Maytag - 20.5 Cu. Ft. Top-Freezer/Refrigerator MRT311FFFZ not cooling enough?

[jason.arthur.taylor.1]

Hi repair techs and enthusiasts.  I have a refrigerator questions.  We invested a lot of$$, about $1000, in this fridge, now a week old, and love everything except the cooling itself.

There are 5 "lower" temperature settings and three "upper" freezer levels for 15 setting combos in total. The strongest lower setting is for emergencies only, and is called PowerCold. It works great, but it cannot be used for long times, so the strongest to use has all 4 leds on. On that setting, it takes 12-24 hours to get back to spec temperatures once you go grocery shopping. (This is with the freezer on the coldest setting, diverting most cooling air from the warmer fridge.) Spec temps are, IMO, -9F freezer and 40F refrigerator.

Also, there are visible water droplets in the ducting area of the the fridge air exchange section. And if dampness or standing water in the crisper drawers, it doesn't dry, even when the vents are 100% open. But, to be honest, at 40F the vapor pressure is going to be low so I don't know. There are droplets accumulating on the outside of the lower hinge of the freezer drawer. I'm guessing the installer messed up with the hinge swap.

The design has the warmer, high-pressure-region (i.e., condenser) fins on the bottom. It's a great use of space and aesthetics. A fan mounted sideways in the rear bottom sucks cooling air in from the front, with some cardboard below the evaporator coils to help direct the air to move past the coils. During operation, these fins only get up to about 92.5 F in 74 F ambient air. I have another fridge I have to use for more robust cooling and it's coils are at 102 F, and mounted vertically, allowing more traditional convective cooling of them.

The cooling seems very weak to me.  Is it possible to upgrade the rear fan speed? Is there an easy way to test if the amount of refrigerant installed at the factory is correct? Should I get a different brand that cools better?  If so, what brand?  I'm constrained on a few things like width and bottom-mounted freezers are ruled out due to ice tray tilting mishaps when bending down.

[jason.arthur.taylor.1]

19 hours ago, jason.arthur.taylor.1 said:

Hi repair techs and enthusiasts.  I have a refrigerator questions.  We invested a lot of$$, about $1000, in this fridge, now a week old, and love everything except the cooling itself.

There are 5 "lower" temperature settings and three "upper" freezer levels for 15 setting combos in total. The strongest lower setting is for emergencies only, and is called PowerCold. It works great, but it cannot be used for long times, so the strongest to use has all 4 leds on. On that setting, it takes 12-24 hours to get back to spec temperatures once you go grocery shopping. (This is with the freezer on the coldest setting, diverting most cooling air from the warmer fridge.) Spec temps are, IMO, -9F freezer and 40F refrigerator.

Also, there are visible water droplets in the ducting area of the the fridge air exchange section. And if dampness or standing water in the crisper drawers, it doesn't dry, even when the vents are 100% open. But, to be honest, at 40F the vapor pressure is going to be low so I don't know. There are droplets accumulating on the outside of the lower hinge of the freezer drawer. I'm guessing the installer messed up with the hinge swap.

The design has the warmer, high-pressure-region (i.e., condenser) fins on the bottom. It's a great use of space and aesthetics. A fan mounted sideways in the rear bottom sucks cooling air in from the front, with some cardboard below the evaporator coils to help direct the air to move past the coils. During operation, these fins only get up to about 92.5 F in 74 F ambient air. I have another fridge I have to use for more robust cooling and it's coils are at 102 F, and mounted vertically, allowing more traditional convective cooling of them.

The cooling seems very weak to me.  Is it possible to upgrade the rear fan speed? Is there an easy way to test if the amount of refrigerant installed at the factory is correct? Should I get a different brand that cools better?  If so, what brand?  I'm constrained on a few things like width and bottom-mounted freezers are ruled out due to ice tray tilting mishaps when bending down.

" below the evaporator coils " sorry I meant condenser coils there. Unable to edit perhaps because I am so new.