Kenmore Elite Fluctuating Refrigerator Temperatures

Hello Jayeff. That is an interesting idea.

The techs did not check the ice chute door.

I don't have any issue with water dripping down from that chute from melting ice.

I just checked it myself and it is closed shut.

I could empty all the ice out and turn the ice maker off and make sure that chute is clear from the inside if you think I should do that. But it appears shut

That whole ice compartment is behind a separate door with it's own latch.

Is there any kind of damper motor on this unit that could be sticking.

My wife said she doesn't hear the fan in the upper part of refrigerator running as much as it did.

The tech did check that fan and said it was operating properly. He said the main control board which was replaced controls that fan.

I did notice a small crack on a housing cover below the ice maker compartment.

I asked the tech about that and he said that is just a cosmetic cover that hides some water lines and would not affect the temperature in the refrigerator.

@ginky4

To gain that much temperature in such a short time i.e. 30° → 47° in 20 minutes means that it is rapidly losing a lot of the cold air from inside the compartment. Normally it would take a 5-6 hours at least, without the compressor running at all (and depending on ambient temp and minimum door openings) for the temp to climb that much.

So if that's the case there's got to be a leak somewhere.

Perhaps try placing a turned on flashlight inside the compartment and check all around to see if you can see any light escaping from the compartment. Maybe best done at night when it is dark and easier to see if there is.

Have you verified what the actual temperature is inside the compartment by placing a thermometer in there, rather than relying on what the display is showing?

I have 3 thermometers in there. One digital, one Dial style and a stick style the tech gave me that is sitting in a cup of water. I even have a LED gun style that reports the exact same temperatures. When I opened the door this morning the dial thermometer was 32. The digital one was 34 and the one sitting in the cup of water was 40 degrees. When I reopened the door 10 minutes later the temp was up to 38 and 39 degrees on the dial and digital thermometer. The fridge consistently sits around 40 to 42 degrees on all the thermometers most of the time. It does once in a while shoot up to 47 but it doesn't stay there that long. And then it will just drop way down 30 to 32 degrees. Would turning the refrigerator off for a couple of days do or help anything? The coils are clean. The tech even remarked how clean everything was in the back of the unit. I have the temp set at 35 degrees and 0 degrees for the freezer.

I just checked it again. The temp is now back down to 32 on the one thermometer and 34 on the other thermometer. I have another refrigerator in my basement that is 35 years old. That one consistently stays at 35 degrees all day long. Never fluctuates like this one.

@ginky4

Turning off the refrigerator would reset the control board and melt any ice that had built up on the evaporator unit.

If it works OK after that then it could be still either of the two things, mentioned above.

Excessive ice build up on the evaporator, which can cause temperature problems e.g. restricts evap fan operation, reduced efficiency of cooling system etc, is usually caused by a defrost problem i.e. faulty defrost thermostat, defrost heater, control board or perhaps a blocked drainpipe from under the evap unit to the evap pan under the compartments.

I would think that the techs would have checked if the defrost system components were working i.e. control board, heater and thermostat so that leaves the drain, but they may have checked that to.

The refrigerator temp rising will happen when the auto defrost cycle occurs because that's when the compressor is stopped and the heater is turned on to melt the ice.

I don't know how often the defrost cycle is supposed to occur in your model but usually with most they occur once every consecutive 8-10 hours or every 8-10 accumulated compressor run time hours depending on which method is used. The compressor is stopped for about 20 minutes when the defrost cycle is occurring.

8-10 accumulated compressor run time hours may be a lot longer than 8-10 consecutive hours as the compressor is usually not running all the time, it's stopped when the set temps are reached and then starts again when the temp rises above preset upper limit. Depending on factors such as surrounding ambient temp and also usage i.e. how often doors are opened and cold air lost which needs to be replaced will determine the time e.g. it might take 16 hours before it occurs or perhaps only 11 etc.

Bit hard to access maybe but check if there's any water in the evap drain pan under the compartments. here's an image to show what it looks like.

I would still try the flashlight as well.