Refrigerator comes on and immediately shuts off. will not keep foods in freezer. not sure if it is affecting food in refrigerator

Hi David, thank you for your inquiry. I understand that your Frigidaire Refrigerator is cycling on and off more than you expected. Todays newer refrigerator's have to meet Dept of Energy (DOE) specifications for energy savings. Typically the fan and compressor runs to get the fresh food temp down to 34*, the compressor shuts off and the fan runs for thirty more minutes and shuts down. The fan will repeatedly cycle on and off to keep the temp down as close to 34*. Once the temp in the fresh food hits 40* for more than two minutes the compressor cycles back on again. This will cause the temps in the fresh food to dwell between 35-40 and in the freezer section between 8-15. Hope this helps! -JK

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

Make sure the freezer drawer and the refrigerator door are shutting properly. Sounds like air is getting in causing the frosty crust. Also be sure to reset the controls back to the original mid-way settings and allow a day or so for it to balance, if you have turned the fresh food compartment down to a lower temp it may cause a similar condition.

There could be a large list of things that cause the freezer to warm up from the temperature it was before. The most likely reason is you probably have a defrost problem. Defrost heater, defrost thermostat and the defrost control are all things that may have failed. If your model is not a frost free let me know. Look inside freezer for a layer of frost building on the rear wall. If your refrigerator is not defrosting it will be a short time before the fresh food compartment begins to warm. To extend the time your refrigerator and freezer can keep food safe defrost by placing a bucket of hot water inside the freezer and close the door. Please place food from freezer and fresh food compartment into another refrigerator or cold storage area. By keeping doors shut as much as possible the refrigerator and freezer will last up to a week this way before defrosting again, Sea Breeze

The settings will reset to a lower settting as the fridge/freezer will not be disturbed . So wait for the fridge to run and shut down and it will continue to run in this low mode to save power but to keep the food in prime condition. The fridge alone will not be shut down.

Greetings,
the first thing to do is unscrew the bulbs to keep that heat from affecting the food...now, make sure the door is actually striking the switch..if not adjust door...if not, could be the door switch or the main board which controls the lights....

1. Remove all of the food from inside the freezer and place it into the ice chest. Use more than one ice chest, if necessary. Cover the food with ice from a 10 lb. bag of ice. Alternatively, place all of the food from your freezer into the refrigerator compartment, packed tightly together.
2. Place one or two 10 lb. bags of ice into one or two large bowls inside the refrigerator compartment to keep the food chilled. Keep the door to the refrigerator tightly closed and avoid opening it during the freezer defrosting process.
3. Unplug the unit and leave the freezer door open.
4. Let the freezer defrost overnight or for at least eight hours.
5. Use the towels to wipe up the melted ice.
6. Plug in a hair dryer and direct it to the interior of the freezer to melt any remaining ice from the walls and door. Be sure to direct it into the vents of the freezer, too.
7. Wipe up any water from ice melted with the hair dryer from inside and around the freezer.
8. Plug the freezer back into the outlet, and return food still solidly frozen to the freezer compartment from the ice chest or refrigerator. Use any thawed foods within a day or two or discard.

We disconnected the refrigerator and took the back of the freezer apart. There we noticed ice had built up on the coils. After removing all the food, we let the freezer defrost for 3.5 hours. Then we connected it, and it started to cool down immediately. After 1 1/2 to 2 hours, the refrigerator was down below 40 degrees. All food was replaced, and now the refrigerator is working properly All of this was down to the Fisher Paykel Model E522BRM.

I think you are short of refrigerant, needs to be topped up and checked for leaks.

This is normal  the red light tells you that there is a slight of decreased in coldness .Eventually the red light will  disappear after the refrigerator has recollected it's coldness... in 24 hours approximately .....Jack Arevian.(.Aleppo Syria).Refrigeration Engineer...........