energy efficiency is a bitch. the new fridges want 24 hours to come to temperature. we got a new maytag a few years ago and had the service guy out and he made some small changes in the cold vent. remember to take product not air temperatures with a minimum/maximum digital thermometer like a pyrex available at wegmans supermarket. if your milk is too warm is's not going to last as long as it should at
35-40 degrees. here the kids and the wife like to overload the fridge shelves forward too far so the door barely closes. when the freezer door is then used and closed, its air pushes thru the fan and opens the fridge door slightly and you know what happens next to the temperature. you must use a new digital thermometer to eliminate doubt. a cold glass of water in the fridge. after monitoring the water temperature in a refrigerated glass of water with the thermometer turned on for 24 hours with a new thermometer, completely defrost it by unplugging it for 48 hours with a 20" window fan blowing into its propped open doors from the kitchen tabletop. also, if you are running a warmer than 80 degree kitchen there may be additional concern on this.
for professional advice online:
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a website full of humor and samurai appliance repair tips. with so many appliances on the market, dig around for gems of his like this one:
"Instruct the customer to step away from the refrigerator as I walk into the kitchen so she can show me how gawd-awful warm it is. Within seconds of opening the door, refrigerator space temperature jumps. See, I'll use my infrared thermometer to get an instant temperature reading the moment I open the door. Getting an accurate temperature read on the two compartments both forms the empirical basis for proceeding and helps to define the problem. For example, if the freezer is at 0=BAF or below but the fresh food compartment is at 53=BAF, I'll bet you my last warm can of Bud that the problem is with air distribution and I'm going straight for the air supply or air return ducts. Oh yeah, I got lots o' little tricks like that. Stick around and I'll show you a few.
Is the condenser fan running and the condenser clean? The condenser is the dirty, icky black coil-thingy at the very bottom of your fridge, right above the floor (unless your refrigerator cools its condenser by natural-convection, in which case, the condenser would be mounted on the back of the refrigerator cabinet and you wouldn't have a condenser fan). If the condenser fan ain't running or the condenser is matted up with Rover's hair, well, hope you like warm beer, that's all I gots to say.
Is the evaporator fan running? That's the one in the freezer; you won't see it but you can hear it. On some models, it stops running when the freezer door is opened, but you'll hear it when the door is closed. Turn down Shania Twain and Garth Brooks long enough to really listen to the sounds your appliances make. You know, when you're troubleshooting, you're using all five of your senses. Does something smell different? Does something sound different? Well, how you gonna know if'n you don't listen to them when things are running well? Hmmm? Ok then. Y'see, Slick, all your cold air is made in the freezer and that little fan in there blows some of it into the beer compartment. No fan =3D=3D warm beer. Is simple, da tovarish?
Does the evaporator itself look abnormal: either too much frost build-up or too little? Too much frost indicates a defrost system failure =3D=3D easy, inexpensive fix that's definitely worth doing. Too little frost means either a freon leak or a worn compressor; either way, junk the refrigerator and get a new one... "