Freezer was left ajar & now Refrigerator does not work properly

You probably have one compressor that cools the freezer section and the refrigerator section. Usually the freezer gets cooled directly with the cooling coils. A fan blows cool air to the refrigerator section. The air flow to the refrigerator may be modulated with some time of "air door". What you have written says to me, is that the fans and air doors are working but there is enough cold for the refrigerator but not enough for the freezer.

Here is what I would do:

1. Put a thermometer in the refrigerator and in the freezer.
2. Be sure the coils underneath or behind the refrigerator are clean. If they are very dirty, clean them.
3. Keep the doors shut for at least 12 hours and then read the thermometers and write down the temperatures.
4. Freezer temperature
   1. If the freezer has started freezing again, you fixed it by cleaning the coils
   2. .If the freezer temperature is between 0 deg F and 32 deg F, consider putting the food in a cooler and packing in some dry ice to try and save it.
   3. If the freezer is warmer than 32 deg f, throw away the food.
   4. Doctors and hospitals are pretty expensive. I would throw away the food no matter what the thermometer read.
5. Look inside the freezer at the cooling coils. See if they are ice coated or not.
   1. If the freezer is above 0 deg F, and the coils are ice covered, the defrost control is not working. Unplug the refrigerator for 12 hours and let the ice melt. (Keep the doors shut.) Then, plug in the refrigerator for 12 hours and check the temperature like in step 3.
   2. If the freezer is above 0 deg F, and the coils are NOT ice covered, the compressor is not working.
      
6. Call the service technician. When she comes out show her the temperatures and tell her what you found out about the ice on the coils.

Good luck

This happened to me also, I had to let refrigerator defrost all the way by unplugging it. The lines that carry the freon had frozen so they were not circulating properly. I had to buy ice and use coolers for food, then wait till next day before plugging unit back in.

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Unplug and let it cool for a couple of hours.Then restart it

HI LINDA.DEFROST ALL FIRST 24/48 HOURS AND TRY.GOOD LUCK.ALI

You mean "How to Fix a Kenmore Refrigerator That Is Not Cold But the Freezer Is Good?"

Well this what i say,
Kenmore combination refrigerator and freezers combine the short- and long-term food storage options in a single unit. There are some occasions when the refrigerator compartment might appear to be malfunctioning while the freezer box stays cool. Ruling out these occasions ensures you have done everything you can to correct the problem before calling for a technician if necessary.

1.Verify that the temperature controls for the refrigerator compartment are properly configured. Tap the "^" or "v" buttons beside the refrigerator's LCD temperature display until "38," the ideal temperature, appears. The compartment could have been set too warm. Allow 24 hours for the the appliance to reach 38 degrees Fahrenheit.

2 Check that the refrigerator compartment door closes completely, objects inside the appliance could be holding the door ajar. When cool air is allowed to escape, the internal temperature rises. Cracked, holed or corroded door seals may also raise the refrigerator temperature.

3 Change how you use the refrigerator compartment; storing hot or warm food strains the appliance and causes a rise in internal temperatures. Do not prop open the door or leave it ajar for more than a few seconds at a time for the reasons outlined in Step 2.

4 Contact Kenmore if the refrigerator compartment remains too warm for your food. There may be a problem with the motor or any one of the other parts that regulate the temperature

If this was helpfu.l please let me know.
Thanks for using FixYa

Hello,

The only way to fix this problem is to remove the food and defrost the entire thing. If you need more help let me know,

http://www.appliancerepairlesson.com/

The doors have tabs that push on the switches that turn the light off when the doors are closed. These doors have not been installed properly. I fixed the problem by shimming the bottom door up using washer at the lower hinge rod. Or yo can tape a bit of plastic to the tab on your door so that it makes good contact with the light swutch.

There is a good chance that your refrigerator has frozen up from the door being left open.

The best and easiest thing to do is to unplug the refrigerator and prop the doors open for 24 hours to melt any ice build-up that may have occurred and then restart the refrigerator.

If the refrigerator still fails to pull down to proper temp, then you will need to dig deeper to find the problem.

Give it a full, old fashioned defrost. By leaving the door ajar, a lot of moisture got in and it sounds like you just have ice built up in the fan area.

the coil is frosted over and no air is being pushed to the fridge it may clear up after a few defrost cycles or remove the food from the freezer and allow it to thaw completely (12hrs) the ice behind the back wall takes a long time to thoroughly melt or you will have soild ice instead of frost and then it will never thaw soild ice.