Fridge keeps freezing food

[ram_man]

I have a 10yr old whirlpool freezer on top conventional refrigerator. Lately the darn thing keeps freezing my food. If you let it sit for awhile it'll get down to 30-32 degrees I stuck a meat thermometer in the top shelf and one in the door.
It's 10 yrs old and has some rust on the bottom so it's not pristine. It came with the house when I bought it a year ago. That being said what should I be looking at ? I can turn the temperature dial and here it click on and off. I have the setting one click warmer than the normal setting so I'm sure something is not right. What do you guys recommend?

 

[Warstud]

If you have another fridge you can store your food in....try shutting it off and defrosting it.

 

[atikovi]

Why not set the temperature a bit higher?

 

[Chris142]

Our Samsung did that. The evaporator drain froze solid and the freezer froze up. I used a hair dryer to get rid of the ice and then opened the drain up some so it would not plug up again.

 

[BISCUT]

I can't give you a solution but there is one. I hated an LG it froze my food on top shelf. After 6 years? something like that. I got a GE and figured with 3 kids (big kids play Elite sports/A Div and are serious eaters) I banished the LG to the basement. I'm so glad I did BUT [censored] the LG hasn't froze anything as a second fridge. I cant grasp the why. Only change is no water line in the basement.

 

[dishdude]

There's a motorized damper door that controls airflow between the freezer and refrigerator that regulates temperature in the fridge. That might be frozen or broken.

 

[AC1DD]

Originally Posted by dishdude
There's a motorized damper door that controls airflow between the freezer and refrigerator that regulates temperature in the fridge. That might be frozen or broken.


Either that part (dampener door) or cold control is broken or not within spec.

 

[dbias]

A drain has probably froze up and is blocking the temperature blend door from moving correctly. Unplug and let it set for a few hours, with doors open, taking care to plan for possible water on the floor

 

[wander2039]

Try the drain as everyone mentioned. It kept happening on ours and despite several other parts never could fix it. It's our second fridge now.

 

[ram_man]

I'm not sure what blend door everyone is referring to. It has a fan in the freezer with a plastic shroud that directs cold air into the fridge. There isn't a blend door on it.

 

[ZeeOSix]

Originally Posted by ram_man
I'm not sure what blend door everyone is referring to. It has a fan in the freezer with a plastic shroud that directs cold air into the fridge. There isn't a blend door on it.


Most refrigerators have some kind of flapper/door between the freezer and fridge section. The thermostat in the fridge section controls the flapper/door to regulate the temperature setpoint.

Does yours just turn that fan you speak of on/off between the freezer and fridge section to control the fridge temperature?

 

[ram_man]

Yes I believe it does. There isn't a valve or anything. It'll run at 38degrees and then randomly it'll go down to 20 degrees in there. Been watching it close all night. So that would be the thermistor in the refrigerator probably gone wonky?

 

[MONKEYMAN]

I had an apartment fridge with top freezer compressor not shutting down and getting freezing temps in fridge after power outage for 5 days. All the water in the freezer froze after the power came back on. Blocked the drainage hose. Had to defrost and remove excessive ice under plastic in freezer blocking the drain. Problem solved.

 

[MasterSolenoid]

To add a little confusion,
I've read that in the Artic (North Pole), they put food in a Fridge to keep it warm

 

[pcoxe]

The defrost switch may be bad. On my old GE refrigerator, it was a clock driven timer. The clock motor stopped turning and the defrost cycles stopped causing the evaporator to freeze up. Also there is a fan motor that circulates air over the evaporator coils that can stop working too and cause problems. Could also be the thermostat.

 

[WyrTwister]

Originally Posted by atikovi
Why not set the temperature a bit higher?


My thought , too .

 

[ram_man]

The temperature is already sat higher (warmer) than the normal setting. It shouldn't be at 20 degrees Fahrenheit

 

[ZeeOSix]

Originally Posted by ram_man
The temperature is already sat higher (warmer) than the normal setting. It shouldn't be at 20 degrees Fahrenheit


If the thermostat simply controls the fan that blows freezer air into the refrigerated section as you think, then does moving the thermostat setting kick the fan on and off to show it's controlling the fan correctly?

 

[edwardh1]

blend door moves only when you change the temp setting, not automativally on my whirlpool 1994

 

[Rand]

best option is to defrost it with doors open for 24 hours. if lots of ice use a hair dryer or similar to get it started.