This specific combination is genuinely good news: your compressor is fine. In almost every modern fridge-freezer the cold is made at one coil inside the freezer and then blown into the fridge through a duct. A cold freezer proves the cooling works. A warm fridge means the air is not arriving — so look at the evaporator fan, at ice blocking the duct, and at the damper that controls the airflow.
Why this narrows it down so much
A compressor failure or a refrigerant leak leaves both compartments warm — there is no cold being produced anywhere. The fact that your freezer is still at temperature rules that out immediately, and rules out the two most expensive repairs on the appliance.
What is left is the delivery path: the fan that moves the air, the duct it travels through, and the damper that meters how much reaches the fridge. All three are comparatively inexpensive parts.
The three things it usually is
| Cause | How likely | Typical sign |
|---|---|---|
| Evaporator fan failed | Very common | No fan sound when you press the freezer door switch |
| Frost blocking the air duct | Very common | Freezer very cold; thick ice behind the back panel |
| Damper stuck closed | Common | Fan runs, freezer fine, no air felt at the fridge vent |
| Defrost system failure | Common | Solid ice sheet on the evaporator coil; gets worse over days |
| Vent blocked by food | Common | A box or bag pressed against the fridge air outlet |
| Fridge thermistor fault | Occasional | Everything mechanical looks fine; readings are wrong |
| Door seal letting warm air in | Occasional | Condensation, and the fridge never quite catches up |
Working through it
The evaporator fan starts whenever the compressor cycles, and you will have your hand near it. Unplug the refrigerator before removing the freezer back panel.
- Listen for the evaporator fan
Open the freezer and press the door switch (the little plunger in the door frame) while listening. In normal operation you should hear a fan running inside. Silence here, with a cold freezer and a warm fridge, is the strongest single clue you can get.
- Feel for airflow at the fridge vent
Find the vent between the compartments — usually at the top rear of the fridge — and hold your hand near it while the machine runs. No moving air means the delivery path is blocked or the fan is not running.
- Check nothing is blocking the vents
Pull food away from the vents at both ends. A cereal box or a bag of salad pressed against the outlet will starve the fridge on its own, and it is the easiest possible fix.
- Remove the freezer back panel and look for ice
Empty the freezer, unplug the machine, and unscrew the rear panel. You should see a coil with a light, even coating of frost. What you do not want is a solid block of ice encasing the coil or filling the duct — that means the defrost system has stopped working, and the ice is now physically blocking the air path.
- Defrost it completely if you find ice
Leave the refrigerator unplugged with both doors open for 24 to 48 hours, with towels down. Do not chip at the ice — the evaporator tubing punctures easily and that turns a modest repair into a scrapped appliance. When it is fully clear, plug it back in and watch: if the fridge cools properly for a few days and then goes warm again, the defrost components are at fault and the ice will simply rebuild.
- Check the damper
Some models have a manually adjustable air damper or diffuser controlling flow into the fridge. Make sure it has not been knocked to its minimum setting, and that it is not iced or jammed shut.
Press the freezer door switch in and hold it. If the fan sound starts, the fan and its circuit are fine and you should be looking at ice or the damper. If nothing happens, the fan motor, the switch or the wiring is the problem.
The defrost system connection
Frost on the evaporator is not itself a fault — it forms constantly and is supposed to be melted away several times a day by a small heater on a timer or control board. When any part of that system fails, frost simply keeps accumulating until it seals the air duct.
The clue is the pattern. A fridge that cools properly for two or three days after a full manual defrost, then gradually goes warm again, has a defrost fault almost without exception. The parts involved — the defrost heater, the defrost thermostat, the timer or control board — are individually inexpensive, but diagnosing which one has failed requires a multimeter and access behind the panel.
When to call a professional
Call an engineer if the evaporator fan does not run when you press the door switch, if ice rebuilds within days of a full manual defrost, or if the fan runs and the coil is clear but the fridge still will not cool. All three point at parts inside the cabinet next to live wiring. The good news, worth repeating, is that none of them is the sealed refrigerant system — so this is usually a repair worth doing rather than a reason to replace the appliance.
Stop and call a qualified appliance technician or electrician if you find scorched or melted wiring, smell burning, see water that has reached electrical components, or if the fault returns immediately after a repair. Never bypass a safety device — thermal fuses, door interlocks and flood switches fail for a reason, and defeating one converts a broken appliance into a fire or flood risk.
