Start here
For the Alpicool DR family, a cabinet that will not hold temperature is usually a cabinet loaded past its vents rather than anything deeper in the machine. That is not where the brand-generic article on this symptom starts, so a reader arriving from it should expect a different order here. Most of what follows can be settled without opening anything; only the last item is a service call.
What this looks like on a DR unit
- One compartment holds and the other does not — Cold being made but not moved looks exactly like this.
- Frost builds as a sheet on the back wall — A sheet rather than the usual light dusting is an airflow story.
- The cabinet is warm but the unit is clearly running — The compressor is audible; the air inside is not cold.
- Food at the front is warmer than food at the back — A vent blocked by the load will do exactly this.
- The display looks normal and nothing runs — Power present and no compressor is a different problem from a compressor that runs and fails.
- It matches a unit whose plate reads close but not identical — A near match is a different family. Only the entry in this page's model table is covered here.
- NEAR MISS — water under the unit and normal temperature — A leak with a cold cabinet is the leak page, not this one.
Causes, most likely first on the DR family
- A cabinet loaded past its vents — It leads here. It costs nothing to test and is ruled out faster than anything else on this list.
- A defrost cycle that has stopped running — It sits behind the lead here. Every cycle that does not run leaves a little more ice behind than the last one.
- A condenser fan that has stopped — It is third on this family. The compressor runs hot and may cut out on its own protector, giving an intermittent picture.
- A sealed-system leak or a failed compressor — Last on this family. Oil at the compressor or a coil that never gets warm are the two signs that take you straight here.
- Body: The brand-generic article on this symptom opens on a frosted evaporator blocking the air path. Here it does not: a cabinet loaded past its vents has moved above it, and a frosted evaporator blocking the air path has moved down the list. What moved it is how this family is laid out across the entries in its own table.
Check in this order, and why
- Move the load away from the outlets for a day — A unit that recovers when it is unpacked has told you the answer.
- Note whether the frost returns on a schedule after a manual thaw — A cycle that has stopped running leaves a little more ice behind each time.
- Watch whether the compressor cuts out on its own after a long run — Its own protector tripping points at heat rejection, not at the cabinet.
- Feel whether the condenser ever gets warm during a run — A coil that never warms while the compressor runs points at the sealed system.
- Body: With one member in the family there is nothing to identify first, so the order below is driven entirely by the ranking above it.
Safety first
Safety
Isolate the unit first. Unplug it or switch off its breaker before any panel is removed, because a capacitor can hold a charge after the power is off. Sheet-metal edges behind a panel cut, and a compressor housing stays hot long after a run. Gloves for the first, patience for the second. Anything on the sealed side belongs to a licensed technician. That line does not move because a fault is small or a part looks accessible.
Models in the DR family
Reference| Model number | Family key |
|---|---|
| DR80 | alpicool:refrigerator:dr |
When to call a technician
What separates the two halves of this list is access, not difficulty. Work down the checks above first; they cost minutes and they remove most of this list. Call once they have all come back clean, because what is left is a sealed-system leak or a failed compressor, and that is the only item on this page that cannot be judged from outside the cabinet. Call straight away, without working down the list, if you smell burning or see oil outside the tubing at the back: oil outside the tubing means the system is open, and every hour it runs after that costs more to put right.
Other DR pages
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