106.51189.110 Kenmore Elite Side By Side Not Fully Cooling and Frost in Frig Area

[Snap]

Model Number

106.51189.110

Brand

Sears Kenmore

Age

6-10 years

In the past couple weeks both the refrigerator and freezer areas are warmer than normal. (Ice cream is soft for the past two weeks)
Electronic control is set to 35 degrees and the freezer is about 15 degrees and the frig about 40. There is noticeable frost on the face of the rear wall of the frig behind the lower area storage bins but none in the freezer. This is on the exposed rear face without removing any covers.

About 6 months ago we had water buildup in the bottom of the frig and I found the defroster pipe gunked up. I cleaned it out and the flooding was resolved. Now when I check the pipe is it clean but does not appear to be damp and the pan has small little signs of wetness other than some residual muck. The other snakey shaped drain pipe under the freezer is dry.

The wire fins (don't know proper terminology) under the front of the refrigerator accessed from the front kickplate, as well as the ones from the rear, were very dusty so I just cleaned them as best that I could. I'm not sure that would be a cause of frost though.

Any guidance would be appreciated.

 

[Snap]

Found that there is ice on the finned tubing that runs across the bottom of the interior cover in the back of the refrigerator.
Got the rear wall cover off and thawed the lower finned tube out but not sure if there are more of the same behind the styrofoam.

 

[Snap]

So what would be advised going forward besides cleaning underneath and defrosting the refrigerator section?

 

[Jake]

Lets focus on the freezer first--->The freezer should be at 0 to 5 degrees at ALL times!

You need to buy a freezer thermometer and leave it in the freezer, put the back panel back in place and let it run overnight then see what the freezer reads.

If its not getting close to 0 degrees, then remove the back panel inside the freezer and take a photo of your freezer evaporator coil, we need to see the frost pattern.

Jake

 

[Snap]

Thanks will do.
I had to thaw out the refrigerator back panel and have it back on and running.
Will check back tomorrow after the ordered frig thermometer comes.

 

[Jake]

Ok, sounds good.

Jake

 

[Snap]

So after the frost and ice was cleared from the refrigerator side on the backs of the lower storage bins and on the refrigerator evaporator (which was a solid block of ice) the temperatures in both the freezer and refrigerator bounced around generally up to 10 degrees low and gradually coming back up close to the settings of 37/0 degrees respectively. For the last half day the temperatures have been a degree or so above or below the settings (with food in there).

I'll note that the freezer evaporator didn't look frozen when looking through the vents. I didn't go any farther in there trying to maintain the frozen food.

To answer your question, the freezer is currently at about 0 degrees which is what it is set to. Before deicing it was about 15 to 18 degrees. During the recovery it hit a low of -10 degrees but as I mentioned it has appeared to stabilize near 0.

Any idea why it froze up and should I be looking deeper or just wait it out?

 

[Jake]

No, I don't know why it froze up, but keep monitoring it and make sure the evaporator covers are in place and make sure the evaporator fans are running

Jake

 

[Snap]

I noticed yesterday that whenever the frig door was opened (briefly) all the shelves got condensation on them. It wasn't until a while later that the fan came on and it cleared up. Is there a sensor that monitors that?

 

[Jake]

No, there is not.

Jake