A refrigerator that runs but won’t cool is the most common emergency call we get, and it’s a stressful one, because there’s food on the line. The good news is that most of these calls turn out to be an airflow problem or dirty coils, not a dead compressor. A few of the causes you can check yourself in a few minutes before anyone comes out.
Check these first
The temperature setting. Controls get bumped more often than you’d think, especially when someone’s moving things around on the top shelf. The FDA says to keep the refrigerator at or below 40°F and the freezer at 0°F. Around 37°F in the fridge is a good target. If you change it, give it a full day to settle before you judge it.
The power. If the light is off and nothing is running, check the breaker and the outlet. After a storm this is the first thing to look at. If we come out and it turns out to be the breaker or the outlet, you don’t pay labor.
The vents inside. Cold air moves between the freezer and the fridge through small vents. A box or a bag pushed up against one can leave half the refrigerator warm. Clear some space around them.
The door seal. Close the door on a sheet of paper. If it slides out with no resistance, the seal isn’t holding and warm air is getting in. With the humidity here, we find a lot of mold on door gaskets, and mold stops a gasket from sealing properly. Clean it with warm soapy water. If it’s torn or still won’t seal, it needs replacing.
The condenser coils. These release the heat the refrigerator pulls out of the inside. When they’re caked with dust and pet hair, the refrigerator can run all day and still not cool. Unplug it first, then find the coils underneath behind the front grille or on the back, and vacuum them.
If the refrigerator still isn’t cooling after all of that, the problem is almost always a part.
What it usually is
The condenser fan. On most modern refrigerators a small fan near the compressor keeps the coils and compressor cool. If it stops, the compressor overheats and cooling drops off. If you can safely see the back bottom of the unit and the fan isn’t spinning while the compressor runs, that’s a strong clue.
The evaporator fan. This fan sits inside the freezer and pushes cold air into the fridge. When it fails, the freezer often stays cold while the refrigerator warms up. Sometimes it gets noisy before it quits.
The defrost system. Frost free refrigerators melt off frost on a timer. When a defrost part fails, frost builds up on the back wall of the freezer until it blocks the airflow completely. If you see a thick layer of frost back there, this is likely the reason.
The start relay. If you hear the compressor click on, then click off a few seconds later, over and over, the part that helps it start may have failed.
A refrigerant leak. Low refrigerant always means there’s a leak somewhere in the sealed system. This is the one people most often want a quick fix for, and it’s the one where a quick fix doesn’t work. A recharge by itself just leaks back out, and a freon charge on its own isn’t covered by our warranty. The real repair is fixing whatever is leaking, whether that’s the compressor, the evaporator or another part of the sealed system. It’s not a do it yourself job either. Federal rules require EPA Section 608 certification to handle refrigerant, and our technicians are certified. That’s a bigger job, so it’s worth running the repair or replace math before you commit.
Freezer cold, fridge warm
This combination is common enough to call out on its own. On most refrigerators with a freezer, all the cold air starts in the freezer. If the freezer is cold and the fridge isn’t, the cold air isn’t making it across. That usually points to the evaporator fan, a defrost problem, or something blocking the vents. It usually does not point to the compressor or the refrigerant.
Keeping your food safe in the meantime
Keep the doors closed as much as you can. According to the CDC, food in a refrigerator stays safe for about 4 hours if the door stays shut. A full freezer holds its temperature for about 48 hours, and a half full one for about 24 hours. Anything in the refrigerator that’s been above 40°F for 2 hours or more should be thrown out.
A cooler with ice buys you time for the things that matter most, like medicine, milk and meat.
Houston makes it harder
Long hot summers mean refrigerators work harder here for more of the year, which puts extra strain on the fans and the compressor. Dirty coils make that worse. Refrigerators kept in a garage have it hardest. We see garage refrigerators fail more often in the summer, because they’re running in heat they weren’t built for.
The humidity is hard on door gaskets. And storms mean power problems, which is why checking the breaker comes first. We also see refrigerators that seemed fine when the power came back fail a few days later, usually the start relay or the control board. If yours starts acting up in the days after a storm, mention it when you call.
Getting it fixed
If the checks above didn’t solve it, a technician needs to look at it. Most repairs are finished in a single visit. We run a full diagnostic, and if you go ahead with the repair, the service call fee is waived. You can see our current prices on the pricing page. When we replace or repair a part and complete the repair, parts are covered for 90 days and labor for 30 days.
If it’s the ice maker that quit and the cooling is fine, that’s one of the repairs we do most often, and it’s usually a simpler fix. Houston’s hard water is behind a lot of the ice maker and water dispenser failures we see.
Call (713) 333-0343 and tell us what the refrigerator is doing.
