Garage fridge suddenly struggling to freeze
For reference, the model number is 795.71054.011.
It’s a Kenmore Elite from roughly 2010/2011. It was a friend’s primary fridge until roughly a month ago, when he got a whole new appliance set and donated the old one to us to be our garage fridge.
I plugged her in and she worked great…for three weeks.
This morning, my wife noticed that some meat in the freezer was soft to the touch. I grabbed my IR thermometer and, yup, the surface of most of the food items was between 30-40 degrees F. I’m not an expert but I’ve been told this is bad. We threw everything perishable away and I went to work (with YouTube).
Things I’ve checked:
-Compressor is hot, vibrating and clearly on
-condenser fan is running
-condenser coils are relatively clean, just minor dust, but I vaccuumed it anyway
-gaskets around the door appear to sealed. I did the dollar bill test in about 10 different spots and felt resistance each time
-evaporator fan appears to be running, as i can feel the airflow and hear it when i shut the door or hold down the door sensors
-i don’t see much ice on the evaporator coils, but it’s a bit difficult to access them on this model. I can only see half of them, and i need to remove the freezer door and pull the entire back panel, wiring harnesses, and fan out to see all of them.
Any bright ideas?