Refrigerator getting warm

semipro said:

One of the most common causes of a fridge not cooling is a defrost relay sticking closed. Of course, this only applies to auto defrost units.
The defrost relay engages heating elements in the fridge that melt off frost. If it sticks on the heat it produces can't be removed fast enough by the refrigeration system and temps climb.

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+1. I'm having a similar problem and many people explain me the same way.

Mine has done this to me several times over the years: The compressor relay sticks "on", so the compressor runs continuously, defeating the defrost cycle. The evaporator ices up so that no air can pass through, so the fridge warms up, and the bottom freezer gets too cold. When this first happened to me, the fridge got to 51º, and the freezer was so cold that the ice cream was solid as a brick. As I was troubleshooting, I noticed that the evaporator was a solid chunk of ice. Long story short, I found that the compressor was never shutting off. It has done this a few times over the years. My warning is that the ice cream is too hard. I just smack the area where the control board is with the back of my hand, and the compressor stops running. After a defrost cycle (which I can manually initiate), everything is back to normal for a few months.

The first time this happened, I replaced the control board, thinking that the defrost cycle wasn't working. Turns out that it was, but couldn't overcome the chilling of the always-on compressor.

The fridge is about 11 years old, and still runs great otherwise. Since two control boards have done the same thing, I assume it's a design defect.

nothing like a old refer. no digital just a time clock it works or it doesn't

A lot of modern fridges use a glass bulb defroster. They burn out fairly easy. To defrost the coils you almost. Have to take off the freezer cover and use a hair dryer. Otherwise it takes quite a while. You can google the methods for testing the defrost thermostat and heater. If it's a glass bulb it will look burnt like an old fluorescent bulb. Luckily they are cheap.