Problem: Refrigerator Freezes Food

Is it a side-by-side type? If so, there are 2 temp adjustors. One is for the fridge temp and one is for the freezer temp. When you move the freezer one, it opens the vents between the fridge and freezer. This will allow more (or less) freezer air to come into the fridge. Hope this will help.

Take Care,
N. :) SAHM homeschooling 3 boys 12, 7 & 2yrs old and married to Mr. Wonderful for almost 15 yrs now. Helping others save lots of money, shop from their home and get safer, healthier products (go green) we all use every single day simply by teaching them how and where to shop. Let me know if this sounds good to you.

Whenever I have appliance problems, I go to http://www.repairclinic.com/ . Click on "repair help." You can usually figure out what's wrong and then buy the part or have a service tech fix it. Here's what the site has for your particular problem:

"The food in the refrigerator freezes

This is a common problem that often doesn't have a clear, permanent solution. The first thing to check is the overall internal refrigerator temperature (see the Appliance Accessories section for a refrigerator/freezer thermometer). The proper temperature should be between 35 and 42 degrees. Here are some things to try:

If your refrigerator temperature is closer to 35 degrees, try turning the temperature up slightly.

If you find that the temperature varies a lot from the top shelf to the bottom (where it is coldest), try putting produce and other sensitive products on a higher shelf.

If the temperature is too low and you can't make it warmer by adjusting the thermostat, you probably have a defective thermostat. If so, you need to replace it, because they cannot be repaired. Other possible problems are a leak in the sealed (refrigerant) system, cold air migration (in side-by-side models) or a defective air damper. These problems can be quite difficult to locate and correct, we recommend you contact a qualified appliance repair technician."

Good luck!

Hi Gillian!
I had the same problem with mine (it's an old refurbished frig)
I checked the fan in the back for dust & cleaned it all up. At this point, my husband & I were ready to break the bank & buy a new one. One of the guys he works with asked him if he was stupid. He does air conditioning & heating for a living. This guy told him to take the frig. apart & clean out the excess ice that was in it & put it back together. That was 3 yrs. ago & it still works. I'm not telling you necessarily to take apart the frig, but I'm sure you know someone who can. - No more frozen eggs, or cucumbers or cheese, or milk. It's worth a shot.

Hi Gillian,
Ours did this too. I called the repairman and everything. Our fridge is a GE. In the refrigerator part, it has two knobs with 0-10 above each and a pic. One is for the freezer and one is for the frig. The repairman said that the total of the nums being pointed to had to equal 10. So if the freezer part is on 3, the frig is on 7. If the freezer is on 5 than the frig is on 5. Anything other than 10 and the compressor won't shut off and the stuff in the frig will freeze.
That was a hard sell to my hubby, but I keep checking it, and haven't had a problem since.
M.

ours did this, make sure the meat try and all drawers close all the way. We actually read that in the manual, and it worked.

A friend of mine recently had the same issue with her fridge. We found this post online:

If your frig is freezing the food in the chilling compartment as well as the freezer, it means one thing--its thermostat isn't shutting down the compressor when the set temperature has been met. You stated that you had it checked by, I assume, a professional service technician. Being a retired tech myself, I'm surprised that he didn't check this out and discuss it with you. Check the temperature IN THE FREEZER! If it is less than 10 degrees F., turn the thermostat to "warmer". If the temp in the freezer is 10 degrees F., leave it alone and go to the temp control in the frig, which is a damper that controls cold air flow from the freezer compartment. Close this damper until your temperature in the upper part of the refrigerator is 38 to 40 degrees F. If these efforts don't shut down the compressor and correct your problem, then the answer is simple. Your thermostat is bad and needs to be replaced. It isn't expensive, and should cost you less than the labor for a tech to install it.

My friend ended up needing a new thermostat in hers. It couldn't have been too expensive or I'd have heard about it, lol.

Good luck! :o)

you may only need to adjust the temperature by a few degrees, but you should keep it at the recommended temp otherwise food spoils more quickly. also check to see that your fridge is level. another idea, your freezer might be too cold and the overflow of coldness goes into the fridge, i would suspect this if its the top rear shelf that freezes.

if all else fails then only keep things that are ok to freeze in that one spot. i keep juice there and shake it before serving, the kids luv the little icy chips. lol.

Your refrigerator's thermometer isn't working. Most of them aren't terribly accurate to begin with. Buy a separate one and put it in the fridge, then turn it up a little bit at a time until it's at the right temperature.
Also, the further back, the colder it is.
You really don't want your fridge to be warmer than 40 degrees, or there's no point in having a fridge.

If you have a full fridge it will do this too. I was told to turn up the temp and lower it as I empty it. Seemed to help.

WOW! That must be a pain! I would either turn it up higher or maybe put something in front of the vent?!?! Is it under warrenty that it could get fixed? I'm part of another board, www.tidewatermommies.com if you want to ask over there. I think even one of our members husband does that for a living.

Hope you get it fixed soon!

J. (Rock~Chick)

Check to make sure nothing is blocking the air circulator (a vent usually hidden somewhere on the inside). I found a pack of tortillas squished against our vent and when I removed it my veggies stopped freezing. You may need to clean the outside vent also (the one under the fridge or on the bottom). We have to remove the cover and vacuum the dust out occasionally.

Sounds like there is a problem with the thermostat. Buy a refridgerator thermoeter to see what temp it really is, then make your adjustments based on that. Then, if you can afford it, you could call a repairman.