The short answer
On the CRS family the usual reason a Cordova refrigerator is no longer holding temperature is door seal or a door not closing fully, and that is where the order below departs from the brand-generic article one level up. The setting, the seals, the coil and a manual defrost are owner work; the sealed system and anything behind the freezer rear panel are not.
What you observe on these models
- Water under the salad drawers or ice at the base of the freezer — Meltwater with nowhere to go, which usually travels with a defrost problem.
- The cabinet is warm but the appliance is clearly running — The motor noise is there and the air inside is not cold, which rules out a power fault.
- It coped last summer and does not cope now — A capacity story rather than a failure story, which usually means heat is not being shed.
- The compressor never seems to stop — Continuous running without reaching temperature is the same fault seen from the other side.
- The freezer is still hard but the fresh-food side is warm — An asymmetric fault, which points between the compartments rather than at the whole system.
- NEAR MISS — the appliance is silent and nothing is cold — That is a power or start fault, and the no-power page is the one to read instead.
Causes, most likely first on the CRS family
- Door seal or a door not closing fully — Ranked first here: warm room air entering continuously is a load the system was never sized for. On a compact cabinet it is decisive, because there is less capacity in reserve to absorb it.
- Condenser fan not running — Second: the tell is heat: a machine compartment that is uncomfortably warm with a fan that is not turning is this cause and very little else.
- Evaporator fan no longer moving air — Third: it ranks here because it produces the same warm cabinet as an iced coil with none of the frost to show for it, and because the door-open test separates the two in seconds.
- Stalled defrost leaving the evaporator iced over — Fourth: the evaporator is meant to be cleared several times a day.
- Control setting, sensor or a mode left on — Fifth: a sensor that reads warm keeps the system running; one that reads cold stops it.
- Start relay or overload on the compressor — Sixth: the clicking pattern is the whole diagnosis: a repeated attempt every few minutes with no sustained run is this and not a refrigerant fault.
Check in this order, and why
- Close the door on a sheet of paper and pull — If it slides out freely the seal is not sealing, and that is a continuous heat load.
- Feel whether the machine compartment is unusually hot — Heat with a still fan is this cause; heat with a turning fan sends you back to the coil.
- Listen at the freezer with the door held open and the switch pressed — Silence where a fan should run separates a stopped fan from a blocked coil.
- Look at the freezer rear wall for a sheet of frost — A solid jacket rather than a light dusting confirms the coil is blocked with ice.
Before you open anything
Safety
Unplug the appliance or switch off its breaker before removing any panel — a capacitor can hold a charge after the power is off. Leave the door switch wired exactly as it is: it cuts power to the cabinet fan for a reason, and defeating it puts a spinning blade in a space your hand goes into. Anything on the sealed system is licensed work, so if you find oil at the tubing, stop there. Get help before moving the cabinet: it is heavier than it looks and it will pivot on its front feet.
Models in the CRS family
Reference| Model number | Family key |
|---|---|
| CRS232P* | cordova:refrigerator:crs |
| CRS262P* | cordova:refrigerator:crs |
When to call a technician
The line is the freezer rear panel. Everything in front of it is owner work; the fan, the heater and the sensor behind it are not, and neither is anything requiring gauges on the sealed system.
