The short answer
On the Criterion HS refrigerator a cabinet that runs but will not cool is an airflow story in most cases, and this family carries one extra suspect the brand-generic page does not: door sealing. Several cabinets here exist in two builds, and a door or gasket carried over from the other build holds the seal unevenly, which loads the cabinet with warm, humid air and frosts the evaporator faster than anything else on the list.
What you observe
- Fresh-food side warm, freezer still frozen — Air is not reaching the upper compartment: the airflow split.
- Frost returning within days of a manual defrost — Either the defrost circuit is not clearing the coil, or humid room air keeps arriving through a gap.
- A gasket that does not grip a sheet of paper at one corner — The family-specific find: an uneven seal, often a door part from the other build.
- Both compartments warming together over a day or two — Points at the sealed system rather than at air.
- NEAR MISS — cabinet silent, nothing running — A power, relay or control fault: that is the page for a refrigerator that will not start.
Causes, most likely first on this family
- Frost closing the evaporator after a stalled defrost — First, as on the brand generally. It builds over weeks and is noticed as warmth rather than as ice.
- Door seal or door alignment — Second on this family, where the page above ranks it fourth. Two builds per cabinet means a correct-looking door part can seal unevenly, and a cabinet taking in humid air frosts its evaporator repeatedly however good the defrost circuit is.
- Evaporator fan not running — Third. It presents exactly like the frost case from the front; the difference is that no air moves at all with the door switch held in.
- Condenser coil or machine compartment blocked — Fourth, and seasonal: a dusty coil costs capacity on the warmest days first.
- Sealed-system or compressor fault — Last, least common, and the only one that is not owner-diagnosable.
Check in this order, and why
- Do the paper test at every corner of both doors — On this family it comes first because it is free, it takes two minutes, and it is the cause most often missed here.
- Compare the compartments against each other — Splits airflow from sealed system before any panel comes off.
- Hold the freezer door switch in and listen for air — Silence means the fan; airflow with heavy frost means the defrost circuit.
- Pull the cabinet out and inspect the condenser and its fan — Last: the dirtiest step and the least likely of the airflow causes indoors.
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. A rear evaporator panel comes off over live tubing and a defrost heater, so let ice melt rather than forcing the panel. Never open the sealed system or vent refrigerant — that is licensed work, and oil outside the tubing means the system is already open.
Models in the HS family
Reference| Model number | Family key |
|---|---|
| HS-188CN(UR-BD146-DQ)-F | criterion:refrigerator:hs |
| HS-188CN(UR-BD146-DQ)-R | criterion:refrigerator:hs |
| HS-262CN(UR-BD202-DQ)-F | criterion:refrigerator:hs |
| HS-262CN(UR-BD202-DQ)-R | criterion:refrigerator:hs |
| HS-386CN(UR-BD300-DQ)-F | criterion:refrigerator:hs |
| HS-386CN(UR-BD300-DQ)-R | criterion:refrigerator:hs |
| HS-507FWENDT | criterion:refrigerator:hs |
| HS-507FWENDT-R | criterion:refrigerator:hs |
When to call a technician
Paper-testing seals, cleaning a condenser and manually defrosting are owner work. Call a technician when a seal cannot be made to grip evenly, because on this family that usually means the part belongs to the other build, and call when frost returns within days of a defrost with the seals proven good. Call at once if you see oil at the compressor.
Nearest pages of this class
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