Fridge not cooling

[jlinder]

Hope someone can help. I have a GE Fridge that has never been much good at keeping food cold. When it was new we had warranty repair and it never worked well. If I remember he put some freon in the system during the repair.

We have always had to run it at it's top cooling setting just to keep food cold. Now it is not doing that well enough anymore.

HELP

Here are some details:
1. Checked the coils underneath. All clean and good airflow.
2. Checked the coils in the freezer. All good there.
3. Checked the bottom of the freezer (remove the metal bottom). Found some ice, defrosted, not much help.
4. Runs all the time.
5. When it runs the pipes coming out of the compressor only get a little warm. I expected them to be much hotter then they are.

This leads me to believe the system may be low on freon, but not sure if this happens on household refrigerators like it does on cars.

Any thoughts? If it is freon can I put some in similar to what I do on my cars?

Fridge is about 10 years old and has seen wear from 3 kids, so I don't want to invest much in it.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Fridge not cooling

I wouldn't bother fixing it. A newer one will be so much more efficient that it will pay for itself in energy costs.

 

[jlinder]

Re: Fridge not cooling

That is where I am headed, but wondered if there was an easy way to put freon in. Seems to have a valve with threaded connections on it.

Hate to junk it if there is a simple thing I can try.

Not that I want to give up so quickly, but I have had lousy luck with GE. I know everyone has their opinion of what brand works well, is there any stand out brand?

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Fridge not cooling

Most of them are all made by the same companies these days so hard to say.

 

[a70eliminator]

Re: Fridge not cooling

If the service guy left a line tap in place lucky for you, you'll need a charging manifold and some refrigerant, definately sounds like it's low with ice build up on only part of the coil.

 

[jlinder]

Re: Fridge not cooling

Is that something I can get and do?

 

[gonefishie]

Re: Fridge not cooling

what about the fan on the freezer side that blows cold air into the fridge side? does it work properly? or if the vents are blocked then you won't get good air exchange.

 

[waterinthefuel]

Re: Fridge not cooling

Sounds like it's pumping out refrigerant at a pretty decent clip. Your electric bill is being slammed by that old fridge. Time for an upgrade.

It doesn't take freon, I'm pretty sure it takes R-134 or some equivalent.

 

[mike243]

Re: Fridge not cooling

if you had the fridge worked on & it was less than 5 years old & freon was added & no leak found you were ripped off.until just recently all fridges had a 5 year sealed system warrenty,parts & labor covered.on side x sides the defrost heaters will go out between 7-10 years,you have to pull the cover off in the frezzer to see if the coil is frosted up.a new heater harness kit is a lot cheaper than a new fridge,less than $75 a few years ago,either way it will only hold about 4-6 oz of freon,buying a set of gauges & trying to hook up a automotive can of freon might be a real chalenge.then any air has to be purged,& if your leak is on the suction side you might have air/moister in the system .id junk it & buy something to keep your food cold.you can buy a dud in any brand but after working on them for 10 years fridgidair is the worst for repairs.ok heres how it rates with me.whirlpool/kitchenaid-GE - would be my first picks.whirlpool owns maytag,maytag owns amanna,sears owns over 50% or did of whirlpool.all of the major brands have been having problems with compressors so much that sears has started making the tecs carry several different ones to make same day repairs instead of ordering parts.read the warrenty before laying out the $,a few have only a 1 year warrenty on parts & or labor for sealed system problems,mike243

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Fridge not cooling

R-22 was phased out a little over 10 years ago so if the fridge takes that, you might as well forget trying to get the stuff unless you are licensed to buy it.

Way more trouble than its worth. You can get good buys on fridges these days.

Mike243, you need a new keyboard because your caps key stopped working.

 

[jlinder]

Re: Fridge not cooling

Repair was within a year or so. I should have screamed about him having to add freon. Now that I think about it, if it was low on freon there must have been a big problem somewhere.

Factory repair man was a real jerk. I noticed that when he put the unit back together the coils on the bottom were not in the guide channel. It would have dug into my floor if I moved the fridge. Repair guy just grunts "it's fine - supposed to be that way". Again, real jerk and I wasted too much effort trying to just get that done right.

Rear coils inside fridge were not blocked with ice. Blockage was in area between metal sheet that covers the bottom of the freezer and Styrofoam insulation that allows air to go from vents in front back to the back and then over the coils.

Fans work well - both inside freezer pulling air over coils and bottom over the condenser coils.

Again, I am really suspicious that the condenser coils don't really get very warm.

 

[Lion hunter]

Re: Fridge not cooling

May not be your problem but my Fridgedaire quit working after I moved it. I started it to soon and there was oil and liquid in the coils I guess. Service guy came out twice and refilled with no luck. They finally evacuated the entire system and refilled. I let sit for another 24 hours and when I restarted it worked great and has ever since.

 

[mike243]

Re: Fridge not cooling

R-22 was phased out a little over 10 years ago so if the fridge takes that, you might as well forget trying to get the stuff unless you are licensed to buy it.

Way more trouble than its worth. You can get good buys on fridges these days.

