The short answer
A static-cooled European cabinet has no fan: cold falls and warm rises inside it, so how the box is packed decides the temperature as much as the machine does. Ranked first on this platform: The cabinet packed so full that air cannot circulate. The checks below follow that ranking, and the first of them need no tools and no panel removed.
What you observe
- Some parts of the cabinet are cold and others are not — Uneven temperature inside a working cabinet is an air problem, not a cooling one.
- The cabinet is steadily too warm rather than varying through the day — A consistent wrong temperature is a control symptom; an inconsistent one usually is not.
- Frost or condensation appears near one edge of the door — Air leaking past a gasket condenses at the point where it enters, which marks the failure for you.
- NEAR MISS — the freezer is fine and only the fresh-food side is warm — A split like that points at the air path between the two compartments, not at the cooling itself.
Causes, most likely first on this platform
- The cabinet packed so full that air cannot circulate — Cold has to be carried around the box by moving air. It ranks first on this platform because the rear plate is both the cooling surface and the frost collector, and a cabinet packed against it traps the plate so it never sheds frost — which costs the box its capacity without a single part failing.
- The temperature control set wrong or drifted — A mechanical control is a bulb, a bellows and a switch, and all three drift with age. It ranks second here because static cooling means cold falls and warm rises inside the cabinet with nothing to move it, so temperature is a function of where in the box you measure and how the shelves are packed.
- A door gasket that no longer seals — A gasket that has hardened, torn or taken a permanent set lets a thin stream of room air into the cabinet continuously. It ranks third rather than higher: real on this platform, and less common than the causes above it.
Check in this order, and why
- Look at the rear wall and the vents behind the shelves — Anything touching the rear plate is both the symptom and the cause. It leads because it tests the top-ranked cause.
- Turn the control to its coldest setting and listen for the compressor to start — It separates a control fault from a refrigeration fault in one movement. Tests the second-ranked cause.
- Close the door on a slip of paper and pull it out, at several points around the frame — Where it slides out freely, the gasket is not sealing there — and it takes a minute. Tests the third-ranked cause.
What an owner can safely check
- Pull the load a hand-width off the rear wall and uncover the vents — Leave gaps between packages rather than stacking them solid.
About 15 min
- Set the control to its coldest position and put a thermometer in a glass of water in the cabinet — Read it after several hours.
Tools: thermometerAbout 20 min
- STOP here if the next step needs a meter on live terminals or a sealed panel off — That is where an owner check ends. Write down what each check showed and hand it to the technician.
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.
When to call a technician
A technician is the answer once the airflow, the door and the condenser are all clean and the cabinet still will not hold temperature, because everything left on the list is measured rather than looked at.
Nearest pages of this class
What this page does not cover
This page is written for the Mora refrigerator as a class, not for one family or one model line. Where a family- or model-specific page exists for your unit, that page is the more specific answer and the one to read first. Deliberately not here: part numbers, wiring colours and disassembly order, which differ by family.
Lead Appliance Repair Technician · 12 years experience
Experienced technician with 12 years specializing in washing machine and dryer repairs across all major brands.
