The 5 Most Common Fridge Faults and What to Check

A fridge runs every hour of every day, so it wears in fairly predictable ways. Most of the calls we get come down to the same handful of faults. Here are the five we see most, what they look like, and the checks worth doing before you call anyone.

1. Fridge not cooling but the freezer is fine

This is the most common fridge fault we attend. The usual cause is airflow. On most modern fridges the freezer does the cooling and a small fan pushes cold air up into the fridge compartment. If that vent ices up or the fan stops, the freezer stays cold while the fridge slowly warms.

Before you call, check the fridge is not jammed so full that it blocks the vents at the back, and that the temperature dial has not been knocked. We go through the rest of the checks in why the fridge is warm when the freezer still works.

2. Whole fridge running warm

If both compartments are warm, start with the basics. Pull the fridge out and check the condenser coils at the back or underneath are not caked in dust, because dust chokes the coils and the fridge cannot shed heat. Check the door seals close cleanly and are not torn, since a bad seal lets warm air in and runs the compressor into the ground. Samsung has a good rundown of the things to check when a fridge is not cooling.

A fridge fighting dirty coils or a poor seal also costs more to run, and you can compare running costs on the government's energy rating site. If the coils are clean and the seals are good and it is still warm, that points at the compressor or the gas, which is a job for a technician.

3. Water pooling in the bottom or under the fridge

A puddle inside the fridge is usually a blocked defrost drain. The little drain hole at the back of the compartment carries melt water away, and it clogs with gunk over time. A careful flush with warm water often clears it. Water on the floor is more likely the drain pan under the fridge, or the water line to an ice maker or dispenser.

4. Noisy fridge

Fridges are not silent, but a new noise is worth chasing. A humming or buzzing that comes and goes is often the compressor or a fan. A loud rattle can be as simple as the fridge not sitting level, or the drip tray vibrating. A rapid clicking with no cooling can be the compressor relay. We cover the common ones in what the noises from your fridge mean.

5. Ice maker not making ice

On fridges with a plumbed ice maker, the usual culprits are a frozen or kinked water line, or a water filter that is overdue for a change. Check the line is not pinched behind the fridge and that the filter has been done in the last six months.

Do fridges need regassing?

No, not as routine maintenance. A domestic fridge is a sealed system, so unlike a car air conditioner it does not slowly lose gas and it is not due for a top-up every few years. If the gas is genuinely low there is a leak, and the leak has to be found and repaired first or the new gas goes the same way.

This matters because "it needs regassing" is the diagnosis people expect when a fridge stops cooling, and it is usually wrong. Far more often the cause is airflow: an iced-up evaporator, a failed fan, choked condenser coils or a door seal that no longer grips. Those are all repairable faults and none of them involve the sealed system.

If a technician does confirm a sealed-system fault on a fridge past about twelve years, that is the point where the repair cost starts closing on replacement and it is worth having the conversation before committing.

Fridge maintenance that prevents most of these faults

Three jobs, none of them technical, and between them they cover most of the list above.

• Clean the condenser coils twice a year. They are at the back or underneath, and they clog with dust, pet hair and cobwebs. Dirty coils make the compressor run longer, which is what drives both the running cost and the eventual failure.
• Check the door seals. Close the door on a sheet of paper. If it slides out without any drag, the seal has gone soft and the fridge is fighting warm air all day. Seals are inexpensive and replaceable, covered in replacing a fridge door seal.
• Keep the vents clear and flush the defrost drain. Do not jam food against the back wall where the cold air comes in, and clear the little drain hole at the back of the compartment with warm water before it blocks.

Salt air on this coast is hard on fridges, and it shows up first at the coils and the exposed metal. A fridge in a garage or an unventilated laundry needs the coil clean more often than one in the kitchen.

Brand-specific fridge faults

The five faults above turn up on every brand, but the way they present differs a little.

Fisher & Paykel fridges use multiple fans and sensors to hold their temperature zones, so a single failed fan or sensor shows up as one compartment drifting warm while the rest stays right. Westinghouse and other frost-free models are the classic warm-fridge-cold-freezer case covered in fault one, where the air path from the freezer has iced up or the fan has stopped. On Samsung and LG fridges, ice makers and in-door water systems add their own failure points, mostly water lines and filters rather than the refrigeration itself.

None of that changes the checks worth doing yourself. It changes what the technician goes looking for first.

When to call

Coil cleaning, clearing a defrost drain and levelling the fridge are all safe to do yourself. Anything involving the sealed refrigeration system, the compressor or the gas is not a DIY job, both for safety and because getting it wrong is expensive.

If your fridge is warm, leaking or noisy and the checks above have not sorted it, our fridge repair page covers what we do and the brands we handle. Book a repair or call 02 4229 3777, and we will often get to you the same day.