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Frequently Asked Questions About Domestic Refrigerator Repair:

Intermittent operation, important observations to consider

I sure hope that you can give me some advice so that I can help my sister and brother-in-law out. They have a Frigidaire refrigerator that has started blowing warm air on an occasional basis in the freezer compartment. They have had a local repairman three times now......with no positive curing results. He has replaced the defrost timer and also installed a new defrost thermostat. My sis has had to pitch some meat and melted ice cream and melted frozen vegetables. This fridge is too new to just pitch. The refrigerator section seems to operate fine, but the freezer compartment is a real headache. Any ideas about what is wrong??? Please HELP us if you possibly can!!!!!!!! THANKS for listening.

Sounds like the compressor is cutting out. This will happen when it is overheating as it has a thermal overload to protect it from getting too hot.

Overheating can happen for a number of reasons- the compressor itself is worn and drawing too much current, (if the refrigerator is not too old though this wouldn’t be the case) the condenser is clogged on fan-forced designs, the condenser fan not always running (if present), or simply not enough air circulating around the cabinet.

The technician they got that is chasing down a defrost problem in this situation hasn’t got the slightest idea of what he’s doing.

Intermittent problems are hard to trace sometimes so ask them to be as observant as they can whenever the freezer is thawing.

At that very time when it’s not working...

Is the compressor in fact running?

Is the fan in the freezer running?

Is the fan near the compressor running?

Does the light come on when you open the door?

Anything else they can notice may be helpful as well.

Then when they get a good tech over, with this information available, the chances of him solving the problem are much higher.

Many times when I go to a unit that is acting up intermittently, as Murphy’s law goes, it won’t act up when I’m testing it. In these cases the customers observations are an extremely important aid to getting the problem solved.

This is just my opinion but, once the real problem is found they should be able to get some kind of adjustment on the work that previously was done in vain from the first tech. Perhaps he’s just starting out but he needs more training and shouldn’t be charging folks for putting the wrong parts in. Hope this helps.