I have a 8-year old Kenmore side-by-side that is having problems this morning. The water dispenser is not working and the fridge/freezer do not seem to be cooling, or at least not cooling well. Items are thawed in the freezer. There is no frost/ice buildup anywhere. The fan and lights are working. I've tried unplugging for 1/2 hour then back in, no luck. Where do I go from here? Any ideas what could be wrong? Thank you in advance. I'm a novice and will probably have to call a repairman, but hope to troubleshoot first.

Can you tell, if the Refrigerator Compressor is running...???

I just now (literally!) was able to get the fridge to start cooling again by vacuuming the vents. But, the water dispenser is still not working. Perhaps the blocked vents caused an overload or something (please excuse my lack of knowledge). Any thoughts on the water dispenser? Thank you!

Well, I think you have partially undercovered the problem. Sounds like you have a dirty Condenser Coil. MY SUGGESTION IS.....to pull the unit away from the wall. Unplug the refrig. Go to the back of the refrig and remove the lower panel. As best as you can, clean with a vacuum cleaner any and all dust/dirt from the coil located under the refrig. You can also use a brush, and if you are daring and don't care for the mess, the best way to clean this coil is to "blow out the coil". Once that coil is clean, replace the panel you removed, clean up your mess, plug the refrig back in, and then put the refrig back, allowing a minimum of 2" of air space in the back for "air circulation". Try that and get back to us.

Now, this should get your refrig to cool properly but will have NOTHING to do with your water dispensing feature. This WILL however, effect your ice maker and that should work once the temperature gets back down to normal.

Thanks for your replys! A few hours after I vacuumed the vents, the water dispenser started working again. So, my fridge is now working perfectly. I plan on doing a more thorough cleaning per your suggestion. Luckily the repairman I had scheduled cancelled at the last minute. FYI, I found an incredibly thick layer of dust over the vents. There was even a paper airplane hidden in the dust. Amazing. I know this may not be a permanent fix, but I'll update this post if I have problems again.

The fridge is dead! It stopped working again. Repairman said it needs a new compressor. I'm off to buy a new fridge!

Whats the complete model#?, its possible you may need just the start relay device.

Jake

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