FirstCheck
EN FR
🍁 Built for Canadian homes — written to Canadian codes and provincial rules. Not intended for use outside Canada.
DRAFT — this page has not yet been reviewed by a licensed professional. Editorial preview only.

Fridge not cooling

More often than not this is dust, a bumped dial, or a blocked vent — free fixes. One honest caution while you troubleshoot: perishable food that sits above 4 °C for more than a couple of hours shouldn't be trusted, so keep the doors closed and move the delicate stuff to a cooler if this drags on.

tuneWhat are you noticing?
Select anything that matches and the checklist below reorders to fit. Not sure? Skip it.
emergency_home

flag
Start here

In Canadian homes, dirty condenser coils are the classic reason a fridge slowly stops keeping up. Pop off the grille at the bottom front (or pull the fridge out and look at the back) — if the coils wear a grey felt of dust and pet hair, unplug the fridge and vacuum them clean. Free, ten minutes, and it's the most common fix on this page.

Ranked from real-world failure data. The order updates as you select what you’re noticing above.

Likely causes, in the order to check them

Showing the typical order
Beginner-friendly Doable, with care Safety-critical Call a pro

visibilityHow to check

  1. Find the coils. On most modern fridges they're behind the snap-off grille at the bottom front; on older ones, a black radiator-style grid on the back.
  2. Shine a flashlight in. Clean coils look like bare dark metal; the guilty ones wear a grey felt of dust and pet hair thick enough to hide the metal entirely.
  3. Bonus clue: a fridge with matted coils often runs hot along its sides and barely ever shuts off. If the coils are furry, you have earned the easiest fix on this page.
buildflashlight schedule10 min

handymanVacuum the coils

Unplug the fridge, pop the grille, and vacuum the coils with the brush or crevice attachment; an inexpensive coil brush reaches the felt the vacuum can't. Twenty minutes, and doing it every 6–12 months (more with pets) prevents the repeat. A technician will do the same as part of a service visit.

  1. Unplug the fridge. (Food is fine for the twenty minutes this takes with the doors kept closed.)
  2. Snap off the front grille at the bottom (or pull the fridge out gently if the coils are on the back — walk it side to side rather than dragging the feet across the floor).
  3. Vacuum the coils with the brush or crevice attachment. Work a coil brush between the rows to lift the packed felt, then vacuum again. Get the fan area too if you can see it.
  4. Refit the grille, plug in, push the fridge back, and give it a few hours. Sides cooler to the touch and longer rests between run cycles mean it's breathing again.
schedule20 min savings$0–15
Condenser coil brushAny long flexible coil-cleaning brush fits; pair it with your vacuum's crevice tool

visibilityHow to check

  1. Find the vents: usually slots on the back wall of the fridge, sometimes between the freezer and fridge sections. Your manual (or the model number plus "air vent" online) shows exactly where.
  2. Look for food packed against them — tall boxes and bags on the top shelf are the usual offenders. Clear a hand's width of space around every vent.
  3. Also check the door: a bag wedged against the gasket, or a sagging seal, lets warm air leak in. Close the door on a strip of paper — if it slides out with no drag, the gasket isn't sealing there.
buildNo tools schedule5 min

handymanClear the vents

Rearrange so nothing touches the vents, keep the fridge about three-quarters full rather than packed solid (a fridge cools food, not boxes of air, but it needs channels to move that air), and re-check in a few hours. If shelves nearest the vents recover first, airflow was the whole story.

schedule10 min savingsusually free

visibilityHow to check

  1. Confirm the pattern first: freezer clearly cold, fridge section warm. That combination is this cause's signature.
  2. Open the freezer and listen for a soft fan whirr. On many models the fan stops when the door opens — press and hold the door switch (the little plunger on the frame) and listen again.
  3. Silence where there should be a whirr, or a rattling, groaning fan, points here. A fan blocked by frost also fits — if you see heavy frost too, look at the defrost cause below before buying anything.
buildNo tools schedule10 min

handymanReplacing the fan

report Unplug it before the panel comes offBehind that panel are the fan (which can start on its own), 120-volt wiring, and razor-edged aluminum fins. Unplug the fridge — not just the controls off — before removing any panel, and let ice melt rather than prying against it. If any of that dampens your enthusiasm, fair enough: this is a routine, reasonably priced visit for an appliance technician.

The fan lives behind the freezer's back panel. Replacement means unplugging the fridge, emptying the freezer, removing the panel (often iced in), and swapping the motor — the new motor must match your model number exactly. Handy owners do this; most people hand it to an appliance technician, and that's a sound call.

