Kitchenaid Refrigerator Not Cooling

Kitchenaid Refrigerator Not Cooling. As a result of your freezer not cooling, you are frustrated and upset. There is nothing more annoying than not being able to eat when you want, and having food that is spoiled.

There are two things you need to do: Firstly, check whether a blockage or any kind of obstruction is keeping the vent from blowing cold air.

If this were the case, it would be keeping cool air from coming in from outside and hot air from escaping from inside the refrigerator, resulting in temperature imbalances which would result in your fridge staying warm even after being set to the coolest temperature setting.

Hopefully, if it turns out there aren’t any obstructions keeping your vents blocked, this may be why your fridge isn’t cooling properly – but keep reading to find out other reasons for cooling failure as well.

Kitchenaid Refrigerator Not Cooling

If a refrigerator doesn’t appear to be running correctly, first check to see whether the condenser fan motor is correctly aligned by removing it and reinstalling it. Before replacing it, spin the motor’s blades by hand; if they do not rotate freely, replace the condenser fan motor.

Let’s talk about some problems with KitchenAid refrigerators when they don’t cool.

Broke Thermistor

Refrigerators cannot tolerate much variance in temperature, so the refrigerator’s thermistor is designed to monitor its internal temperature and relay this data to the refrigerator’s control board.

The control board then calculates whether or not it needs to activate the compressor in order to cool down the interior or maintain a set temperature.

If your refrigerator has issues with maintaining a steady temperature, you can use a multimeter to test the accuracy of this thermistor and determine if it is sending an incorrect reading.

Once you have verified that it is faulty, remove it and discard it; do not try to repair or reattach it.

Evaporated Fan Motor Malfunction

The evaporator fan motor is a key component of your refrigerator.

It pulls air over the evaporator coils and disperses this cool air through the refrigerator, keeping everything at the perfect temperature.

You may notice that your KitchenAid refrigerator is warm but the freezer is cold if the evaporator fan motor isn’t working.

Locate the evaporator fan and try to spin the blade. If it doesn’t move, then the motor needs to be replaced.

A loud noise is indicative of a faulty motor as well. If this is the case, replace the evaporator fan motor with a new one.

Dirty Condenser Coils

The condenser coils are usually located underneath large appliances like your refrigerator. They help to dissipate heat from the appliance as the refrigerant passes through them.

If the condenser coils have debris buildup on them, they will not dissipate as much heat which means your large appliance will have to work harder to cool down.

If the coils are significantly dirty, it will be hard for the appliance to maintain proper temperature and could lead to increased energy costs and even safety risks along with a shorter lifespan of your appliance. Thus, we would advise cleaning any dirt or dust that builds up on those condenser coils.

Faulty Compressor

Refrigerant is compressed by the compressor and pumped through the evaporator and condenser coils.

The refrigerator cannot cool if the compressor isn’t working. However, this rarely happens.

Before replacing the compressor, check all of the more common problems.

If you determine that everything else appears to work properly, then test the compressor by using a multimeter to see if there’s continuity between any pins on its side.

If there is none or bad continuity, then you can be sure that your compressor is likely defective. Have inspected your compressor in detail by checking for voltage with a multimeter.

Please ensure you contact an appropriate service technician to come and replace it as it needs specialized knowledge ​and tools to do so safely for both yourself and your equipment.

Error Starting Relay

The start relay is a coil of wire that is powered by electricity from a start relay. If the start relay malfunctions, it will not power the compressor yet still try to do so.

As a result, the refrigerator may sometimes not run or not at all and if this happens then your fridge will not be cold enough.

To find out if there is damage to the start winding, check for continuity between the start terminal.

The run terminal of the relay coil with a multimeter. If there isn’t any continuity at all between them – then it’s possible that your start winding has broken and needs replacing as soon as possible.

Main Board Control

It is possible that the main control board is defective, however, it is almost never the root cause of these kinds of issues.

Before replacing your main control board, a full diagnostic of the other components attached to the motherboard should be carried out.

There are several parts in this device that are more likely to malfunction first.

When you’re very sure that all other components you have tested so far are working as intended, then you can follow through with replacing your main control board.