Kitchen Large Electric Appliances - Kenmore Elite Freezerless Refrigerator won’t cool
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cjm0061
08-17-06, 12:42 AM
Greetings,
I am having a problem with a brand new Kenmore Elite 16.9 cu. ft. freezerless refrigerator. The refrigerator was delivered about a week ago and seemed to be working fine. Now we find that it is not cooling very well. The temperature inside the fridge has been hovering around 50 degrees. We tried turning the control dial toward the colder settings, but that has not worked.
I suspect that this problem is related to low voltage coming into the house. We had lightning strike a tree about 15 ft from the house on 07/28/06. The lightning fried my phone, cable TV, well pump starter motor, some computer equipment (that was on a surge protector), and curiously destroyed all of the dimmer switches in my house.
At that time I checked the voltage in some of my outlets and discovered that my volt meter was showing only about 106 volts coming into the circuit panel on each line. The outlet the refrigerator/freezer was on read about 103 volts. I checked with an electrician friend who said the voltage was low, but possibly storm related and to give it a few days to get back to normal.
A few days after the storm we noticed that our tired old refrigerator was not cooling properly. The freezer was working, but the fridge could not get below 50 degrees. I suspected that the duct between the freezer and the fridge was plugged with ice. I tied defrosting everything but the problem remained.
Since we did not want to pay anyone to repair an approx. 20 year old fridge, we went down to Sears and bought a new refrigerator and new freezer. Both are stand alone units that are meant to but up against each other. The freezer will be delivered this coming Friday.
As I mentioned, the refrigerator initially worked fine, but now it is not cooling properly. I checked the voltage again yesterday, 08/16/06, and discovered that I still was only getting about 106 volts on each line. I called the power company and they came out and checked the voltage. The repairman did not find any obvious lightning damage. His meter, which assumably is more accurate than mine, showed 114 volts coming in at the house. They said that this is a little low but within limits. The repairman did note that this low voltage seemed strange, since there is a transformer on the same pole that the wires to my house come from. He said he would refer the matter to “engineering” for further analysis.
My question for all of you Appliance Wizards is, could low voltage be causing my refrigerator to not cool properly, or should I look for some other problem? If not the voltage, what could be the problem?
Here is a link to the refrigerator I bought;
http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/product.do?cat=Refrigerators&pid=04644723000&vertical=APPL&subcat=Freezerless+Refrigerators&BV_UseBVCookie=Yes
I am having a problem with a brand new Kenmore Elite 16.9 cu. ft. freezerless refrigerator. The refrigerator was delivered about a week ago and seemed to be working fine. Now we find that it is not cooling very well. The temperature inside the fridge has been hovering around 50 degrees. We tried turning the control dial toward the colder settings, but that has not worked.
I suspect that this problem is related to low voltage coming into the house. We had lightning strike a tree about 15 ft from the house on 07/28/06. The lightning fried my phone, cable TV, well pump starter motor, some computer equipment (that was on a surge protector), and curiously destroyed all of the dimmer switches in my house.
At that time I checked the voltage in some of my outlets and discovered that my volt meter was showing only about 106 volts coming into the circuit panel on each line. The outlet the refrigerator/freezer was on read about 103 volts. I checked with an electrician friend who said the voltage was low, but possibly storm related and to give it a few days to get back to normal.
A few days after the storm we noticed that our tired old refrigerator was not cooling properly. The freezer was working, but the fridge could not get below 50 degrees. I suspected that the duct between the freezer and the fridge was plugged with ice. I tied defrosting everything but the problem remained.
Since we did not want to pay anyone to repair an approx. 20 year old fridge, we went down to Sears and bought a new refrigerator and new freezer. Both are stand alone units that are meant to but up against each other. The freezer will be delivered this coming Friday.
