If your refrigerator won’t stop running, it could be one or more faulty components within your fridge that are causing it. To help you find the cause and fix it, we have put together this guide for you. Simply check each component listed below, and you should be able to find the culprit and fix it.
The first thing to check is the temperature of your freezer. If the freezer is above 10 degrees Fahrenheit (-12 degrees Celsius), your refrigerator won’t be able to cool down enough and will keep running.
Here’s how to make sure the freezer temperature is not the problem:
The next component to check is the condenser coils. The condenser coils help to dissipate the heat from the refrigerator when it is running. If the coils become dirty or covered in ice, the refrigerator won’t be able to cool down as quickly, and the refrigerator will run for longer than it should.
To check the condenser coils:
After checking the condenser coils and cleaning them, the next component to check is the condenser fan motor. The condenser fan motor helps to push air over the coils to help them cool down. When it becomes faulty, frost and ice on the coils will not melt.
Checking the condenser fan motor is simple:
The purpose of the defrost heater is to turn it on several times a day to help melt away any frost or ice that has accumulated on the evaporator coils. When it becomes faulty, frost and ice will build up in your refrigerator and cause the refrigerator to run constantly to try to defrost it.
Here’s how to check the heater:
The defrost thermostat tells the defrost heater to turn on when it needs to so that it can help melt any frost or ice in the refrigerator unit. When it becomes faulty, the defrost heater won’t know when to turn on, and this will cause your refrigerator to keep running.
Here’s how to check the defrost thermostat:
If you’ve checked both the defrost heater and the defrost thermostat and replaced them if required (or they were working correctly) but the coils are still getting covered in ice and frost, then it might be a faulty defrost control board. The control board is difficult to test, so it’s easier to just replace it and then see if that solves the problem.
If you still haven’t found the cause of the problem, the next component to check is the door gasket. The door gasket makes sure that the refrigerator door closes firmly and stops any air from escaping. When it becomes faulty, cold air will escape, and your refrigerator will have to run constantly to keep it cool.
To check the door gasket:
The next component to check is the evaporator fan motor. Depending on the specific model of your refrigerator it will have one or more fan motors. The purpose of the fan that it powers is to circulate cold air from the coils to the freezer compartment. When it becomes faulty, the refrigerator will stay on to try to get the temperature in the refrigerator lower.
To check the evaporator fan motor:
Another possible cause of your refrigerator running non-stop is a faulty defrost timer. The defrost timer tells the defrost heater when to turn on; when it becomes faulty, the heater won’t turn on, and frost and ice will build up. This causes your refrigerator to keep running.
To check the defrost timer you need to:
The final component that may be faulty is the main control board. If it is faulty, it will prevent the system from going into a defrost cycle. The main control board doesn’t become faulty very often, so make sure you’ve checked all of the other components in this guide first. It’s also a very difficult component to test, so if you’ve tried everything else and still haven’t solved the problem, you should consider replacing the main control board.
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