Fridge too Cold? 4 Ways to Troubleshoot

You want your fridge to be cool, but if you are finding that your food is frozen or covered in frost, you would be a little alarmed. And rightly so! After all, frozen food in the freezer is normal, but frozen food in the refrigerator is not. If your freezer is causing food to frost or freeze, this can also mean that the refrigerator is broken. Before you call for help, however, there are a few things that you can do to troubleshoot the problem:

1. Check the Temperature Settings: Ideally, you’ll want your fridge to be between 38- and 42-degrees Fahrenheit or 1.4 to 4.4 degrees Celsius. The temperature setting was likely correct when you first installed the refrigerator. However, you may have changed the setting by accident while trying to find something in your fridge or maybe your child decided to mess around while looking for an afternoon snack. Whatever the case, checking the settings and ensuring that they are correct is the first step.
2. Figure Out What’s Freezing: If only some items are freezing or frosting, you may simply need to rearrange your fridge setup. Try to figure out what is freezing and where the freezing occurs. In most refrigerators, the upper top shelf is the coldest because this is where the cooling vents are located. This area is ideal for storing foods that need a cooler temperature such as cooked meat. Other foods like vegetables, however, will do better away from the vents. If only some foods are frosting, make it a point to keep those temperature-sensitive foods away from the cooler areas of the refrigerator.
3. Clean Out Your Coils: The coils are typically located at the back of the refrigerator unit and need to be cleaned out every few months. Some refrigerator models will overcool when the coils are dirty so, if you’re having a freezing problem, you may want to dust off your coils with a vacuum or cloth.
4. Check Your Freezer: As with your refrigerator, it may be easy to accidentally change the settings on your freezer. A freezer that is too low may be seeping cold into your fridge. You want your freezer to be at, or slightly below, zero degrees. If you think that your freezer is the root of the problem, try setting it to zero degrees and then check your fridge several hours later.

While some problems require a specialist, there are a few things you can try if your fridge is over-freezing.