The fridge is running but not cold — what does that mean?
If you can hear the compressor humming and the light comes on, the refrigerator has power and the compressor is at least trying to work. That points away from an electrical failure and toward something blocking or interrupting the cooling cycle itself — most often a dirty condenser coil, a failed evaporator fan motor, or a stuck defrost system.
Why do condenser coils get dirty faster in North Texas homes?
Dallas homes run central air aggressively for close to six months a year, and that means more dust and pet hair circulating and eventually settling on the coils behind or underneath the fridge. A coil caked in dust can't shed heat properly, so the compressor runs constantly and still can't hit temperature. A vacuum and coil brush every 6 months solves this before it becomes a service call.
What if the coils are clean and it's still warm?
That usually shifts suspicion to the evaporator fan inside the freezer compartment — if it's not spinning, cold air never gets pushed into the fresh food section even though the freezer itself stays cold. A failed defrost heater is the other common culprit: ice builds up over the evaporator coil block airflow, and the whole unit slowly warms up over a day or two.
When should you stop troubleshooting and call?
If food in the fresh food compartment is above 40°F for more than two hours, that's a food-safety line worth calling about same day rather than waiting to see if it self-corrects.
Call (469) 886-1122 and we'll usually have a technician out same day to diagnose it on the spot.