Frigidaire FFTR1814TWB freezer & fridge not cool enough, but is cooling - started when I put big pot of hot soup in fridge.

[Hank G]

First the embarrassing but probably vital piece: the problems began almost a week ago when I put a big stockpot of soup in the fridge when it was still hot. (I absolutely know better, had pot cooling in water bath in sink, but it was probably still 120-140F when I got a bad call and had to rush out the door. I stuck it in the fridge, in my worry I only thought about food safety wrt the soup and not everything else). Fridge is about 2 years old and has never been a problem before.

Our Frigidaire refrigerator, model FFTR1814TWB, is about 2-3 years old. Since I checked the next morning the freezer has stayed right around 32F (ice doesn't melt but chicken breasts etc. thawed. Thermoworks thermometer shows food around 32F), while the fridge has stayed around 42F.

At first I assumed it would catch up, got a bunch of ice from the store to help, and gave it a day, leaving the settings alone since even a slight downward adjustment had previously caused ice on vegies, etc. No improvement.  I then turned the knob in the fridge down, gave it another day... no improvement noticed. Turned them all the way down and gave it another day...

This morning I finally called Frigidaire, all they advised was to unplug it for 30 seconds. I finally unscrewed the back panel of the freezer and found ice encasing the lower portion of the coils - maybe the bottom 1/5th or so. Ice had also blocked about 1/4 of the horizontal (intake?) vents along the bottom of that rear panel. I thawed that with a hair dryer without poking at the tubes and breaking them (like I did trying to defrost the freezer in my first apartment). In the 4-5 hours since then I don't think it has stopped running, but I didn't think to listen prior to that. I also left probes in the freezer and fridge - now reading 29F and 41F, when I had only measured temps by sticking an instant read thermometer in various foods... so I don't know if those new, slightly lower, temps are actually new or within the range it already was swinging.

I do feel cold air coming from the vents at the rear of the freezer. I have both fridge and freezer temperature adjustments bottomed out at this point.

One mystery: There was a weird squishy black thing resting on the top of those fins behind the freezer wall. It looked like electrical tape, only with something gummy in it - Not sure where it came from. It looked like it had been around something small and long - as if it had been around a pencil. I thought it was electrical tape with ice in it at the time, but it thawed to be squishy instead of just melting. I don't know if it held a thermocouple in place, or insulated something, or what.

Would the hot soup and associated steam/condensation/ice etc. have damaged something directly or could there be ice blocking something else?  

Thank you for any help! 

 

[Budget Appliance Repair]

12 hours ago, Hank G said:

There was a weird squishy black thing resting on the top of those fins behind the freezer wall. It looked like electrical tape, only with something gummy in it -

That is just a mastic muffler - it wraps around the cap tube and evaporator inlet to muffle any noise from the refrigerant liquid changing to it gas state.

It not at all uncommon to see these fall off - I just use some permagum sealing material and form it around in the same place.

This being off isn't causing your problems.

[Nathaniel Peterson]

It should take 24 hours to cool completely. Either it happened to start a leak of refrigerant or what seems like happened that the airflow got disrupted. Unplug for 24 hours or remove ice with hair dryer and make sure you get the open going down to the refrigerator section. Make sure fan is working and while you in the evaporator area pour some hot water in the drain to make sure it's clear.

[Hank G]

Thank you both!

I will give warming and thawing it all a shot, that makes lots of sense. I got dry ice keeping it cold until I get the food to the freezer at work (which is nearly completely filled with frost, as it turns out.)

I'll be thrilled if I don't have to call the landlord!

Mystery solved about the muffler... that kept bugging me, it's even harder to troubleshoot something you know little about when you have a mystery part left over.

 

[Nathaniel Peterson]

53 minutes ago, Hank G said:

Thank you both!

I will give warming and thawing it all a shot, that makes lots of sense. I got dry ice keeping it cold until I get the food to the freezer at work (which is nearly completely filled with frost, as it turns out.)

I'll be thrilled if I don't have to call the landlord!

Mystery solved about the muffler... that kept bugging me, it's even harder to troubleshoot something you know little about when you have a mystery part left over.

 

When it's done thawing make sure everything behind the evaporator cover is plugged in. If the back panel is full of frost (somewhat evenly) it means the defrost circuit isn't working properly. 

[Hank G]

I've started getting emails trying to sell me fridge thermometers. This forum is the only place I've asked, and I haven't searched in any other logged in system.

 

Do not spam me. Last thing I'll ever do is buy from an unsolicited spam email.

 

Otoh, To those who answered here, thank you.

 

The symptoms remain after 24 hours warming then 24 hours cooling, so landlord it is.

[Nathaniel Peterson]

2 hours ago, Hank G said:

I've started getting emails trying to sell me fridge thermometers. This forum is the only place I've asked, and I haven't searched in any other logged in system.

 

Do not spam me. Last thing I'll ever do is buy from an unsolicited spam email.

 

Otoh, To those who answered here, thank you.

 

The symptoms remain after 24 hours warming then 24 hours cooling, so landlord it is.

I doubt you got spammed from here. There's YouTube videos if it's to an email on how to find out who it's coming from. 

[Hank G]

I think you must be right. Normally I would stop and think about it long before posting something but I was so very surprised and had not logged into anything else. I thought twice about posting after the fact but found no edit or delete option.

The only other places I searched the topic at all were duckduckgo (I have no login)....and looking up one of the main parts supply places.

...where I probably had an ancient saved login I don't even remember.  I forgot I ever tried ordering parts for our tankless water heater some years ago. I haven't checked but it makes a lot more sense. 

Sorry mods!

 

The fridge is finally working again. Technician said it must have had an ice blockage in the coolant line because it needed a fill.  It's been 12 hours and temps are right on the mark. 

 

Thank you all again