Frigidaire Not Cooling: Defrost or a Fan Beat Sealed System 25 to 16
A Frigidaire refrigerator that has stopped cooling usually shows no code at all. On my last sixty-seven Frigidaire not-cooling calls in Stark County, the owner saw a code on only three: SYEF twice and CE once. The answer is rarely on the display.
The worry on the phone is nearly always the compressor or the freon. Sometimes that is what it is, and I will tell you how often. But on these jobs the defrost system or the evaporator fan came up more often than the sealed system, and six needed no repair at all.
What not cooling really was, sixty-seven times
- Sixteen of sixty-seven — the sealed system. Thirteen were sealed system failures or leaks: nine sealed system failures, two sealed system leaks, one sealed system refrigerant leak and one refrigerant leak. Three were a failed compressor. None of the sixteen was economical to repair.
- Fourteen of sixty-seven — the defrost system. Seven defrost thermostats, five defrost timers, one defrost sensor and one clogged defrost drain. All fourteen were repaired.
- Eight of sixty-seven — the evaporator fan motor had failed. Seven got a new motor; on one of those the duct was frozen too. On the eighth the owner chose a new refrigerator.
- Three of sixty-seven — the evaporator fan stopped by something else. Twice it was ice from the ice maker fill tube: one leaking tube replaced, one tube wrapped to stop overspray. The third fan had been installed incorrectly.
- Six of sixty-seven — no repair needed. Five were no problem found: running after a reset or power cycle, or cooling normally when I arrived. The sixth was a breaker tripped in a storm.
- Five of sixty-seven — air getting in. Four were door seals: two new gaskets, one gasket reinstalled, and one door with its hinge bushings readjusted and the gasket flipped. The fifth was a leak at the air tower joint, sealed with foam sealer.
- Six of sixty-seven — a control. One temperature control, one cold control, one cold control thermostat, a damper motor, a damper control and a shorted user interface board.
- Three of sixty-seven — the main control board. One I found because the condenser fan had no power. One was a straight replacement. On the third I replaced the board and user interface, the repair later failed, and I referred the owner for a replacement.
- Three of sixty-seven — the condenser side. Dirty coils, a condenser fan blocked by foam, and a condenser fan connection that had come loose.
- Two of sixty-seven — compressor start parts. A start relay once; a start device and capacitor once.
- One of sixty-seven — a damaged wire harness in the cabinet. Not economical to repair.
Add the fourteen defrost jobs, the eight fan motors and the three other fan stoppages and that is twenty-five of sixty-seven, against sixteen sealed-system jobs. Twenty-four of the twenty-five were repaired.
Check these first — and know the odds
Unplug the refrigerator or shut off its breaker, wait a few minutes, and power it back up. While you are at the panel, make sure the breaker has not tripped.
Check both door gaskets for anything folded, torn or pulled out of its channel, and make sure the doors close fully. Then, with the refrigerator unplugged, look at the condenser coils and fan under or behind the cabinet. Vacuum the coils and remove anything that does not belong there.
If the freezer is iced up, do not chip at it with a knife or screwdriver. A puncture in the evaporator behind that panel turns a repairable fridge into a replacement. Refrigerant, the compressor and live wiring are mine to test, not yours.
Honest odds: resets and the breaker, door seals, dirty coils and the foam in the fan add up to twelve of sixty-seven. Worth doing, but under one in five, and two of those gaskets still had to be replaced.
The check that tells a cheap fix from an expensive one
With it plugged back in and the doors closed, the freezer tells you a lot. Feel how cold it is, look for frost or ice on the back wall, and listen for the fan behind the freezer panel. Tell me what you find when you call.
- Heavy frost or ice on the freezer back panel. That sends me to the defrost system and the evaporator fan first. The defrost system was fourteen of my jobs, and every one was repaired.
- No fan sound in the freezer. That points at the evaporator fan — a dead motor, a fan locked in ice, or one put back wrong. Eleven of mine.
- The compressor is not running. That can be the compressor or the smaller parts that start it. Two of mine were start parts; three were the compressor. That takes a test, not a guess.
- Compressor and fans running, nothing getting cold. That is where I start testing the sealed system, and it is the expensive answer.
A condenser fan that is not spinning is the other fork. On my jobs that was foam in the blade once, a loose connection once, and once a board that had stopped powering the fan. I check for power at that connector before quoting a board. That is a live-voltage test, so leave it to the technician.
When it is the sealed system, I say so plainly. On one compressor job I quoted the repair anyway and the owner chose to replace. You should make that call with the facts in front of you.
SYEF and CE: what they pointed to here
Both SYEF jobs involved the evaporator fan, but they were different repairs. One was a failed fan motor. The other was a fan iced in by a leaking ice maker fill tube; I cleared the ice and replaced the tube. If someone wants to swap a fan motor on sight for SYEF, ask whether the fan was iced in first.
The one CE job was a damaged wiring harness inside the cabinet, and it was not economical to repair.
What it costs
The service call is $167 ($207 for a French-door model), a little more outside the regular route, and it comes off the repair when you go ahead. You get a flat-rate quote before any work starts, and labor is covered for six months.
Reset it, checked the door seals, and the Frigidaire is still warm? Schedule online any time, or call or text (330) 693-9163.