refrigerator cycles to much but seems to keep everyting cold

My Kitchenaid Superba side by side is approx 5 years old and lately I have noticed it cycling to much. All the food in both the freezer and food storage sides seem to be cold enough. Eventhough it seems to be keeping everything cold enough, I don't want to wait until it finally starts causing problems. I am a X auto teacher and mechanic and know that if this happens in a automobile you usually have low refrigerant but that usually goes along with it not cooling properly. Has anyone had this problem?

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Answer

Hi,

Are you saying that it is running too long or turning off and on too much?
If it is cutting on and off too much then you could have an air leak and when the refrigerator is off it don’t stay off long because the air leak. Check the door gaskets and if they are bad replace them.

If you are saying that is runs too long….
Often when people complain about it running too long but still cooling there is really nothing wrong. Note that I am not saying this is the case with you but keep it in mind.

There could be an airflow problem such as a slow running fan or a fan that doesn’t run at all. There should be two fans one in the freezer and one near the compressor, make sure they both will run as they should.

Then remove the back wall of the freezer to take a look at the coils. There should be a thin layer of frost along the entire set of coils. If the frost is only on part of the coils you may have a refrigeration problem. This could be low on gas, bad compressor or clogged capillary tube.
If you don’t find anything wrong you will have to take temperature in the freezer and the fresh food section. It should be around 33-37 degrees in the fresh food section and 0 in the freezer section.

Thank you,
Shawn/administrator