Refrigerator issues

Old Hubbard Rd · 01-30-2010, 07:51 AM

Hello All,
Happy Fishing Derby Weekend. It's cold up here!! Not much snow but plenty of ice. Need some advice. When we are not using our Winni home during the winter we turn the heat down to 47. I have a very nice neighbor (he's really not that nice but he turns my heat on so..........) that comes over and turns my heat on before we arrive so the house is toasty. I have noticed that the refrigerator and freezer have defrosted and the refrigerator appears to be blowing not so cold air. I realize I need to empty the freezer and throw most things away as they have defrosted. I thought maybe that the refrigerator may be frozen up or something so I turned it off completely and I am allowing the thing to rest and possibly defrost. Any thoughts??

TomC · 01-30-2010, 08:12 AM

there is minumum room temperature for a frost-free refrigerator to operate - usually 60 degrees...

read a little about this, here: http://www.aham.org/consumer/ht/a/Ge...tAction/id/844

hazelnut · 01-30-2010, 10:19 AM

OHR, I hope that the beer supply was not affected???

Sorry to hear of the Fridge trouble.

Stayed home this weekend due to lack of snow for any riding. Also, it looked like it was gonna be coooolllllllddddddddd brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

EricP · 01-30-2010, 10:21 AM

I hear your neighbor heats up the house and locks you out so you can't go in and warm up when you arrive late in the evening

BroadHopper · 01-30-2010, 10:34 AM

hopefully my beer will be OK.

Rattlesnake Guy · 01-30-2010, 05:08 PM

We had this issue with an older fridge.
The research we did suggested placing a light bulb under the unit near the coils. (possibly with a thermostat at 60 degrees.) Safety first!!!

SAMIAM · 01-31-2010, 08:30 PM

Seriously.........fridge should operate at any room temperature.Sometimes in older models the coils ice up and you did the right thing by turning it off and letting it thaw.Sometimes this is caused by a cracked or older door gasket. After it is totally thawed,plug it in again with the temp settings in the middle.High temp should be in the mid to high 30's......freezer should be close to 0.
If you've tried these things and it still runs warm........better call a priest.

Sunrise Point · 02-01-2010, 07:37 PM

We finally gave up trying to keep food or ice in our freezer during the winter months.

We would arrive on a Friday or Saturday with the outside (and inside) temperature anywhere from 10 - 30 degrees and find the ice cubes in the freezer melted and the beer and water in the refrigerator frozen solid! The refrigerator would start to function after a few hours as the temperature in the house rose.

It would drive my husband crazy. It made no sense to him at all. I showed him Tom C's post explaining the problem but I'm not sure he believes it completely.

Old Hubbard Rd · 02-02-2010, 08:48 AM

I did some research on the internet describing my situation with my model refrigerator (6 years old refrig) and according to the web sites it said it could have been dirty coils, bad compressor, or bad relay switch. I had a refrigerator repair person come out and within minutes he determined it was the reply switch and we are up and running. The repair person also said that it had nothing to do with me keeping the temps in the house at 47 degrees. The repair person did ask if I noticed if things in the freezer and been softening and I did tell him that I felt things were softer than I though they should be. He said that was a sign that the relay was going. The relay was attched to the compressor which was accessed from the rear.

01-30-2010, 07:51 AM	#1
Old Hubbard Rd Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 462 Thanks: 141 Thanked 54 Times in 33 Posts	Refrigerator issues Hello All, Happy Fishing Derby Weekend. It's cold up here!! Not much snow but plenty of ice. Need some advice. When we are not using our Winni home during the winter we turn the heat down to 47. I have a very nice neighbor (he's really not that nice but he turns my heat on so..........) that comes over and turns my heat on before we arrive so the house is toasty. I have noticed that the refrigerator and freezer have defrosted and the refrigerator appears to be blowing not so cold air. I realize I need to empty the freezer and throw most things away as they have defrosted. I thought maybe that the refrigerator may be frozen up or something so I turned it off completely and I am allowing the thing to rest and possibly defrost. Any thoughts??

01-30-2010, 08:12 AM	#2
TomC Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Lakes Region Posts: 547 Thanks: 9 Thanked 29 Times in 20 Posts	minimum temp there is minumum room temperature for a frost-free refrigerator to operate - usually 60 degrees... read a little about this, here: http://www.aham.org/consumer/ht/a/Ge...tAction/id/844

01-30-2010, 10:34 AM	#5
BroadHopper Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Laconia NH Posts: 5,512 Thanks: 3,118 Thanked 1,090 Times in 784 Posts	gas refrigerator hopefully my beer will be OK. __________________ Someday may never be an actual day.

02-01-2010, 07:37 PM	#8
Sunrise Point Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Meredith Center / Winnisquam Posts: 250 Thanks: 87 Thanked 34 Times in 21 Posts	Religion won't help... We finally gave up trying to keep food or ice in our freezer during the winter months. We would arrive on a Friday or Saturday with the outside (and inside) temperature anywhere from 10 - 30 degrees and find the ice cubes in the freezer melted and the beer and water in the refrigerator frozen solid! The refrigerator would start to function after a few hours as the temperature in the house rose. It would drive my husband crazy. It made no sense to him at all. I showed him Tom C's post explaining the problem but I'm not sure he believes it completely.

02-02-2010, 08:48 AM	#9
Old Hubbard Rd Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 462 Thanks: 141 Thanked 54 Times in 33 Posts	Refrig Repaired! I did some research on the internet describing my situation with my model refrigerator (6 years old refrig) and according to the web sites it said it could have been dirty coils, bad compressor, or bad relay switch. I had a refrigerator repair person come out and within minutes he determined it was the reply switch and we are up and running. The repair person also said that it had nothing to do with me keeping the temps in the house at 47 degrees. The repair person did ask if I noticed if things in the freezer and been softening and I did tell him that I felt things were softer than I though they should be. He said that was a sign that the relay was going. The relay was attched to the compressor which was accessed from the rear.

The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to TomC For This Useful Post:
Old Hubbard Rd (01-30-2010), Sunrise Point (01-30-2010)

01-30-2010, 10:19 AM	#3
hazelnut Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 1,348 Blog Entries: 3 Thanks: 508 Thanked 462 Times in 162 Posts	OHR, I hope that the beer supply was not affected??? Sorry to hear of the Fridge trouble. Stayed home this weekend due to lack of snow for any riding. Also, it looked like it was gonna be coooolllllllddddddddd brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

01-30-2010, 10:21 AM	#4
EricP Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 329 Thanks: 28 Thanked 11 Times in 7 Posts	I hear your neighbor heats up the house and locks you out so you can't go in and warm up when you arrive late in the evening

01-30-2010, 05:08 PM	#6
Rattlesnake Guy Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 1,254 Thanks: 423 Thanked 366 Times in 175 Posts	We had this issue with an older fridge. The research we did suggested placing a light bulb under the unit near the coils. (possibly with a thermostat at 60 degrees.) Safety first!!!

01-31-2010, 08:30 PM	#7
SAMIAM Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Moultonborough Posts: 2,836 Thanks: 326 Thanked 1,626 Times in 562 Posts	Seriously.........fridge should operate at any room temperature.Sometimes in older models the coils ice up and you did the right thing by turning it off and letting it thaw.Sometimes this is caused by a cracked or older door gasket. After it is totally thawed,plug it in again with the temp settings in the middle.High temp should be in the mid to high 30's......freezer should be close to 0. If you've tried these things and it still runs warm........better call a priest.

The Following User Says Thank You to Old Hubbard Rd For This Useful Post:
Sunrise Point (02-02-2010)