Fridge suddenly cant keep temps down, is it dying?

[Ashevillain]

Hey all! It recently got fairly hot in western NC and my temp chamber has been acting very strange.

I have a fridge hooked up to an inkbird 308 and it has worked flawlessly until now (even through a summer on the OBX in a garage). Now I have the fridge inside and the fridge hasn't been able to keep my most recent brew cold. (set at 64, has slowly risen to 69 over a week with the fridge on the entire past few days trying to catch up which tells me something is very wrong. thankfully this kind of matches the schedule the beer was on...). Normally if the probe is above set temp and the fridge is kicked on the ambient temps would be wayy lower than probe temps which is not the case.

Probe is taped to side of corny that's fermenting and insulated with insulating tape and paper towels.

It was a solid fridge and still I have faith to get many more years out of it, any advice appreciated

 

[LLBeanJ]

Maybe dirty coils. They tend to attract a lot of dust and over time this will cause issues with cooling.

 

[dyqik]

Assuming it's not dirty coils on the back (if it even has any - some don't, e.g. mini-fridges)

I'm afraid that I'm pretty sure that either the compressor has gone or the coolant in the fridge has leaked out if the compressor motor is running and it's not getting cold. It's probably not worth the cost of fixing it, unless the fridge is very nice.

As to why:
Did you switch the fridge back on immediately after moving it? That can damage the compressor if the fridge was tipped during transport.

Did you have a compressor/cooling delay set on the inkbird, so that it didn't restart the fridge within a few minutes of it switching off?

Or it could just be one of those random failures.

 

[Revvy]

I assume all modern fridges are "frost free" so you probably aren't seeing any ice/frost buildup anywhere in there are you? I know from my chest freezer biting the dust in the one way that can't be repaired, an inwall freon leak, that mine was doing the same thing getting warmer, but there was one spot where Ice kept building up.

One thing to do is vacuum around the compressor and any vents, to make sure dust isn't building up and causing the cold not to tranfers.

Like I said, I've only had keezers so I don't know what else to suggest.

 

[Ashevillain]

Thanks for the responses yall. I cant remember exactly when the fridge was turned on but I doubt it was soon after it was moved. I do remember it was definitely knocked about and tilted quite a bit... wasn't very happy about that since I paid to have it moved and thought the movers would be a little better equipped and knowledgeable about moving fridges. I live on the 2nd floor, and a good amount of black liquid leaked out when getting it up there. I will vacuum the coil if it has one now and report back if it works! The fridge has been going strong for 8 months nonstop maintaining probe temps since the move... up until this week.

 

[mredge73]

Can you hear the compressor, is it running normally (same noise as usual)?
If so you could have a fan issue, it is common for the fan to quit or weaken before the compressor.
If it is a fan issue you will have some freezing on the evaporator coils. Run it for a while and remove the coil cover and investigate, look for heavy ice build up.
If it is a fan they are cheap and easy to replace.

If it has a freezer compartment, the coils will be in the freezer and there will be a louver to the fridge.
The louver could be stuck closed or part closed. Does the freezer preform as normal?

The black liquid is likely rust mixed with mildew. If it was compressor oil it would have failed much sooner.

 

[Ashevillain]

Yes the fridge sounds as if its running as normal. I have turned it off and will check things out, there doesn't seem to be any freezing/ice on the coils as i've experience that before, and freezer seems to run as normal when the probe allows it to be switched on.

Also ps i do run a 10min delay.

 

[SlitheryDee]

Yes the fridge sounds as if its running as normal. I have turned it off and will check things out, there doesn't seem to be any freezing/ice on the coils as i've experience that before, and freezer seems to run as normal when the probe allows it to be switched on.

Also ps i do run a 10min delay.

Most fridges with attached freezers operate by occasionally venting cold freezer air into the refrigeration compartment to keep it cool. If the freezer is running normally that would seem to indicate some problem with the venting mechanism. I suppose one way to test this is to relocate the probe into the freezer, set your probe temperature to freezing, and see if it maintains that temperature. If it doesn't have a problem with that then you should be able to get it working without a lot of trouble.

 

[flars]

Most fridges with attached freezers operate by occasionally venting cold freezer air into the refrigeration compartment to keep it cool. If the freezer is running normally that would seem to indicate some problem with the venting mechanism. I suppose one way to test this is to relocate the probe into the freezer, set your probe temperature to freezing, and see if it maintains that temperature. If it doesn't have a problem with that then you should be able to get it working without a lot of trouble.

I just had the damper control between the freezer and frig replaced. It wasn't opening to bring cold air into the frig side. Damper control made a rattling sound when it failed. $146 total cost.

 

[Ashevillain]

The freezer is venting air, but it is no longer cold air... the fan in the back is running seemingly normal. I am going to check for ice but that is doubtful because the problem has been apparent for 2-3 days and i haven't seen any ice/moisture/leakage from the freezer into the fridge etc.

 

[BitterSweetBrews]

The freezer is venting air, but it is no longer cold air... the fan in the back is running seemingly normal. I am going to check for ice but that is doubtful because the problem has been apparent for 2-3 days and i haven't seen any ice/moisture/leakage from the freezer into the fridge etc.

This could be a couple things. It could be the fridges thermocouple, the compressor, lost Freon, etc. Is the freezer portion getting cool?

Is the Inkbird OK? I guess if it is running then the Inkbird is trying to do something. But, maybe not enough. I have had to unplug mine to reset it once or twice. I think it was heating when it should have been cooling, or visa versa, I can't remember. This may sound silly, but is it plugged into the wrong outlet on the inkbird?

To test it I would probably take it off the inkbird and see if it cools normally.

 

[mredge73]

Check the evaporator coils, if they are not cold then I would assume that it is dead.
If the compressor sounds torqued up then the evaporator TXV valve may be clogged or not opening. You can hit the valve a few times with a wrench but it probably won't do any good.
If the compressor is running but quiet then you probably had a leak. Either way it probably isn't worth fixing.
I would hit up used appliance dealers and Craig's list for a stand up frost free freezer.