What's wrong with your fridge? Answer five quick questions about what it is doing. The checker lists the most likely causes in plain words, the checks that are safe to do yourself, and the signs that mean stop and call. It is a guide, not a diagnosis: a technician confirms the cause on site before any repair is quoted.
Fridge still not right?
Monday to Saturday: 8 AM to 10 PM
Sunday: 10 AM to 10 PM
Diagnostic visit: $75, or $115 for a double unit.
Credited toward your repair when you approve the quote.
Pick the closest answer for each. You can change any answer and the results update.
Your answers:
Nothing in your answers points to a fault. If something still seems off, start with the checks below and watch the temperature for a day.
Your answers do not point to one cause. Start with the checks below. If the problem stays, book a visit and describe what you see and hear.
This is a guide, not a diagnosis. A technician confirms the cause on site.
The $75 diagnostic ($115 for a double unit) is credited toward the repair when you approve the quote. Your answers are copied into the booking note, where you can edit them.
Find the symptom that matches yours. Causes are listed most likely first, and each one is explained further down the page.
The fridge is still making cold. The cold is just not reaching the fresh-food section.
Read more: Fridge warm but freezer cold: what it means
On most fridges the freezer is where the cold is made, so it shows a problem first.
Read more: Freezer not freezing but fridge works? Causes and fixes
First check that it has power, that the controls were not bumped and that demo mode is off.
Read more: Refrigerator not cooling? 8 causes and how to fix them
A healthy fridge rests between cycles. Long runs after a big grocery load or on a hot day are normal. Nonstop running in an ordinary week is not.
Read more: Refrigerator running constantly? Why it never shuts off
A hum, clicks as controls switch, gurgling, popping and sizzling during defrost are normal sounds.
Read more: Guide for common appliance sounds
Where the water shows up usually names the part.
Read more: Why is my refrigerator leaking water? Causes and fixes
Note where the frost forms before you clear it. The evidence melts with the ice.
Read more: Why is your freezer frosting up? Causes and fixes
Check the simple things in order before you blame the ice maker itself.
Read more: Ice maker not making ice: a troubleshooting guide
Write the code down exactly. Reset once, not again and again: repeated resets can erase what a technician needs to see.
What each part does, what points to it, and whether it is something you can check or a job for a technician.
The fan behind the freezer's back panel pushes cold air into the fridge section. When its motor fails or ice jams the blades, the freezer stays cold and the fridge warms.
It is the most common culprit when the freezer holds and the fridge does not. Open the freezer and listen: a steady hum is normal, while silence, clicking, chirping or grinding points here. Replacing it means removing interior panels, so it is technician work.
A small motorized flap between the freezer and the fridge controls how much cold air crosses over. When it sticks closed, the fridge slowly warms while the freezer stays cold.
Dampers fail electrically or freeze shut. On many models you can hear a healthy damper open and close when the fridge has been left alone. A silent damper housing crusted with frost is the giveaway.
A heater melts the frost off the cooling coil several times a day. When the heater, its thermostat or the control fails, frost slowly buries the coil until air cannot pass.
Look for a thick sheet of frost on the freezer's back wall and cooling that fades over one to two weeks. A manual defrost brings the cooling back for a while, then it fades again, because the failed part is still there.
Food pressed against the back wall, or a fridge packed so full that air cannot move, leaves warm spots even when every part works.
A freezer packed solid against its vents, or nearly empty in a hot kitchen, also struggles. About three-quarters full is the sweet spot. Leave space around the vents and give the fridge a few hours to recover.
A dirty, worn or folded door gasket lets warm, humid air in all day. The fridge runs longer, frost builds near the door and the freezer goes soft at the edges.
Dirt is a more common cause than damage. A door that sags, a cabinet that tilts forward, or a drawer that stops the door from closing leaves the same gap. In humid weather a bad seal can also drip water inside that looks like a leak.
The coils under or behind the fridge release the heat taken out of the cabinet, and a small fan near the compressor pulls air across them. Dust, pet hair or a stalled fan make the fridge run longer and cool less.
The freezer needs the deepest cold, so it often shows the shortage first. Cleaning the coils is one of the most common fixes our technicians see, and in homes with pets it is worth doing twice a year. On a Sub-Zero, a Vacuum Condenser message is the reminder to do it.
A sensor called a thermistor tells the control board how cold the cabinet is. When it drifts, the fridge may run all the time and freeze food in the fresh-food section, or barely run at all.
A control that keeps losing its settings, or stops cooling with no code, has its own fault. Both need a meter to test against the maker's specification, so this is a diagnosis job, not a guess.
A click, a few seconds of hum, then another click, repeating every few minutes, usually means the start relay is trying to start the compressor and failing.
Either the relay has failed, which is a modest repair, or the compressor itself cannot start. A technician can tell them apart in minutes with a meter. A fridge with the light on but no compressor hum at all can point to the same parts or to the control board.
The compressor, coils and refrigerant lines form a sealed circuit. A compressor losing capacity, a refrigerant leak or a restriction shows up as weak cooling on both sides while the fridge runs constantly.
