A friend just gave me their old refrigerator that they had in their garage. got it home, the freezer is freezing at -02...the frig is barely above the spoilage mark on the thermometer. what could be wrong?

Or Defrost Timer

Sounds like a intermittent problem with the defrost timer. Sometimes they get stuck. Check continuity of the defrost heater and defrost thermostat. If both are good then replace the defrost timer, that should solve the problem.

Hi,

Check out these tips...they can help you figure out what is going wrong with your refrigerator and why it is not cooling

Refrigerator not Cooling or Fridge not Cooling

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Water Running in refrigerator from Freezer

Refrigerator or Freezer not Cooling or Getting Cold

heatman101

Hi,

Check out these tips...they can help you figure out whats going wrong with your refrigerator and why it is not cooling

Refrigerator not Cooling or Fridge not Cooling

How to Defrost Refrigerator Defrost Timer Problem

Water Running in refrigerator from Freezer

heatman101

If you do not have guages (freon) and have a licens to proforme this type of work you will need to have someone qualified in this area to varify.You can call sears home repair @ 800 469-4663

Yes, I can help you. (If you like).But you will need to answer a few questions. For example was the freezer and refrigerator doors left closed for all that time with out allowing the moisture inside to escape and not cause the controls to rust or short out. Let me know and rate me if I am helpful, Thanks, Sea Breeze

Sounds like the circulating fan behind the rear panel of the freezer is wearing out. When the freezer/refrigerator fan starts to wear out the rpms reduce to a point where it will keep the freezer cold but not the frig. the total minimum estimated cost to repair this problem is around $300.00 parts and labor

also check defrost timer,defrost thermostat. In most newer models the timer has been replaced by an electronic control board. If the heater and thermostat are ok it’ll be the control.

Our new 10 day old top frig/bottom freezer stopped freezing, then the top refrigerator stopped cooling, but the light was working and you could hear some motor running and an occasional "clicking" sound. One internet blogger adsvised unpluging the appliance for 1/2 hour. Another advised 2 hours. Then plug in the appliance and see if it started cooling/freezing again. Our experience = nothing. We called the repair folk and the new frig/freezer had a failed compressor and a broken timer!! We were not thrilled. Suprisingly the store we bought the ap[pliance from gave us a $50 gift card to compensate for the lost food. They didn't have to do that - so ask for it; can't hurt.

insulated or not, garages are generally too cold for new energy efficient frigs to operate. ambient temp needs to be above 60 to work efficiently.