I recently moved into a place with my girlfriend (rental) and on the first day when we put stuff in the fridge, it was freezing stuff on the top shelf. I turned it down some and put a fridge/freezer thermometer in it and it was still too cold. I turned it down all the way (to 1, it was originally on 5). It's still, at best, 30 degrees in the refrigerator, sometimes colder. There's water dripping down from a thing in the back of the fridge, and it drips down onto the bottom tray and freezes into a sheet of ice. If I put lettuce in there it freezes and ruins it.

Why would it be doing this? BTW there's no separate control for the freezer temp- not that it matters, it's never higher than 10 degrees.

 

One item to check.

Refrigerator Repair Guide: How To Test the Temperature Control - ACME HOW TO.com

 

Is the bottom doing anything?

My first idea was that the freezer was compensating for a bad seal around the bottom compartment


RULE #1 of avoiding fridge trouble:
No matter how far you move it - let the dang thing settle for an hour before plugging it in


(It lets things even out in the coils)


* Nothing else has changed except it had no time to settle

Rule number two: If it worked ten miles ago, it works now. What is different?

Q: Does it seem like the bottom is warmer than it should be

 

We didn't move the refrigerator...it's a rental unit, hence appliances were already in it.

I actually saw the maintenance guy this morning and asked him about it, he said make sure there's some room between the fridge and wall (it was pretty well tucked up against the wall)...but that was 3 hours ago and the temp hasn't changed. I'll wait a bit longer I guess...

 

The thermostat probably needs replaced, but you can keep turning it down and see if it will eventually settle out at the right temperature.

My refrigerator is so old it was made by General Motors (they got out of that business in 1979) and it seems to hold about right with the control set a bit below 1. I should ask for a new(er) one, but as long as it keeps holding there I'll be happy.

P.S. I don't see how being too close to the wall would make it too cold. If anything, reduced airflow over the condenser would make it have to work harder to cool.

 

Allow 24 hours between thermostat changes and only 1 setting at a time. Then determine if you have an over cooling problem.