As I mentioned, the refrigerator initially worked fine, but now it is not cooling properly. I checked the voltage again yesterday, 08/16/06, and discovered that I still was only getting about 106 volts on each line. I called the power company and they came out and checked the voltage. The repairman did not find any obvious lightning damage. His meter, which assumably is more accurate than mine, showed 114 volts coming in at the house. They said that this is a little low but within limits. The repairman did note that this low voltage seemed strange, since there is a transformer on the same pole that the wires to my house come from. He said he would refer the matter to “engineering” for further analysis.
My question for all of you Appliance Wizards is, could low voltage be causing my refrigerator to not cool properly, or should I look for some other problem? If not the voltage, what could be the problem?
Here is a link to the refrigerator I bought;
http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/product.do?cat=Refrigerators&pid=04644723000&vertical=APPL&subcat=Freezerless+Refrigerators&BV_UseBVCookie=Yes
brentwoodpmg
08-17-06, 07:18 PM
so, everything was working fine before the storm?
old fridge? did you have the breaker/fuse box checked, they could have been damaged also? just a note, you could have a ziilion volts coming into the house, if you don't have the amp load, that
is a main problem, that is why i think the tech wanted to refer to engineering, i believe the tech knows that there is a load/voltage problem. first order of business,
get on their high paid butts to resolve this. another thing that is in question, how are the high demand devices working ie, a/c,dryer,stove,waterheater etc.? let us know, we are here to help.
barry
old fridge? did you have the breaker/fuse box checked, they could have been damaged also? just a note, you could have a ziilion volts coming into the house, if you don't have the amp load, that
is a main problem, that is why i think the tech wanted to refer to engineering, i believe the tech knows that there is a load/voltage problem. first order of business,
get on their high paid butts to resolve this. another thing that is in question, how are the high demand devices working ie, a/c,dryer,stove,waterheater etc.? let us know, we are here to help.
barry
cjm0061
08-18-06, 11:53 AM
Barry,
Yes, everything worked fine before the storm. My furnace heats my water, so I don't have a hot water heater. I have three small window mounted A/C units. They seem to be doing their job. The dryer also seems to be drying clothes normally.
The fridge seems to be maintaining a constant 52 degrees, no matter how cold I set it. If I open the door, the fan will start up but the air is not very cold. I don't know much about refrigerators but I'm guessing that the compressor isn't coming on. What is the uncompressed temperature of the refrigerant?
The weird thing is that the old refrigerator worked (or at least seemed to) for a few days after the storm before we noticed that it wouldn't go below 50 degrees, and after the new refrigerator was installed it too seemed to work for a few days before it went to 52 degrees. The coils on the new refrigerator must be on the bottom, as the back and all sides are encased in metal.
Yes, everything worked fine before the storm. My furnace heats my water, so I don't have a hot water heater. I have three small window mounted A/C units. They seem to be doing their job. The dryer also seems to be drying clothes normally.
The fridge seems to be maintaining a constant 52 degrees, no matter how cold I set it. If I open the door, the fan will start up but the air is not very cold. I don't know much about refrigerators but I'm guessing that the compressor isn't coming on. What is the uncompressed temperature of the refrigerant?
The weird thing is that the old refrigerator worked (or at least seemed to) for a few days after the storm before we noticed that it wouldn't go below 50 degrees, and after the new refrigerator was installed it too seemed to work for a few days before it went to 52 degrees. The coils on the new refrigerator must be on the bottom, as the back and all sides are encased in metal.
cjm0061
08-24-06, 12:40 AM
Well, he Sears repairman finally came out today. He looked at the refrigerator briefly and informed me that the problem was a defective thermostat. Naturally, he did not have the part in his van. He said this was because my fridge is a new model. He had to order the part and said he would return on 09/01/06 to install it.
Hopefully this will really solve the problem. I can't say that I am too impressed with Sears handling of this problem. A brand new $1,000 refrigerator breaks after one week and it's going to take them almost a month to rectify the problem.
Hopefully this will really solve the problem. I can't say that I am too impressed with Sears handling of this problem. A brand new $1,000 refrigerator breaks after one week and it's going to take them almost a month to rectify the problem.