Q&A for How to Diagnose Refrigerator Problems

No, probably not. If your fridge is newer and there isn't ice building up, it's likely that you've got a fridge with automatic defrosting. Many of the newer fridges on the market today will sense when there's ice building up and melt it automatically.

Just unplug it and wait. It'll melt on its own over a day or two. You can use hot water to speed up the process, but you're really just better off letting it melt naturally.

If it costs more to repair the refrigerator than it would be to just buy a new one, there's really no point to fixing the fridge. You may also want to just get a new fridge if your current one is super old or cheap.

Too much stuff jammed in there. Remove some food and make more paths for air to circulate better around your food, and check the vent between freezer and fridge for food or foreign objects clogging. Also check the ensure that the damper is not stuck open (on models so equipped).

It may have been turned off accidentally by a bump to a switch in the controls area, or the metal wire switch above the ice tray is in the up position, which turns it off. Make sure the wire switch above the ice tray extending from the ice maker is positioned pointing down or flush to the side of the ice maker.

The thermostat is usually located on the inside of the freezer and/or fridge.

If your refrigerator has separate compressors for the freezer and refrigerator, at least one of the compressors could be the issue. It could also be the power supply not giving enough power.

Set the thermostat to cool. If that doesn't work, replace the freon on the fridge itself. Ask a repair person for the freon replacement -- it's not for amateurs.

This could happen if you constantly open your refrigerator for long periods of time. Try turning down the temperature inside the fridge slightly, and not opening it as often.

If the upper part is the actual fridge, then the cooling system may not be active. If the upper part is the freezer, then the actual part that cools and powers the freezer may not be active. Either way, you may need it checked out.

Something may be off or you just need to clean it out by taking everything out and let the freezer melt and wipe it all with a clean cloth.

Diagnose what is wrong with your fridge -- first check your power supply/ circuit breaker (make sure power is getting to the fridge). If power is getting to the fridge, then the next step is to make sure that the power supply on your fridge is functional, as well as checking for blown fuses (if you have no expertise in electrical engineering/circuits, you should not mess around with this). If this is the case, call an electrician or your energy provider/fridge manufacturer.

This may be a sign of an insect infestation or a collection of uncleaned gunk. Get a professional to check it out.

The condenser fan my not be working, or you may have blocked vents or dirty coils. Try unplugging it for awhile, then plug it back in and see if it runs. If it does, try to clean everything of any dust, gunk, etc.

The freezer may have water leaking from something and may be running down the inside of the refrigerator. Check for anything that spilled in the freezer and check the connections on the back of the fridge where the water input is (if you have an fridge with a water dispenser).

You probably just need to replace the light bulb.

Because electricity is used to keep the freezer and the refrigerator cold.

This means the resistance wire heater in the door seal has quit working. If your fridge has electronic controls, use the directions taped to the back to troubleshoot the heater circuit and make sure it is not disabled in the settings in the software.

It’s perfectly normal. The sensing wire in the seals becomes hot as a normal part of sensing whether the doors have been closed properly.

Open the freezer and remove the ice bin above where the ice is normally ejected in the door. Check that the ice has not jammed the corkscrew drive that rotates to push the ice out. Try thawing the entire assembly to be sure ice has not frozen it in place then recheck to see if the corkscrew drive can spin somewhat (the motor will keep it from turning, but if it moves even a bit, it's probably fixed). Reassemble back into the door and retest.

It leaks down on the first shelf in the back. Replace the evaporator fan.

It may have been doing a normal function such as defrosting itself automatically. Don’t worry until you have a failure or a noise that gets increasingly more annoying or loud.

Call a certified AC appliance technician out to handle the problem. They know how to find leaks and correctly refill the toxic refrigerant gas so the environment and your health are not damaged.

It could be turned up too high, or you have too much food jammed into the freezer so it has difficulty doing automatic defrost.

Water tray in the bottom is full or the drain hole is clogged. Check and clean. Also, check for leaking of water around the filter and water lines running from the fridge to the wall and into the door and water dispenser areas.

Probably means you water filter is too old/expired/clogged. Replace the water filter. You'll find better prices on Amazon or eBay than going to whoever sold the appliance.

Check your breaker box to make sure you have power being supplied to all outlets in your home. Reset and turn back on any breakers that are not in the fully on position. If the breakers trip again or refuse to turn on, then disconnect all things plugged into that circuit (if you don’t know where the circuit goes, just take a lamp with you turned on and plug it into every outlet to see if it has power; unplug anything else in the outlet) and recheck the breaker after each unplugged item until you find which appliance is tripping the breaker, then have that appliance repaired. If you can't find the source of breaker tripping, you may have a wiring problem inside the wall or bad breaker.

The compressor is loose inside. Don’t worry about it until it fails, or you can call a technician to fix it.

This usually happens because of power disturbances. Make sure if it is equipped with a battery backup, that your battery (sometimes in the bottom below the door or behind a plate) is still good.

You could have dead insects or a dead rat underneath the fridge trapped in the area around the coils. Remove covers and inspect hidden areas under front and back of fridge for dead things.