QUESTION FROM Melora

My amana side by side stopped freezing items...repair man says he thinks the gas is leaking out of the sealed system and I should replace fridge. Ice was forming on the coils in the freezer and we removed the ice, then fridge/freezer did work 3 months, but has now again stopped working. I am wondering if this problem could be due to overfilling of fridge (which I had done just prior to both failures) or if there is definitely a leak in which case fridge must be replaced.

Thank you!

ANSWER FROM HOME-WIZARD

Dear Melora:

Overfilling a refrigerator is definitely not good for it. Overfilling prevents air from circulating inside of the refrigerator, and this makes your refrigerator's motor from having to work harder. There are two problems with making the motor work to harder: 1) it causes your refrigerator to consume more energy; and 2) by constantly work harder, it causes your refrigerator to wear out sooner.

So maybe the most recent time that you overfilled your refrigerator, that this put additional strain on it, and was enough to push it over the edge.

But before saying that your problem is definitely a leak in your refrigerant (gas), it really takes a trained service person to inspect your refrigerator, and determine first if the problem could simply be:

1) a thermostat going bad.
2) blocked fan.
3) broken or bent fan blades.
4) faulty door switch.
5) faulty defrost timer (assuming your unit has one; if it does, then this could also explain why you had the ice formation).

Hope this is helpful.
Home-Wizard.com

FOLLOW-UP FROM Melora

Thanks so much for the detailed info.

Your service is terrific.