Frigidaire Freezer Not Freezing

When refrigerators experience temporary power outages, they may enter a safe mode. The safe mode protects the fridge's internal components from electrical overloading. You'll have to reset the power to your fridge.

• Unplug your refrigerator. If the plug is too hard to reach, switch the circuit breaker off.
• Wait 5 minutes before returning power to the fridge.
• Once power is back, open your freezer and push the light switch 3 times to initiate a cooling cycle.
• Monitor temperature over the next 24 hours.

The evaporator fan blows cold air around the freezer. Too much food or incorrectly placed food will block the vents and prevent proper temperature regulation. The refrigerator vents allow for airflow between the fridge and freezer compartments. The following tips may help your freezer maintain a safe temperature:

• Locate your evaporator fan and move frozen items further away.
• Unblock the vents. A rule of thumb for frost prevention is to stock enough food to fill the freezer while keeping an inch of space between the food and the walls.

View the knob or dial that sets the device temperature. Verify it is set to cold and hasn't been bumped or shifted positions. Your freezer should be set at zero degrees Fahrenheit (-18 degrees Celsius). Use a thermometer if you don't have a digital thermostat display.

A buildup of interior frost and ice can affect your unit's efficiency. If it's been a year or more since you last defrosted the freezer, perform a forced defrost or manual defrost.

• Unplug or power down your unit
• Unload freezer and carefully remove ice.
• Lay towels in the bottom of the machine, and then place bowls of hot water or a hairdryer/heat gun — carefully — in a position to melt the ice.
• Completely dry freezer before powering back on.

If you have an auto-defrost unit, accumulation of thick ice suggests some part of the defrost cycle has failed.

Door seals are gaskets for your fridge, and as they age and fall apart, cool air escapes through the cracks in door seals.

• Inspect your door seals, then clean or replace if necessary.

At the backside and bottom of your fridge is the condenser and its coils. Refrigerant passes through the coils which dissipate heat during the cooling cycle. As dust and debris pile onto the coils, the fridge becomes less efficient and must work hard to cool down.

• Pull your fridge out and inspect the coils.
  • Your fridge may have an anti-tip bracket and can only be removed by pulling straight out from the wall.
• Clean dust off condenser coils and fan with a stiff brush and vacuum.
• Work carefully during this task and avoid bending or damaging the tubes.

The condenser fan draws air over the compressor and through the condenser coils. If the fan motor isn't working normally, then the fridge won't cool properly.

• Check the fan blade for physical obstructions
• Rotate the fan by hand. If it doesn't spin freely, replace the motor.
• If it spins freely, test the motor for continuity. Replace the condenser fan motor if the continuity test fails.

The evaporator fan draws air over the cooling coils and circulates this air within the fridge and freezer compartments. The evaporator fan should be running as long as the compressor motor is running. If your fridge only has one evaporator fan motor, it's located in the freezer compartment. When the fan fails, it won't circulate the cold air to the refrigerator. In this event, the freezer may still get cold while the refrigerator stays warm.

• Check the fan blade for physical obstructions.
  • Note: The fan may not be running if it's iced or frozen. Defrost the freezer, and see if the fan spins freely.
• Rotate the fan by hand. If it doesn't spin freely, replace the motor.
• If it spins freely, test the motor for continuity. Replace the evaporator fan motor if the continuity test fails.
• An unusually noisy motor should be replaced as well.

Newer freezers may use brushless fans which are not easily taken apart or tested.

The temperature control system consists of a thermostat that acts as a sensor for the fridge. This sensor reports temperatures and if the temperature is too high, the fridge will begin a cooling cycle. If this thermostat reports incorrect values, then the refrigerator will be unable to cool to the appropriate level, if at all.

• Turn the thermostat from the lowest to the highest levels and listen for a click.
  • If you don’t hear a click, then it likely needs replacing.
• Locate and test the thermostat for continuity. A resistance value between 0‑1Ω is acceptable.
  • Values outside of this range suggest the part will need replacing.

The start relay is a small device mounted to the side of the compressor. It provides power to the run winding, along with the start winding, for a split second at startup to help get the compressor going. If the start relay is defective, the compressor may run intermittently or not at all, and the refrigerator will not get cold enough. The start relay should be replaced if defective.

• Test Start Relay. View this video and verify if your start relay is functioning.
• Replace the relay if it fails the testing. If it passes, move on to testing the compressor.

Sometimes if the refrigerator isn't cold enough, the compressor might be having difficulty starting up. The start capacitor serves as a battery to give the compressor a little boost during startup. If the start capacitor is burned out, the compressor might not be able to start and run as often as it should.

• Test the start capacitor first with a capacitance meter; they don't fail often. If it's faulty, replace it.

The compressor is the workhorse of your fridge. By pressurizing the refrigerant, the evaporator is able to create cold air. If the compressor is very noisy when you start it up, it may have been damaged in transit, or you could just have a faulty compressor.

• Test the compressor for continuity. Resistance values vary based on the compressor, so view this video. Values outside of the range or a short to ground will mean replacing the compressor, which is a costly repair. If your fridge is more than a few years old you're better off replacing the fridge instead of just the compressor.

Excessive vibration and aging connections in the pressurized refrigerant loop can cause an environmentally harmful release of refrigerant. There are a few ways you can check if this is the case.

Is the compressor continually running to keep the fridge cool? A low refrigerant pressure results in cooling problems such as the freezer being too warm. If the freezer's coils are not frosting over completely this also suggests a leak or a blockage in the cooling system.

• Inspect for oily residues on condenser coils and on or around the compressor. The refrigerant is mixed with oil which lubricates the compressor. Oil suggests that there's a refrigerant leak.

A blockage can be caused by tilting or transporting a fridge on its side. The lubricating oil at the bottom of the compressor can enter the refrigerant lines and cause the compressor to burn out. A blockage in the system can cause ice build-up on the other side of the restriction in the refrigerant flow path.

• An appliance technician can measure the low and high side pressures of the sealed refrigerant system. The pressures will indicate if the amount of refrigerant is correct and also if there are any restrictions in the sealed system.

In either case, replacing the compressor is an expensive fix, not DIY, and may be worth replacing the fridge entirely. Try every other fix first. Good luck.

Finally, if the refrigerator won’t get cold enough, the main control board might be defective. This is not common. Check the defrost system, cooling fans, and cooling controls first.

• If all other systems seem fine, replace the main control board.