water valve.
If cubes are not small nor hollow, but rather normal full size cubes, just not enough, you probably have an intermittent problem with your icemaker, replace that.

ok well... those pipes coming from your compressor one of them should be hot. if not your compressor is not running.

If the food is at normal temperature, then what you are describing is normal.
On a chest freezer the condenser coils are embedded in the outer walls, as the evaporator coils are embedded in the inner walls to provide cooling.

This is the very basic principle of refrigeration. One set of coils (the condenser) are allowed to get hot, so the other set of coils
(the evaporator) can get cold.

When the unit is not running, which is most of the time, the walls will cool to room temperature.

It is normal for the freezer or fridge walls to be hot sometimes, some important points are to make sure that there is enough ventillation around the fridge/freezer, especcially the back, so that air can circulate around it freely. Also maybe just check that there hasn't been anything fallen down the back blocking the vent, and that there isn't a dust collection or anything. Otherwise as far as I know this is normal.

That is normal, refrigerators work by removing the heat from the storage area, thus making it cold. This heat has to go somewhere. Most of it is blown out the back but some escapes through the sides of the fridge.