Kenmore refrigerator with bottom freezer. freezer works,refrig does not. Can you help me find the problem .Also, bar between the upper doors gets real hot.

I had this problem. The Evaporator fan in the freezer was working but no air would be circulated from the freezer into the refridgerator. To test this you open the door of the freezer, and depress the door button(s) of the upper refridgerator doors so that the light extinqueshes in the refridgerator. This will engage the evaporator fan in the freezer. You can check to see if air is venting from the freezer into the refridgerator by feeling the holes at the top most part of the multi-air flow channel in the refridgerator. If air is comming out when the freezer door is open, close the freezer door and feel if air has stopped. If you have kept the upper door buttons pushed in on the refridgerator and now have the freezer door closed, you should still hear the fan running, but may have not air flow with the freezer door closed. The cause of this is the air return channel from the refridgerator to the freezer is either frozen or clogged. My return-air channel was not frozen but clogged by a residue from something that spilled inside of the bottom of the refridgerator. The return-air channel has two vents in the rear-bottom of the refridgerator that exit into the freezer behind the evaporator (cooling coils). You can't see it even if the back interior panel is removed from the freezer compartment.

The bottom line here is that if air is prevented from moving from the refridgerator, back down to the freezer, then your refridgerator will not cool, but your freezer will work just fine. You will not need to replace the fan, unless the fan is not functioning. You may need to check the dampener, to ensure that your multi-air flow channel is open - (allowing air to come into the refridgerator). The multi-air flow channel is easy to remove once all of the shelves are removed from your refridgerator. Only 2 screws holding it in (securing the center rack top and bottom). The top screw is located behind a small plastic cover that can be removed.

That's what worked for me.

The bar between the upper doors that are geting hot is a indicaton of the machine overheating.

this problem should be addresed first and might solve all the problems.

I would first check the condensor fan motor to make sure it is running. Should be located in the rear of the machine behind the lower pannel. Unplug the machine remove the pannel, locate the fan and give it a whirl to make sure it is free and can spin. plug the machine back in and make sure it comes on. some machines will take a min if it has a controlboard.

If this fan is not running it will need to be replaced.


If the fan is running the next step is to ask you when is the last time the coils were cleaned. if the coils have not been cleaned in the last year then check your user manual for the cleaning instruction. this also can make your machine overheat.

The freshfood part of the refrigerator gets all its cold air from the freezer and is blown in from another fan inside the refrigerator. If you dont here this fan running it could be bad and causing the problem. If you do here the fan, the the air flow from the freezer to the freshfood side is blocked. It could be block because of ice or the damer door is not opening.

you could have two problem but I would work on the overheating first.