If your Hotpoint fridge is freezing everything, there are few reasons for this. In this article, we discuss how to fix this problem.
Table of Contents
My Hotpoint Fridge Too Cold and Freezing Everything – What To Do
Do the following if your Hotpoint fridge is too cold to the point of freezing everything:
1. Check Food Placement
Place your food some distance from the freezer vent. They should also not face the vent.
The air coming from the freezer vent is cool enough to freeze food placed close to it or facing it. But if you place the food some distance from that vent, the food will not get frozen.
2. Load to Optimum Capacity
Fill the fridge with enough items to absorb the coldness.
If the fridge is largely empty, the cold air coming from the freezer falls to the bottom of the fridge. So, everything at the bottom of the fridge gets a lot of cold air and, therefore, get frozen. If the fridge is nearly empty, do not put your fresh food at the bottom of the fridge.
3. Inspect Damper Control
Inspect the damper control visually to check if it is broken or stuck.
The damper alternates between an open state and a closed state. When it is open, it allows cold air into the fridge. When it is closed, it restrains cool air from the refrigerator.
In other words, the damper regulates the amount of cool air that goes from the freezer into the fridge.
If the air damper remains open, the temperature will surpass that which has been set in the temperature setting. This will cause freezing in the fridge section..
What makes it remain open after it reaches the set temperature is the breakage of the damper control assembly. So, you should change it if you discover that it does not close anymore.
4. Adjust Temperature Setting
Set the freezer temperature at C or 5, and the fresh food section temperature 37oF to 42oF.
If the temperature settings are higher than the recommended settings, it causes the fridge to over freeze. So, each time you discover that the setting has changed, adjust it back to its recommended setting.
5. Check Door Seal
Jam a piece of paper in the door, and try to remove the piece of paper. If it comes out easily, then the gasket is weak. Replace the gasket.
The tightness of the door determines how closed it is. Therefore, if the door remains even slightly open, humid air from the atmosphere gains entrance into the refrigerator. Consequently, the moisture in the humid air freezes along with the food inside the unit.
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6. Check Thermostat
Turn the knob of the thermostat to the highest. If it is working as supposed, it will click when you get to the highest setting. But if it is not working well, it will fail to click. When this happens, test further for continuity using a multimeter.
Disconnect the fridge from its electric power source to avoid electrocution. The multimeter has two terminals or probes. Connect the probes to the thermostat, one on the positive pole and the other on the negative pole.
While maintaining these contacts, rotate the control knob from one extreme to another.
If the contacts of the thermostat are open, the multimeter should read “O.L.”. As you set towards the other extreme, the meter should begin with 0.000. So, if this change does not happen, it is an indication that the thermostat is faulty.
7. Clean Condenser Coil
Behind the fridge lies the coil. Move the fridge and use a canister vacuum cleaner to remove the dust. Then, clean the coil with a cloth to remove any remaining dirt or dust.
If there is grease or stickiness, use a damp soapy cloth to clean it.
Be sure to repeat the cleaning process once every six months.
The dust in the coil makes it hard for the compressor to work freely. To overcome this resistance, the compressor increases its effort. The increased effort of the compressor results in over freezing.
8. Test Thermistor
There are two ways to confirm if the thermistor is working well. First, test the resistance. Secondly, test its continuity. In both cases, use a multimeter.
The resistance of a thermistor that is working well varies directly with the temperature in the fridge. If the resistance is tested to be otherwise, then it is faulty. To be sure, test further for continuity. And if you see no continuity, replace the thermistor.
The thermistor reads the temperature of the fridge and sends it to the fridge’s control board. Faulty thermistors read the temperature wrongly, and so, send the wrong reading to the control board.
On its part, the control board assumes the reading to be correct. So, it applies the reading in regulating the other components.
Because of this, the voltage of the compressor and evaporator fan remains high. Over-freezing results from this.
9. Check Main Control Board
The main control board hardly gets faulty. So, if there is a problem of over freezing, check all the other relevant components.
You must satisfactorily prove that each of the other components is working perfectly. Only then can you hold the board responsible for the over freezing.
This video shows the top reasons why a fridge freezes everything in it…
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Recap
Apart from the components, your food positioning matters too. Use the fresh food section for the things that are not to be frozen. Keep fresh food out of the direct impact of the freezer vent.
To prevent recurrence of the problem of over freezing, always do the following:
i. Clean the coil
ii. Check the damper control assembly
iii. Adjust the temperature setting
iv. Load to the fridge to its optimum capacity
v. Ensure that the door is always air-tight closed