Freezer not freezing?

[bk42261]

Thank Alleged Entity we bought a new fridge, and put the old one out in the shed as "backup". The old one was running fine, but we knew it was on it's last legs.
Anyway, we put some hot dogs, steak, and ribs in the old freezer along with the bottles of (already frozen) ice out in the shed just to make sure the new freezer had plenty of space to circulate the cold air.
About a month later, we wanted the hot dogs for dinner, and they were "soft" meaning not quite frozen solid, but still "icy".
Two days later, I wanted steak, so went to get it out, and it was totally thawed, as were the ribs, BUT the bottled ice is still frozen solid?
We fed the meat to the crows and emptied some older stuff out of the chest freezer into the "shed freezer" two days ago. Checked it today, and all of the food is at least partially thawed, but the bottled ice, as well as the ice cubes we moved from the chest freezer are still solidly frozen!?
What am I missing here? This doesn't make sense to me that the actual ice hasn't even softened but the foodstuff is??

 

[TX-Dennis]

You need 0F to have solid frozen food. Anything below 32F will keep ice solid. It's cold, but not cold enough.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

The single door refrigerators with the freezer hanging in top are good to keep things at 17 degrees F. Ice Cream may or may not be frozen, but Sherbet seldom will be solid at that temp.

The compressor has a piston with rings, something like a car motor. As they get older they lose compression and their ability to remove heat from inside and place it outside diminishes (even without a Freon leak). When we moved from the farmhouse to the condo we left our upright freezer behind. My folks bought it in 1961 and it still worked fine and will probably still be working when the one down stairs is a ball of rust. But Norge has been out of the appliance business since the mid 70's and a new door gasket set will be in order anytime! (and it wasn't self defrosting-which I think is good; but she thinks is bad!) So it is gone! Best $25 bucks I ever spent, in 1979! Best $37 my folks spent, in 1961!!!

Ivan

 

[BigBoy99]

Have you checked the coils underneath the freezer? These coils are where the heat is dissipated from the compressor. If the coils are clogged with pet hair, debris, they will not cool the refrigerant and the freezer will not get down to the correct temperature.

 

[perryhd]

Could be as simple as turning the control down. If it is a frost free type it may be the defrost heaters. If the heaters go out the coil inside the freezer will ice up keeping it from cooling properly. I would get a freezer thermometer to put in it so you can tell what the temp is. IIRC they recommend 0 to -10 F for a food freezer.

 

[soFlaNative]

Perry made a good point. Wife turned the fridge and freeze temp to coldest before Hurricane Irma. After the storm on generator things weren't cooling properly. Came up during a conversation with a neighbor, his first question was if the temp control was bottomed. He said if the setting is too low the defrost heater coils won't cycle and ice up. I put the controls back to midrange and all is well.

 

[Steve912]

Two days later, I wanted steak, so went to get it out, and it was totally thawed, as were the ribs, BUT the bottled ice is still frozen solid?

It was an act of Alleged Entity!!

 

[Gripgrabber]

Hello, if it’s a frost free, sometimes the defrost timer (which will stop the compressor and turn on the heater embedded in the evaporator coil, then terminate the defrost cycle after time or if it reaches a temperature) will hang up (stick) and not defrost properly! Google your brand to find out where it is. Us a screwdriver to rotate it through a cycle. I’m has stuck twice in the last year.
Good luck
SEMPER PARATUS

 

[kellyon]

Last time when my freezer was broken I found a freezer room for sale in Auckland here. It's energy efficient and engineered for low maintenance. It was the best solution for me, I forgot about any problems with cold storage.