close

October 29, 2021

Home

The Most Common Refrigerator Repairs

Introduction

Your refrigerator is a very important household appliance that makes your life convenient and allows you to preserve perishable items with ease. It also has numerous advanced and complicated components that can break down from time to time. To fix those issues, you can search for “refrigerator repair near me” and hire the best professionals. If you are an avid DIYer you can also attempt those repairs yourself. Let’s check out some common refrigerator problems and repairs:

The Repairs

  1. Refrigerator keeps cycling or running constantly – Your refrigerator is a power-hungry appliance. Apart from the HVAC, it consumes the most electricity in your home. That’s why refrigerators are designed to be highly efficient.

They have sensors that bring the temperature inside the refrigerator to a certain level and then shut down to save power. When the temperature climbs up a few degrees, it runs a cooling cycle once more. This process is repeated throughout its lifetime to make the most optimal use of electricity and keep your energy bill low.

So, if your refrigerator is constantly running it’s an indication of a problem. The most common cause for a constantly running refrigerator is inefficient cooling. This happens when the condenser coils are dirty with dust and other kitchen debris. The added dust and debris prevent the condenser from cooling the refrigerant quickly and makes your refrigerator use more power and run all the time.

A quick solution is to pull the refrigerator away from the wall or access the condenser coils from the front panel and clean it. Make sure that you unplug the refrigerator before cleaning the coils. If dirty coils aren’t the problem, you may have set the temperature too low. Change the setting to fix the problem.

  1. Leaky refrigerator – This is a common, yet major refrigerator problem. Your refrigerator may leak due to many reasons. A clogged or frozen supply line or a blocked drain. Either way, it’s very alarming since it can damage your refrigerator and if the water makes its way to sensitive electrical components, it may also start a fire.

Your defrost drain may be clogged by food particles or other debris. It’s usually hooked up to the freezer and you need to access it from the inside. A less invasive way of thawing and unclogging or defrost drain is to flush it with warm water if it’s frozen. Otherwise, you need to remove the drain and clean the debris manually with soapy water.

If the water supply line is clogged or frozen, unplug the refrigerator and turn the shut-off valve that controls water flow to the supply line. When you access the water supply line check for signs of damage or visible tears. If so, the water supply line needs to be replaced. If it’s frozen, you can thaw it with warm water. However, if the supply line is clogged due to mineral deposits or other types of debris, you need to call a repair technician.

  1. Ice Buildup – Your freezer is the perfect space for both making ice and storing it. However, it shouldn’t have any significant ice buildup. Your freezer compartment is usually filled with ice when you leave the freezer open for too long. That allows moist air to fill up the freezer compartment. Since the freezer maintains temperatures below water’s freezing point, the moisture gets cooled into liquid water and freezes up on the walls and the freezer door.

To get rid of the ice buildup, you can plug out your refrigerator for a few hours and let the ice melt and flow into the defrost drain. This ice buildup problem also occurs when you have a faulty seal on the freezer door. When the door isn’t sealed properly, moisture gets in. Check the seal of the freezer door for signs of damage and replace it if necessary.

  1. Faulty water dispenser – Most modern refrigerators come with built-in water dispensers. That allows you easy access to cool and freshwater with the press of a button. No need to fill bottles and store them in the refrigerator. However, water dispensers are also easy to fail.

If the water tub in the dispenser gets frozen, it blocks water flow. The fix is simple. Remove the tub, flush the ice and connect it back. Another reason for water dispenser failure is a defective water inlet valve. It controls the flow of water to the dispenser. If it gets broken or damaged, you’ll have a limited or no fresh supply of water to the dispenser. In this case, you have to disconnect the inlet valve and replace it with a new one.

  1. Noisy refrigerator – Refrigerators make that buzzing noise when they run. However, the noise should be within acceptable levels. If your refrigerator is loud enough to be heard from other rooms, you may have a problem.

The usual suspect for this problem is a faulty fan. Refrigerators have both an evaporator fan and a condenser fan. The condenser fan cools the condenser coil while the evaporator fan pulls away from the air from the evaporator coils. They have motors that work in sync and issues with either of them can make your refrigerator very loud.

Check the fans for dirt and dust and clean them to reduce stress on the motors. If the motors are damaged or broken, you need to replace them.

  1. Refrigerators use more energy – If there has been a sudden spike in the energy bill, it may be due to your refrigerator. People usually face this problem with old refrigerators. A service technician might be able to alleviate the problems temporarily. However, it’s best to replace the old refrigerator with a new and energy-efficient one. Otherwise, you’ll lose more money on power and repairs than you save by delaying a new purchase.

Conclusion

The above-mentioned refrigerator repairs are some of the most common. If you’re comfortable with tools and can access the different components of your refrigerator, you can save a few bucks by repairing it yourself. Otherwise, you can hire professionals by searching for “refrigerator repair near me”.

read more