Refrigerator defrosed it's self

our fridge/freezer defrosted itself too. we cleaned it out and shut it completely off. Later we turned it on again and it worked fine and has ever since that time. Weird but it didn't cost us anything!!

Thanks for the replies, our unit is a Dometic and it was way below zero here the last few days. What temperature should the freezer and frig be at when they are running correctly?

Is the refrigerator completely shutting down or is the freezer items just "getting a bit soft" as you reported? If the unit is a Norcold it will go into a cooling unit defrost every 46 hours and then go back to normal temp. My freezer is normally in the single digits until this defrost cycle when the temp increases up to the high teens. It then goes back down when the unit finishes the defrost cycle. This is not a defrost of the freezer as the ice buildup in the back is still there, this is a defrost of the cooling unit itself. This is a built in default for Norcold, I don't know about others.

If the unit goes back to normal watch and see if it doesn't start the defrost again after 46 hours.

Eat the ice cream first. Please post your results with the problem for those of us that run into this down the road.

As suggested......it isn't working.

What brand/model of fridge?
DO you have panel lights?

Does it do anything.......can you swap to propane (or electric if it was on propane)?

It SOUNDS more like it's just stopped working. If it had a defrost cycle it would come back ON again before thawing things in the freezer. If it's running on electric power there would be no "check" light to warn you it's not working. Try switching to LP power and be sure gas valves are on and tank has fuel in it.

From what you say it makes me believe that the cooling apparatus is not working. Are you operating it on propane or electric? The first thing I would check if it is on propane would be to ensure the propane burner is lighting and burning. If on electric feel the heating element to see if it is hot.

If you see that you are getting heat to evaporate the coolant and it is still not cooling than if it is very cold it could be the cold outside, like mentioned above.

Hi,

How cold is it outside? You may need to restrict the air flow at the access hatch.