Freezer not freezing and refrigerator not cooling well

I have a Magic Chef ctn1511aew top freezer refrigerator.

The last few months I realized that the refrigerator doesn't cool too well. For example the milk would get sour very fast, however it still cooled and I was able to use it for less sensitive products.

The same thing was with the freezer. Although frozen things stayed frozen it took very long for it to get frozen in the first place.

I was seeing ice coming from the vents in the back of the freezer so I removed it. But when I read some things from this website I realized that there might be more ice. So I removed the evaporator from the back of the freezer and found a lot of ice on one side of the freezer.

Although I removed the ice I didn't see much improvement in the performance of the refrigerator since this didn;t solve the root of the problem. I wanted to see if the drain needs unclogging but I had no idea where the drain was.

What do you think is causing the ice build-up and the poor performance of the refrigerator and what can I do about it?

Thank You

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Answer

Hi,

The drain being clogged will not have an effect on the freezer section. In any case the drain is located directly under the freezer. If the drain is clogged the pan under the coils will more than likely be filled with ice, if so remove the ice and clean the drain out.

However if you are only seeing ice on one side of the coils then you have a more serious problem. Let the refrigerator run with the cover out of the back and the door closed for about an hour. Keep the door closed the entire time and just let it run. When you open the door after the hour you should see a thin layer of frost along the entire coils. If only part of the coils have the frost then you have a problem with sealed system such as a bad compressor, low on gas, or a clogged refrigeration line (capillary tube). None of which are do-it-yourself problems.


Thank you,
Shawn/administrator