Whirlpool Side by Side, refrigerator cooling at 50 freezer at 35 deg

Damper Unit

There is another thing to check which is a common problem. The evaporator fan motor circulates the cold air from the coils through the freezer compartment and via a channel into the fridge compartment. That cold airflow into the fridge compartment is usually regulated by an actuator which opens and closes a baffle, sometimes referred to as a damper. If this component fails it will usually do so in the closed position - which means the freezer works fine but the fridge side doesn't stay cold.

Locate the damper unit which is normally at the top of the fridge compartment and on the side nearest to the freezer compartment on a side-by-side model, and check that the baffle isn't stuck and that the actuator is opening and closing it correctly according to the temperature inside the fridge when the door is closed. You should feel cold air blowing in from the freezer evaporator fan (you might need to hold the door switch closed). If not you probably have a faulty damper unit, broken baffle slider or the thermistor, control board or cable that powers the unit is faulty.

It transpired that although I had vacuumed the grill at the front when I took this off the grill was totally blocked. This prevented air circulating and the freezer cabinet froze up keeping the fan running all the time.

Cure -clean all inlets thoroughly , open doors and thoroughly defrost for at least 24 hours.

Same thing happened with my Whirpool side by side. Freezer was cold, fridge was not.

Found my evaporator fan was not spinning due to ice buildup. Did a quick defrost with a hair dryer which did seemed to work but wasn't drawing enough cold air to the fridge compartment. At this point I thought it was the diffuser between the freezer and fridge. I took it apart and saw it was fine. At that point I was desperate and tried to think simple; let the fridge defrost naturally for 24 hours. I did that, started back up, and after a day of running the fridge side is nice and cold. Didn't need a relay that I bought, didn't need a thermistor. To add to this, I did clean the coils before (thinking it was bad heat xfer) with a $5 Lowe's coil brush front and back side (have to take off cardboard cover off rear).

@mandytimmons ,

Sounds like the drain from the freezer compartment (under the evaporator unit behind a panel inside the freezer compartment) going to the evaporator pan outside the fridge'/freezer compartments near the compressor is blocked preventing the meltwater from the defrost cycle draining away and evaporating.

This causes the water to refreeze when the fridge is started again after each defrost cycle and the ice to build up more and more on the evaporator and eventually the evaporator fan stops working and the fridge compartment doesn't cool down.

The freezer will stay OK as the evaporator unit is located in the freezer compartment. Only the fridge doesn't get cool.

If the freezer is above the refrigerator sometimes the water overflows into the refrigerator via the damper etc, hence the water in the fridge section.

You didn’t state the make and model number but check the pipe at the evap pan end first, as it it easier to access. Some have a J curve pipe at the end above the pan and it can get blocked there.

if it is OK you will have to remove the panel cover in the freezer compartment to get to the drain hole under the evaporator unit. Pour a measured amount of water down the drain hole and check how much gets to the evap pan

I have a whirlpool 20ri-d3s and what happens is: When i open the doors many times the temperature decreases and give a alarm on the freezer. I see the 6th light turning on and then a few minutes later start to beep the alarm. Why this happen? Can anyone help me please?

Thanks