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Freezer keeps icing up, making the fridge not cold.
Skeith
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Okay, so I moved into this place with a few friends a few months ago, and the landlords said the fridge was still pretty new, meaning less than a year old. The way the thing is constructed is, the cold air moves through a vent at the back of the freezer and down into the fridge. The problem is, this vent is on the floor of the freezer, and somehow ice keeps getting into the damn thing. This is the second time it's done this in about a month; after the first, my roommates and I started keeping less stuff in there and keeping it well away from the back wall. I just put down a wire rack so now stuff isn't even on the floor of the thing.
I realize this is the landlord's problem, but is there any way to manage this after defrosting the fridge and freezer again, short of asking them to get a new refrigerator? Can I poke at it with a paperclip to get air moving again? Part of me thinks I should run hot water through the vents, the other part thinks the first part is stupid and that that would just add to the ice.
I realize this is the landlord's problem, but is there any way to manage this after defrosting the fridge and freezer again, short of asking them to get a new refrigerator? Can I poke at it with a paperclip to get air moving again? Part of me thinks I should run hot water through the vents, the other part thinks the first part is stupid and that that would just add to the ice.
Skeith on
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Most normal refrigerators (I don't know about the really fancy ones or that don't have the freezer on top) have an arrangement like you have. The freezer is the part that actually gets cold and some cold air is directed into the refrigerator compartment. The amount of air that is redirected is controlled by a damper which you adjust with those temperature knobs.
Most freezers also go through a defrost cycle so that the coils don't completely freeze over. There is then a small hole in the back of the freezer that the water drains down into a pan under the fridge where it evaporates into the room. I would guess that this small hole is frozen over so that the defrosted ice cannot drain properly. In my instance this caused water to drip down into the refrigerator compartment every time the defrost cycle ran.
Once you actually FIND this hole it is an easy fix. Run small amounts of hot water down the hole until it comes out the bottom. The problem is that in my case I had to take everything out the freezer compartment (including the bottom and back panel of interior). Once I disassembled everything the entire bottom of the freezer (UNDER what you normally think of as the bottom) was a sheet of ice roughly 1/2" thick. You can damage some of the components back there if you are not careful. Since you are renting I would suggest you talk to the landlord about having someone come out to service it. If it is new like they say they probably have a warranty. If they won't come out and you feel up to it you should be able to fix it yourself.