  1. Unplug the fridge — not just off, unplugged. Empty the freezer into coolers.
  2. Remove the freezer's back panel. If it's frozen in place, let it thaw free; never pry against ice.
  3. Check the fan first: blades seized by frost may just need the thaw (and point to the defrost cause instead). A motor that's free but dead gets replaced — order by your fridge's full model number (on a plate inside the fridge or on the door frame).
  4. Swap the motor, reconnect the wiring plug, refit the panel, plug in, and confirm the whirr returns with the door switch pressed.
schedule90 min savings$40–120
gavel Check your province first AB: homeowner may do this · BC: homeowner may do this · ON: homeowner may do this · PE: homeowner may do this · QC: homeowner may do this
Cord-and-plug appliance component replacement with no refrigerant handling; not licence-restricted. The refrigerant circuit stays sealed in this repair.

visibilityThe unplug-and-thaw test

warning Food and meltwater, before you start the thawA full thaw takes up to two days. Move perishables to coolers with ice packs — anything that sits above 4 °C for more than about two hours shouldn't be trusted, and when in doubt, throw it out. Lay towels and check them as the frost melts, and never chip at ice with a knife or screwdriver: one puncture of the coil behind it writes off the fridge.
  1. Look first: open the freezer and inspect the back wall. A hard, even sheet of frost over the whole back wall points to a defrost failure (light frost around the door is normal).
  2. To confirm, unplug the fridge, move food to coolers with ice packs, prop both doors open, and lay towels around the base for meltwater. Let it thaw completely — up to 24–48 hours; never chip at ice with anything sharp.
  3. Plug it back in. If it cools normally again, the cooling system itself is healthy and a defrost part (heater, thermostat, or timer/board) has failed. Expect the problem to creep back over 2–6 weeks — book the repair; the thaw bought you time, not a cure.
buildcoolersbuildtowels schedule30 min

handymanAfter the thaw: the real repair

The thaw test buys weeks, not a cure — one of the defrost parts (heater, defrost thermostat, or timer/control board) has failed and will let the frost rebuild. A technician tests which one with the panels off and replaces it in a single visit. When you book, say "it cools fine after a full manual defrost" — that sentence does half their diagnosis.

visibilityHow to check

  1. Find the temperature control — a dial inside the fridge on older models, a digital panel on newer ones.
  2. Check it against where you normally keep it. Bumped to a warm number (or "off") explains everything; set it back.
  3. If you have a fridge thermometer, aim for 4 °C or below in the fridge and −18 °C in the freezer, and give the fridge up to 24 hours to settle after a change.
buildNo tools schedule2 min

handymanSet it right and give it a day

Return the control to its usual setting — 4 °C or below for the fridge, −18 °C for the freezer — and give it up to 24 hours to pull back down. A cheap fridge thermometer takes the guesswork out and is worth keeping in there permanently.

schedule5 min savings$0–15

visibilityHow to recognize it

  1. Stand near the fridge for ten minutes and listen low at the back. The signature is a click, a few seconds of hum (or nothing), then another click a few minutes later, repeating.
  2. That rhythm is the compressor trying to start and tripping off on its overload — often a failed start relay, sometimes a failing compressor.
  3. Stop there. The parts involved carry line voltage and connect to the sealed refrigerant system, so diagnosis past listening is a technician's job. Mention the clicking when you book — it helps them arrive with the right parts.
buildNo tools schedule10 min

verifiedWhy this one goes to a pro

The start components carry line voltage and can bite even unplugged (on some models a run capacitor holds a charge), and the compressor connects to the sealed refrigerant circuit — work that under federal rules (SOR/2016-137) requires a certified technician. Your part is done: you heard the clicking and can describe it. That description is genuinely useful — hand it to the tech.

gavel Check your province first AB: licensed professionals only · BC: licensed professionals only · ON: licensed professionals only · PE: licensed professionals only · QC: licensed professionals only
Any work that opens the refrigerant circuit (compressor replacement, refrigerant recovery/recharge) requires certified handling under the federal Ozone-depleting Substances and Halocarbon Alternatives Regulations (SOR/2016-137). The plug-in start relay itself is not licence-restricted, but diagnosis here routinely crosses into sealed-system work — treat the whole job as technician-only. REVIEW: confirm framing with an appliance technician.

Your notes travel with the request — what you saw, what you ruled out, when it started — so the pro arrives with a head start instead of a mystery.

sort

Why the list is in this order

We don’t sort by likelihood alone. We sort the way a good, honest tradesperson thinks: rule out the free, safe, common causes first. That’s why the cheap checks outrank the expensive repairs — and why anything dangerous gets a hard stop instead of a pep talk. The order exists to save you money, not to sell you anything.