Why your fridge runs constantly near the water

Somebody rings and says the fridge is running all the time. Then they say it's still not quite cold enough, and the freezer has started frosting up. Within a few streets of the beach, that combination has one likely cause and it isn't the one people expect.

It's almost never a gas leak. It's heat that can't get out.

What the condenser actually does

A fridge doesn't make cold, it moves heat. The compressor pushes hot refrigerant through a coil — the condenser — where the heat sheds into the room, and the now-cooler refrigerant goes back inside to pick up more.

On older fridges the condenser is the black grid on the back. On most modern ones it's a coil pack underneath, behind a kick panel, usually with a small fan.

If that coil can't dump heat, the whole cycle stalls. The compressor keeps running because the cabinet never reaches temperature, and it runs itself into an early grave trying.

Why this bites harder around Shellharbour

Anywhere within a few hundred metres of open water, the dust that settles on a condenser isn't just dust. It's dust carrying salt, and salt attracts moisture, so the layer that forms is a damp grey felt rather than a dry fluff.

That mat insulates the coil, and it also corrodes the aluminium fins underneath it. We see it consistently through Warilla, Shellharbour village and the beach end of Barrack Heights — and much less in Albion Park, three or four kilometres inland.

Check it yourself, it takes ten minutes

Turn the fridge off at the wall. Pull it out — carefully, most kitchen floors mark.

Look at the back grid, or take the kick panel off the front and look underneath with a torch. You're looking for a grey felt layer over the coils and, on the fan models, a fan blade caked in the same stuff.

Vacuum it with a brush attachment, then go over the fins with a soft brush. Don't use water, don't use a metal brush, and don't bend the fins.

While the fridge is out, check two more things:

• Clearance. Fridges need air behind and above. A fridge shoved into an alcove with 20mm of gap will run constantly regardless of how clean the coils are. This is the single most common cause in newer kitchens where the cabinetry was built to the fridge's exact dimensions.
• Door seals. Close the door on a sheet of paper and pull it out. If it slides free with no drag, the seal has lost its grip on that spot. A perished seal is cheap and it's a very common reason a fridge over-runs.

If cleaning didn't fix it

Then it's one of three things, roughly in order of likelihood:

The condenser fan. If the fan under the fridge isn't spinning, the coil can't shed heat even when it's spotless. It's a modest part and a straightforward repair.

The defrost system. If the freezer is icing up at the back panel and the fridge side is warm, the defrost heater or its sensor has failed and ice is blocking the evaporator airflow. Also a proper repair, also usually worth doing.

The sealed system. A refrigerant leak or a failing compressor. This is the one where the numbers stop working. On a fridge past about eight years, a sealed system repair typically approaches the cost of a replacement, and we'll tell you that rather than quote it.

The garage fridge caveat

If it's the second fridge in the garage, check the ambient temperature before assuming anything is broken. Most domestic fridges are rated for roughly 10°C to 32°C. An uninsulated Illawarra garage sits outside that band at both ends of the year, and a fridge struggling in February may be behaving exactly as designed.

Keeping it from happening again

Clean the coils once a year. Set a reminder for the same week each year and it becomes a five-minute job rather than a callout. Keep 50mm of air behind the fridge. Check the door seals when you clean the coils.

If it's still running non-stop after all that, book it in — the assessment fee is $125, fixed, and you'll get the repair price before any work starts.