The whole purpose of your refrigerator is to keep your food cold and fresh. For this reason, there is nothing more frustrating than when the food in your fridge starts to spoil faster than it should; or going to get a beverage you put in there a few hours later and it still isn't cold. Fortunately, figuring out what is causing your fridge to have little to no chill is a pretty easy process as there are tons of possible culprits.
1. Condenser Coils Are Dirty
Did you know your refrigerator has condenser coils very similar to the coils on your vehicle? These coils need to be clean in order to keep your fridge working the way it was intended to. When the coils become dirty, the fridge has to work harder to do its job. Eventually the coils become too dirty and the fridge cannot keep a chill at all. Fortunately, a good coil cleaning is all that is needed to make this problem go away.
2. Evaporator or Condenser Fan Motor Failure
The evaporator fan is the fan responsible for moving the cold air around your fridge. When the motor of this fan stops working, the fridge will still continue to produce cold air, but the air will not be circulated around the fridge the way it needs to be. Basically, it is going to seem like your fridge has certain spots that are colder than the rest of the fridge. One key warning sign that your evaporator fan motor has failed is when the freezer is still nice and cold while the fridge is warmer than it should be.
Just as the name suggests, the condenser fan is responsible for circulating air to the condenser coils. It does this in order to keep them from overheating. If the condenser coils get too hot, they are not able to do their job properly. You can pull the fridge away from the wall and check near the bottom of the fridge. You should see a fan. This is the condenser fan. Whether or not it is moving should tell you whether or not the motor is working.
Naturally, there are tons of parts that make up your refrigerator and any one of them could be the culprit. The control board, start relay, thermostat, or start capacitor are just additional parts that could be struggling to function properly. The best thing you can do is reach out to a professional and let him or her inspect the fridge for you to figure out what the issue is.
