How does a refrigerator work?

• Learn all about it here: https://www.danfoss.com/en/about-danfoss/our-businesses/cooling/the-fridge-how-it-works/ 

What should I do to keep my refrigerator in good shape?

• Perform a yearly defrost
  What this does
  This involves relocating items in your refrigerator to ice chests and coolers, or consuming all your fridge items, then unplugging and keeping all the doors open overnight. You may have ice in it that melts so ensure you have towels underneath and at the ready if there was ice buildup. 

• The first recommended step (if you don't want to hire someone or replace your refrigerator) is to defrost it. This means you take all your food out and pack it into coolers/bags or you eat it all, and you unplug it and open the doors and let the whole thing go to room temperature (some people may say to use a heater or hair dryer but you may damage your refrigerator plastic in doing so). You can also run some warm water down the drain hole if you have access to it. 

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• Detailed instructions here:

• https://www.whirlpool.com/blog/kitchen/how-to-defrost-a-freezer.html

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• Then when everything has melted, plug it back in and let it return to normal operations. If the ice continues to build, you can google the model number and see what others have done if you want to DIY and take apart your refrigerator to fix it yourself (at times, heating elements may be sold as either replacements or upgrades to the existing model's part number, or you can hire someone to do all of this, or replace it. Here are the repair instructions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rk9LFXIv-E 

• Pull out and vacuum
  The radiator fins may have dust bunnies that are collecting on the may be reducing the efficiency on your refrigerator. If you need to remove the back panel to clean the inside, unplug your fridge first.

Why do I get icing in my refrigerator?

• Condensation due to humidity or open containers along with a failed defroster or clogged drain tube may lead to icing which will keep your refrigerator from cooling. 

If you want to take a DIY approach, the ice sheets are most likely caused by a refrigerator drain tube that's clogged. Excess condensation usually goes down this tube and onto a tray pan in the back of your refrigerator which then evaporates into the air. Blockage means that condensation stays in your refrigerator and creates ice sheets. This can be caused by a variety of reasons, including:

1. Bad design by Whirlpool: The drain tube is too small, or the temperature sensor on it may not kick in to defrost it properly. Whirlpool has a terrible S-shape design for their drain pipe. Could be frozen there, it could be frozen further up in the line. 

2. User behavior: Leaving any exposed food in the refrigerator leading to condensation, or if the room has humidity, it clings to the evaporator coils and creates ice, which disrupts the ability for the refrigerator to get cold enough.