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Posted on Mar 16, 2008
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Westinghouse RJ532, 530 Litre, Frost Free Fridge/Freezer keeps stopping - if we move the little red dial in the fridge under the air temperature control it starts up again, goes for awhile and then stops. Any ideas why this is happening? We have just moved house and it has started doing this after the move.

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Hjalmer Lamminen

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  • Posted on Mar 16, 2008
Hjalmer Lamminen
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If the refrigerator was tipped on back or side, even part way, it has to wit upright at least overnight, because of the freon flowing upward.
If you just moved in and it has been sitting and unplugged, then it may be low on freon.

Here are some tips


If you open the fresh food compartment of your fridge (the non-freezer compartment), you will most likely see two different controls. One refers to the refrigerator temperature and the other refers to the freezer. Different manufacturers use different wording, but the idea is the same.
The first thing you need to know in order to understand what these controls really do is that all the cold air in the entire refrigerator is made in the freezer compartment. A portion of that cold air is then blown into the fresh food compartment. How much cold air gets blown in is controlled by the "freezer" control, which is really just an air baffle that opens or closed to let more or less air into the fresh food compartment. The "refrigerator" control is actually a thermostat that feels the temperature inside the fresh food compartment and turns the compressor on and off according to the temperature that the thermostat feels.
Let’s run through an example. Suppose you decide that your ice cream isn’t hard enough. You adjust the "freezer" control to make your freezer colder. What you’re actually doing is restricting the amount of cold air that gets blown from the freezer into the fresh food compartment and so keeping more of the cold air in the freezer. As a result, the freezer will get colder but also the fresh food compartment will tend to get warmer because its cold air supply has been diminished. The "refrigerator" control (the thermostat) will feel this increase in temperature inside the fresh food compartment and will keep the compressor running longer in order to maintain the temperature setting on the "refrigerator" control. So, you can see that any change you make to one control will affect the other.
Many people then wonder, "Well, how do I know what the correct setting on the controls should be?" Since the temperature inside a refrigerator will vary according to lots of external factors such as frequency and duration of door openings, it is impossible to say where your controls should be set all the time in order to maintain a desired temperature in the freezer and fresh food compartments without knowing the actual temperature inside both compartments. For this reason, you should place two thermometers in your refrigerator: one in the fresh food compartment (the big one) and the other in your freezer. The controls should then be adjusted to achieve -10 to +10ºF in the freezer and between 36 and 38ºF in the fresh food compartment.
Keep in mind, too, that it takes 24 hours for any change in the controls to work through the system and reach steady state so don’t look for instantaneous changes in temperature when you make control setting changes. Knowing the actual temperature inside your refrigerator compartments is also a great way to save money on your power bill since you can adjust the controls to avoid running your compressor longer than needed to keep your food cold.

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  • Posted on Mar 16, 2008
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Sounds like the mechanism for the thermostat was compromised during the move

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Fridge temperature too warm

As you know this is very large fridge and try to find service manual for help and solve problem with using deduction method of step by step trouble shooting and eliminate possibilities
This might be compressor problem or evaporator problem or main controller problem or sensors or etc.



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Freezer cools well, refirgator is warm, the vent that brings air from frezer to refrigator has no air movement, ice inside , i broke some ice with knife shoul di spray hot water to get rid rest , I did...

This answer will be somewhat long, but in order to understand the "fix" for your problem you need to understand how a refrigerator-freezer works.

Most units have ONE COMPRESSOR which usually cools the FREEZER. Then, to cool the fridge area, there is a DUCT or ducts between the freezer and the fridge area to move some small amount of very cold freezer air into the fridge section. In the old days this occurred by convection, but most newer units have a small fan in the duct to more dependably move the air.

The run time of the compressor, and thus the temperature of the freezer is usually controlled by a THERMOSTAT [usually with numbers on the dial]. A second control [usually with the letters A, B, C, and sometimes even D] operates either a DAMPER in the duct, or controls the duration of fan operation in order to control the temperature in the fridge section.

Under certain conditions of higher humidity, FROST [fine ice crystals] can build up in the duct, and on the fan if there is one, reducing or totally blocking the cold air flow from the freezer to the fridge section.

From your description of the freezer working well, but the fridge section being "warm" suggests that blockage of the duct is what has happened. However, there are a couple of other possibilities:

1. You inadvertantly moved the fridge control to a warmer setting,
2. You inadvertantly placed something in the freezer and/or fridge which BLOCKED the entrance or exit of the duct,

IF one of the above are the cause, a "manual" defrost of a few hours with the freezer and fridge doors open to allow warmer air in should melt out any frost/ice from the duct and allow the system to work properly. Depending on the severity of the frost/ice buildup, it could take a couple of days to fully melt all the frost/ice.

During the manual defrost ALL frozen and perishable foods should be temporary stored in an ice chest or cooler of some kind.

One more thing, in addition to heavy humidity, frost/ice buildup can also be caused by a defective automatic DEFROST TIMER. IF the system does not do its regular defrost cycle [usually an hour or two once in each 24 hours], then frost/ice buildup can occur even with "normal" humidities.

So, once you have the system back in operation, watch for the normal cycling of the defrost program, and if the problem continues, contact a qualified refrigeration repair technician to repair or replace the defrost TIMER.
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The freezer works well but the fridge is not cooling.

Classic symptom of: the connection passageway between the freezer and the fridge compartment
has closed off - usually due to ice buildup - or something clogging/blocking the passageway.
Your Refrigerator works by releasing cold air into only the freezer, then this cold air passes thru
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If this passageway is blocked, then just the freezer works, and cold air never makes it into the
fridge compartment. In the old days, you'd be told to defrost your freezer, since the blockage
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items in the freezer, and whichever item is blocking the air passage to the fridge compartment -
just move it away from the passageway opening.
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I have a Westinghouse frost free fridge with freezer on top.(RJ340M) Freezer part is working great but the fridge is not performing well at all. Thermostat was my first thought but wouldn't that be...

Hi,

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Check and clean the condensor coils. Make sure the air ducts are free f frost and not blocked by anything. Make sure the light is turning off when the door is closed.
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If all else fails I would completely defrosted the unit.If there is any blockage this will open up all the tubes.Unplug it open the doors put pans of hot water in the freezer to speed up the process.
Make sure your fan is still working ,its located behind the freezers back wall. If it is working the vent from the freezer down to the refridgerater may be blocked.With out a fan you have no circulation but your freezer may look likes its working,it may last 3 days.Also if you can move everything out unplug it turn it off w/ doors open 12 to 24 hrs this will free up any clogged tubes. Good luck.
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