My Frigidaire top-freezer refrigerator ice maker is broken. It will not make ice. The freezer had been left open this past weekend for a period of time by the babysitter. I suppose that has something to do with it. What should I check for when I go home?
It's possible that it iced up. Is there any way you can empty the fridge and freezer and unplug it with the doors open for 4 hours?
(If you have a second fridge, or a garage/basement freezer, or a friendly and helpful neighbor or two perhaps this would be feasible)
Silver lining on the cloud: you could give the fridge and freezer a thorough cleaning; get all that spilled milk and juice and dried food wiped up.
Can I just defrost the freezer? It does have a separate thermostat.
Unless things have changed in recent years, the answer is "no". Here's why:
Your refrigerator only has one pump/compressor/evaporator, not two. This refrigeration system provides cold air to the freezer section. The refrigerator section does not have a separate refrigeration system. It just steals cold air as necessary from the freezer. So if you turn off the cold air to the freezer, there's no cold air for the refrigerator.
If your freezer has a manually-selectable "defrost" cycle that probably wouldn't help anyway. Usually that's designed to keep and/or remove frost from the coils and the sides of the freezer; it probably wouldn't be enough to help your ice-maker in the event the problem with your ice-maker is indeed an iced-up water line or an ice-jam in the mechanism somewhere.
You need to unplug the fridge and open the doors for several hours. Look for the silver lining: take the opportunity to clean the freezer and fridge.
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