LG LFX29927ST/03 Freezer temperature fluctuates 20 degrees F

[Fritz_M]

Model Number

LFX29927ST/03

Brand

LG

Age

6-10 years

Our kitchen freezer's (8 year old LG french door, bottom freezer, water/ice in the door) temperature has been fluctuating between -4 and 17 degrees Fahrenheit lately. See attached graph. Refrigerator temperatures stays in the safe zone. Is this normal or a sign of a failing component?

In mid October, we woke up to find water on the kitchen floor in front of the refrigerator and much of the frozen food starting to thaw. We thought maybe the freezer drawer had been left slightly open overnight. The refrigerator temperature was slightly above 40F. We removed the partially frozen food offsite and recycled the power. After 24 hours, the freezer and refrigerator temperatures were back in the normal ranges.

We called LG and scheduled a technician for a diagnostic visit to determine what may have happened. Several days later, the technician arrived and found nothing wrong. He suspected either the freezer door was left slightly open OR the freezer may have gotten "stuck in the defrost cycle" due to a unnoticeable power dip.

We added a temperature sensor to our home automation system to better track the freezer temperatures. The attached graph comes from the data saved by the home automation system.

 

[Jake]

We called LG and scheduled a technician for a diagnostic visit to determine what may have happened. Several days later, the technician arrived and found nothing wrong. He suspected either the freezer door was left slightly open OR the freezer may have gotten "stuck in the defrost cycle" due to a unnoticeable power dip.

That's quite possible, is it doing this on a regular basis now, or was this a one time event?

 

[Fritz_M]

Over the last few days, the temperature fluctuation has not been quite as large. Attached is a chart of the last 4.5 days. The start of this chart shows the end of the wide temperature fluctuation in the previous chart attached to the initial post.

Jake, how much of a temperature swing should occur normally during the default defrost cycle (LG tech said every 4 hours)?

 

[Jake]

Normal would be 0 to 10 degrees F for the freezer.

Its not uncommon for it to get up to 20 degrees F on rare instances, LIKE loading it full of food after a grocery store run, etc.

 

[Fritz_M]

Our kitchen LG refrigerator's bottom freezer temperature continues to rise about 15 deg F then drop again on a daily basis as can be seen in the attached recent 7-day chart. It is NOT heavily loaded with contents as we purchased a new chest freezer that now holds the bulk of our frozen foods. (FYI: The chest freezer temperature only fluctuates about 1 deg F.) Most new frozen purchases go directly into the new chest freezer. We open the kitchen freezer briefly to get an item only several times per day. Two adults, no children or pets in our household. The temperature in the upper refrigerator portion of the same kitchen LG appliance seems to be much more consistent around 36 deg F.

Are there separate cooling systems for refrigerator and freezer? Can one fail and the other continue to operate?

 

[Jake]

Are there separate cooling systems for refrigerator and freezer? Can one fail and the other continue to operate?

On your model, you have only 1 evaporator coil that cools both the freezer and refrigerator sections.

When it spikes up like that are the fans and compressor still running? Or is the refrigerator dead silent?

 

[Fritz_M]

I have not been been aware of a temperature spike to check whether the compressor and fan are running. It's been staying below 0 whenever I have checked. I'll keep trying to catch it during a spike.

 

[Jake]

I'll keep trying to catch it during a spike.

Yes, that would be good to do.