The refrigerator is one of the workhorse appliances inside your home. It operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week and only gets a couple of hours rest when you clean it up (that is, if you’re one of those people who do). Because of this, a refrigerator can develop problems in the long run. Before you do consider replacing your refrigerator, it would be a good idea to troubleshoot it first as a way of saving money.
The first thing you should check out is the refrigerator’s power cord and plug. It may sound like a very elementary tip but checking if the refrigerator is properly plugged in should be the first thing you should do. If it is, but the refrigerator is still not working, then it could be a problem with the circuit breaker. Go to your home’s fuse box to check out any tripped circuit breakers or use a voltage meter to find out if the outlet is working.
After checking out the power cord and the plug, it’s time to check the other parts of the refrigerator. Move the ref away from the wall and check the coils located at the back of the refrigerator. You have to make sure that your ref has ample space at the back so that it can function properly.
You can also check the bulb inside the ref. As you already know, the fridge bulb should always light up whenever you open the door. If you notice that the bulb doesn’t turn on when you open your fridge’s door then there could either be a problem with the bulb or the bulb switch. There are also instances when the bulb won’t turn off when the door is closed. This can also pose a problem because the heat coming from the bulb can have an effect on the temperature inside the fridge. You can check this by pressing the kill switch that is located on the side of the door where the hinge is. The bulb should turn off when you depress the small switch.
Look at the thermostat. A refrigerator’s temperature should over between 1 and 5 degrees Celsius. If the fridge is too warm to your liking, check the thermostat and find out what the settings are. Adjust it to a lower temperature and observe if the temperature does go down. If it doesn’t then there is definitely a problem with your refrigerator.
Photo from kitchencontraptions.com