PSA: Came back to a fridge that was 85 degrees inside. Totally different issue than I thought.

The freezer was still working fine but the fridge side was warm. Turns out the defrost timer was stuck and icing up the evaporator coils in the back. Has anyone else chased a warm fridge only to find it was a frozen coil instead of a bad compressor?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_anthony1mo ago

Same here, always blamed the compressor first till I found ice buildup in the back.

roberts.leo1mo ago

That ice buildup in the back is sneaky, took me forever to notice it too. Did you find it was a blocked drain line or something else causing the ice?

riverdavis1mo ago

Man, did you check if the drain pan itself was cracked? I had a fridge where the ice buildup looked like a drain issue, but it turned out the pan had a hairline crack from when I moved it last. Water would drip slow, freeze, and then you'd get that sneaky ice patch in the back. @the_anthony is right, the compressor gets blamed first, but it's usually something small and dumb like that. A cracked pan or even a loose seal around the back panel can cause the same problem.