Mike243, you need a new keyboard because your caps key stopped working.

ok i may not type to your satisfaction but i do know of what i speak,r-22 is not used in residental fridges,r-12 was used until 1994 when all new production was stopped in the USA ,units useing r-12 were made into 1996 as the factories were allowed to use up all of the r-12 related parts,the only r-12 avalible now is recycled.134a is the choice for fridges & cars these days,his unit is a 134a & anybody can buy it as no lic is required.Take note that all new ac units no longer use r-22,they use 410A ,mike243

 

[SS MAYFLOAT]

Re: Fridge not cooling

ok i may not type to your satisfaction but i do know of what i speak,r-22 is not used in residental fridges,r-12 was used until 1994 when all new production was stopped in the USA ,units useing r-12 were made into 1996 as the factories were allowed to use up all of the r-12 related parts,the only r-12 avalible now is recycled.134a is the choice for fridges & cars these days,his unit is a 134a & anybody can buy it as no lic is required.Take note that all new ac units no longer use r-22,they use 410A ,mike243

Mike is spot on with the above quote. Thanks Mike for the info........less typing for me

 

[tswiczko]

Re: Fridge not cooling

That is where I am headed, but wondered if there was an easy way to put freon in. Seems to have a valve with threaded connections on it.

Most likely it has been serviced befor if it has service valves on it. if they are the clamp on type piercing valve then this is probably where it is leaking from the o ring which seals it, they tend to dry out and crack.

If it were me I wouldn't waste my time and money on it either.

If you do charge it and use it as a storage fridge you run the chance of loosing anything you put in there and if you use it as a beer fridge remember there isn't anything worse than going into the garage after mowing the lawn on a hot summer day and getting a warm beer out of the fridge

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Fridge not cooling

ok i may not type to your satisfaction but i do know of what i speak,r-22 is not used in residental fridges,r-12 was used until 1994 when all new production was stopped in the USA

OK...I wasn't sure if r-22 was used in refrigerators or not. I did know that r-22 was phased out a little later than r-12 which would have put his 10 year old fridge in the grey area.

It would still be nice to see capital letters here and there. Makes posts a lot easier to read.

 

[oops!]

Re: Fridge not cooling

the fridge is toast.

when the service guy added freon.....he did not look for or fix a leak....the system is closed....so if he added freon.....there had to be a leak.

the pipes coming out of the compressor dont need to be that warn....but the black ones under the fridge do !...if they are not warm/allmost hot. the fridge is low on freon or the compressor is weak.
the reason it runs all the time is because the thermostat is asking the compressor to keep running to get it to the proper operating temp and the cooling system cant do it.

mike 123 is correct on brands to buy as well.
start with a whirlpool....or whirlpool designed kenmore.

sears has a great warranty, as there is the manufactures warranty, and sears warranty as well.....if the thing craps out in 5 years ....you can take it back to sears and throw it at them and the will replace it !

 

[jlinder]

Re: Fridge not cooling

Thanks for the help everone.

Sounds like a whirlpool, then maytag, then kitchenaid. My last 2 have been GE and I have had the worst luck with them. I have sworn off GE for anything.

Any suggestions on style? Does bottom freezer work better than top freezer? Thoughts on side by side? Looking for experience with reliability, efficiency, etc. but comments on what you found useful would be helpful

 

[marlboro180]

Re: Fridge not cooling

Dunno about those brands, which one are good or bad that is.

Mrs. M did some research and we ended up choosing an LG. A little too much $$ for my taste, but that is how things go. As to the style, ours is a french door fridge with the through the door uber-ice maker on top, freezer below.

From the many, many ones we looked at, it has been a good choice and I like the style/utility a lot too.

It is two and a half years old , and runs fine. Just gotta swap out the water filter every 6 months- The control panel even lets you know when it is due

FWIW- My parents have an old Kenmore that just keeps plugging along.

 

[SS MAYFLOAT]

Re: Fridge not cooling

I really dislike any unit that uses R134a. If you have the system open, or there was a leak, more than likely the oil will be saturated with moisture. If the system is not properly dried and evacuated, there will be problems. This especially happens when a tech is in a hurry to get the job done. Just a few microns of moisture is enough to make a system fail.

I was given a 1 year old GE side by side. 6 months after it was installed, it died. Tech came out and installed a piercing type valve that clamps on the line. 4 months laters the unit failed again. Owner put it in his garage and bought a new one of a different brand.

He called me up and said to come and get this fridge that if I can fix it, I can have it. I put my charging manifold on it, and it still showed that it had a charge. Pluged it in and it began to work. It worked for 2 days and then got warm. Meanwhile the charge was fine according to my manifold. I pumped the system down, cut off the service valve, soldered in a schrader valve, installed a new filter drier, purged the system 3 times with nitrogen, charged with 4 oz of R134a, and added a moisture dryer enhancement. I've had it plugged in now for 3 months. Freezer -10* and fridge at 34* (which on full cold will freeze to 26*.

So I guess my point is that if you have a tech out and don't see a ,recovery unit/tank, nitrogen tank, and a new filter drier,,,,,,,,,,,,he is not doing the job on removing any moisture that gets trapped in the POE oil of the refrigerant.

I know many people that still have refridgerators that were made in the 60's and 70's that are still humming along. All though they are in a garage somewhere keeping their beer cold,,,,,,,,,they are still working great with the good old R-12.