Frigidaire FPI-16TCW-0

[Tim M]

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I'm not sure whether I need help with my fridge or my brother-in-law. The guy is a genius, built his own house, makes his own computers out of salvaged junk, can fix almost anything, but isn't as knowledgeable on appliances.

While he was here over Christmas vacation he noticed that my refrigerator was (supposedly) cycling frequently. As he put it, it was on for a minute and off for five minutes. I'd never noticed anything, so I checked that the humidity switch was set on low and nothing was blocking the air flow in the back of the freezer. I moved a couple of bags around, but it didn't seem bad.

He kept bringing it up, so I paid attention from the other room. It would be on for 7 minutes, and off for 30. That seemed OK to me, isn't it?

He thought it should be on for an hour, and off for two hours (giving that the door isn't being opened I'd assumed)?

Who is right, or what is right for the refrigerator? Seems to be working fine for me and I'm not too worried. Could a restricted air flow cause the evaporator to frost up (temporiarily)?

Thanks for your thoughts.

Tim

[appl.tech.29501]

That doesn't sound too bad to me, just check your door gaskets to make sure they are sealing completely all the way around. If you have an air leak it will cause it to cycly more frequently but if it only ran for seven minutes you probably dont have an air leak. As long as you are happy with the temperature I wouldn't worry about it.

[Samurai Appliance Repair Man]

[user=28611]Tim M[/user] wrote:

It would be on for 7 minutes, and off for 30. That seemed OK to me, isn't it?

He thought it should be on for an hour, and off for two hours (giving that the door isn't being opened I'd assumed)?

The duty cycle you observed is typical. The duty cycle your bro-in-law suggested is whacked. The real test here is to get some numbers on the actual temps in both compartments. Here's an excerpt from one of my posts about this:

... you should place two thermometers in your refrigerator: one in the fresh food compartment (the big one) and the other in your freezer. The controls should then be adjusted to achieve -10 to +10ºF in the freezer and between 36 and 38ºF in the fresh food compartment.

Keep in mind, too, that it takes 24 hours for any change in the controls to work through the system and reach steady state so don't look for instantaneous changes in temperature when you make control setting changes. Knowing the actual temperature inside your refrigerator compartments is also a great way to save money on your power bill since you can adjust the controls to avoid running your compressor longer than needed to keep your food cold.

[Tim M]

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Got that. It's already set at 5° and 38°. My electric bills have been pretty great.

Thanks.