A Slow and Winding Path to a Cold Place

April 6, 2018 11:52 PM

Last Friday a pan placed in the refrigerator the wrong way kept the door from closing properly. By the time we caught the error Saturday am, the frig was at 53*. Over the course of the week, with the setting on maximum cold, it has oh-so-gradually moved down to 41*. Question: We have a repair man scheduled for Monday. Is there actually a problem for him to fix? Should I cancel? (Note this is a fancy refrigerator-only GE Monogram unit)
posted by metahawk to Home & Garden (8 answers total)

It's odd that your fridge isn't sitting below 40f after a week of normal use. I'm guessing that leaving the door open might have exposed a problem with the chiller efficiency. I'd keep the appointment and explain you're concerned that it doesn't seem to be able to get to a safe temperature properly.
posted by howfar at 3:58 AM on April 7, 2018 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I'm guessing that the extended exposure to outside air caused enough condensation on the evaporator plate to block the internal cold air channels with frost, to a greater extent than the inbuilt defroster can overcome within the time it's allowed to run for.

This is a self-sustaining condition once started because it severely limits the rate at which heat can transfer from the refrigerator compartment back to the evaporator for removal, meaning that the thermostat sees a fridge that's continually too warm, making it run the compressor continuously, chewing through heroic quantities of electricity to make the evaporator plate really really cold and build up even more frost.

If that were my fridge, I'd try using up all the contents or finding another fridge to park them in, then taking it outside to drain onto the grass in the back yard with the door open until all the frost had melted and run out.
posted by flabdablet at 4:43 AM on April 7, 2018 [6 favorites]

Yeah, it shouldn't take a week to drop 12°F, more like an hour if that. Flabdablet's diagnosis may very well be correct. If so, a full defrost will solve your problem. It's an easy enough thing to try if you want to avoid the service fee.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 6:11 AM on April 7, 2018

Seconding what flabdablet said. We accidentally left a fridge door ajar & it caused the cooling vent from the freezer to get blocked with ice, which prevented cold air from getting into the fridge. The solution was to unplug the fridge for 24 hours & allow everything to melt.
posted by belladonna at 6:56 AM on April 7, 2018

Response by poster: A full defrost is happening as I type! I'll let you know how it goes.
posted by metahawk at 2:55 PM on April 7, 2018

(How did it go?)
posted by ClarissaWAM at 12:14 PM on April 9, 2018

(really hoping metahawk has not spent the past four days locked inside a fridge in the back yard)
posted by flabdablet at 8:32 PM on April 11, 2018 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: So, turned out that there was a leak in the line and the coolant level was very low. Repair man refilled the coolant and ordered some parts. Refrigerator is cold for now (it is a very slow leak) and should be fixed for good next week.
posted by metahawk at 3:05 PM on April 18, 2018 [2 favorites]