Other signs are a frost patch on only part of the cooling coil and cooling lost slowly over weeks. Fans and defrost faults can look the same, so they are ruled out first. Only certified technicians may open the refrigerant circuit, and it is the most expensive kind of fridge repair, so age matters most here.
Sealed system repair explained: why some fridge fixes cost more
Store display mode keeps the lights and display on but switches the cooling off. It can turn on by accident after a power blip or a long button press.
Samsung shows OF OF and Sub-Zero shows Showroom. On other brands, a lit display with no cooling is the classic sign. The button combination to exit is in your manual or on the maker's support site. If cooling comes back, nothing was broken.
Defrost water runs down a small drain to a pan under the fridge. When food debris or ice blocks it, water backs up under the crisper drawers or freezes into a sheet of ice on the compartment floor.
It is the single most common refrigerator leak, and flushing the drain usually clears it. If it keeps refreezing, a technician can fix the drain heater or fit an improved drain part.
On a fridge with an ice maker or dispenser, a thin water line runs to a valve at the back. A loose fitting, a cracked plastic line or a failing inlet valve leaves drips or a slow puddle behind the fridge.
Shut the supply valve until it is fixed. Old plastic lines are worth replacing with braided ones, because a burst line can release a lot of water while nobody is home. The same valve feeds the ice maker, so a failed valve can also stop the ice.
Defrost water is meant to evaporate from a pan near the compressor. A cracked or displaced pan lets it reach the floor, usually as a small puddle centered under the fridge.
Checking the pan means removing the lower panel with the fridge unplugged. A new pan is an inexpensive part. A loose pan can also rattle or buzz.
A leak that starts right after a filter change usually means the filter is not fully seated, or it is a poorly fitting off-brand part. A clogged filter slows water to the ice maker.
Small or hollow cubes in the weeks before the ice stopped are the classic sign of a clogged filter. Air in the line after a filter change can also make the dispenser drip for a while.
Most ice makers stop for simple reasons: the shutoff arm or switch is off, the freezer is warmer than about 5°F, the filter is clogged or the fill tube has frozen.
Look at the mold. Bone dry means water never arrives. A slab of ice across it means the valve is dribbling. Cubes that form but never drop point at the ice maker's own motor or control. A buzz about every 15 minutes with no ice means it is trying to fill with no water.
A rattle or buzz from the back is often a loose drain pan or tubing touching the cabinet, not a failing part.
Make sure nothing on top of the fridge is vibrating and the cabinet is not touching the wall or the cabinets. A buzz while the ice maker fills is normal, and so are gurgling, popping and sizzling during defrost.
These are safe for an owner to do. Unplug the fridge before you reach behind it, under it or behind its lower grille.
Stop using the fridge and do not keep resetting it. Unplug it if the plug is easy and safe to reach. If anything is sparking, scorched or wet near the outlet, switch off its breaker instead. If there is smoke or fire, leave and call 911.
Then call (771) 222-7117. We are open Monday to Saturday 8 AM to 10 PM and Sunday 10 AM to 10 PM. We are not a 24/7 emergency service.
Federal food-safety advice is written for power outages. A fridge that has stopped cooling puts your food in the same spot, so go by the temperature inside, not by how food looks or smells.
While you wait for a repair, move the most perishable items to a cooler or a backup fridge.
Sources: FoodSafety.gov, Food Safety During Power Outage (food-by-food chart, last reviewed August 8, 2024); USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, Keeping Food Safe During an Emergency; FoodSafety.gov, Avoid Foodborne Illness During Temporary Power Outages. Checked October 20, 2026.
Refrigerators typically last 9 to 13 years, according to InterNACHI's life expectancy chart. What failed matters as much as the age.
Nearly any repair is worth it on a fridge this young. Check the manufacturer's warranty before you pay, because an expensive failure may still be covered. You can test any quote in our repair-or-replace calculator.
Fans, defrost parts, dampers, door gaskets, water valves and ice makers are usually worth fixing. A sealed-system or compressor quote on a fridge past its midpoint, about 5 to 6 years, is the close call. Put the quote and the price of a comparable new fridge into the repair-or-replace calculator before you approve it.
A fan is still a fan at any age, so smaller repairs often make sense. A sealed-system quote on an older mainstream fridge usually favors replacement. Premium built-ins such as Sub-Zero are built for decades and are often still worth repairing. Check the quote in the repair-or-replace calculator.
Our guide to repairing or replacing a refrigerator by age and fault explains the decision in more detail.
Each answer adds weight to the causes our repair guides link to that symptom. The checker shows up to three, most likely first, with the checks and guides that match. It cannot see or test your fridge. A technician confirms the cause on site and quotes the repair before any work starts.
Nothing you pick is saved. If you book, your answers are copied into the booking form so you can edit them before sending.
Appliance Surgeon repairs refrigerators and freezers across Washington, DC, Northern Virginia and nearby Maryland. The diagnostic visit is $75, or $115 for a double unit, and it is credited toward the repair when you approve the quote. Labor starts at $200, parts are listed in the quote, and every repair has a 90-day parts-and-labor warranty.
Monday to Saturday 8 AM to 10 PM, Sunday 10 AM to 10 PM.