Fix Code H-1 on a Frigidaire Side-By-Side Refrigerator.
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.ย. 2024
- This video shows one way to remedy a code H-1on a refrigerator.
Turns out that the condenser coil was covered in fuzz / dust and could not function properly with the air flow obstructed, causing the freezer to over-cool, which resulted in the freezing and blocking the cold air return. Cold air from the freezer could not circulate into the refrigerator.
After the condenser coils were cleaned and the cold air return was opened up - the refrigerator returned to normal.
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You just saved me from getting a new fridge! Wife was already measuring the opening!!! She won’t be happy when it works fine in the morning.... Thank you!!!
LMAO poor girl, no new frig. hahaha
Haha Poor Woman 😢!!!
Lol mine too,I don't care how much labor day discounts you give me ,I'm keeping what i have.
I want to thank you for this video! It was suggested I clean the coils on the lower back side since the fridge wasn't cooling. I did that and the H 1 did not come back yet the fridge still wasn't getting cold. 48 hours later the alarm went back off. I searched the problem one more time and watched your video. After removing the fridge drawer I put my finger in the cold air return and like you described it was full of ice. Next I removed the freezer drawer and was shocked to see how much ice had built up. I unplugged the fridge, relocated all food to the neighbors and let the ice completely melt. Fridge is plugged back in, temperature set and now waiting for it to get cold before I bring food back tomorrow. I'm a single woman who had a repair man tell me the fridge needed a 400.00 part replaced because the temperature panel kept flashing H. Again...thank you for sharing your knowledge!!!
A year later and you are still saving people money! Thank you so much for this video!!!
Very informative video and you have probably saved so many people from replacing unnecessary parts. I just wanted to add that the dirty condenser doesn't necessarily cause this issue. I've seen some filthy coils as an appliance tech and it usually just causes the unit to run a slightly warmer, longer and not cool as efficiently. However, dust buildup on the coil can often lead to dust clogging the drain line, which then leads to ice buildup. Run some hot water down the drain under the evaporator and use 1/4" tubing to push the blockage out the other end of the drain tube.
This absolutely worked! I had just cleaned behind my fridge and dusted the back and sides but forgot to check the underneath in the front. About day or two later and for some reason the fridge was not cold and the H1 code popped up. I tried this and then unplugged and reset the fridge, and it is now back up and running. I was so worried because I had forgotten to register this fridge when we got it. I sincerely am grateful for finding this because it seemed as if the search results were pointing toward a part replacement I could not afford. Thank you!
I viewed a few different videos regarding this exact issue. Most stated that the problem was the damper. But what Chris Dawalt has stated was exactly my problem. I clean the coils, unblocked the whole in frig and now its working very well. Thanks Chris, at the minimum, you saved me at least a couple of hundred dollars.
Glad I could help!
I just had this exact problem and I thought it was the thermostat and the damper. I also noticed the open and close door tell-tale sign and then I saw this video! Digged up the vent and there was some ice in there. I deiced everything and now all is good. Thanks alot!
What’s the best way to de frost everything?
Thank you so much! Just paid repair company $65 to be told it couldn’t be repaired. Before buying a new appliance I found your video. Can’t tell you how grateful I am for your video it fixed the problem. It was exactly the problem we had!
Get your money back from repair company
*Fridge companies hate him!*
But seriously, thanks so much for sharing this video! We Googled "Frigidaire code H1", and this was the top video result. Our fridge had the exact same symptoms that you described here, and when we checked the cold air return, it was completely blocked by ice. Unblocking the ice (we used the claw of a hammer) fixed this issue for us. Thank you!
This was GREAT!!! It was exactly like the issue I was having. Replaced the damper, cleared the ice off the bottom "thingy" and I can feel a strong flow of cold air coming from the freezer again!! Thank you so much for posting this!! I don't know anything about appliance repair, as is apparent from the previously mentioned "thingy", so if the repair guy had said it would be $300 to fix the flux capacitor I wouldn't have known the difference. So glad I found this. Once again thank you for sharing. :)
I did this. I found mine was clogged with ice as well. actually turned off and unplugged the fridge for 48 hours. Ice melted of course. But the fridge side is still hovering around 60 and not cooling properly. Great video and at least it helped me know of that bottom vent.
Sounds like a defrost issue.
You saved my family and I who knows how many hundreds of dollars a repair man would have charged me. Saved me so much hassle of having to go through that and potentially lose all the food in my refrigerator. Thank you for posting this video
Thank you for sharing! I am a newly divorced single mom trying to make ends meet on a teacher’s salary. This helped me immensely. ❤
Oh my gosh you are a savior! Literally the exact same thing just happened to our fridge. You saved me from getting a new fridge. Thank you so much!
My fridge Frigidaire has the same problem.I thought it was the mother board.. Thank you for the tips.
Someone left the door open.
This is good advice for those who have physical, or mental trouble with doors-
especially in the summer in warm homes.
Cleaning the condenser coils is wise, and will make the unit work more efficiently.
However, dirty coils do not cause internal airflow problems.
Real solutions to a frozen airway, or evaporator- other than user error,
are damper, defrost thermostat, heater, or digital board.
Thank you man, you just saved me time and money! I checked the return vent and it was solid shut with ICE. I melted it down and the cold air started cycling again. I unplugged overnight for a thaw down and will clean the compressor tomorrow. For those who are experiencing water line freezes this is an indicator your capacitor is over working and the freezer is getting too cold. This might happen!
thanks for your insight ! ima see if this works because me and my family going through it now !
I have same fridge came home from a trip and the fridge was warm and moldy blinking “H” freezer is fine. and just did this whole process. I chizled with a butter knife. It was frozen solid. Water was coming out of filter and all over the bottom. Now there is a nice open hole. I vacuumed all under as well. Hoping it returns to normal . Thank you for this video
Did it return to normal? I did everything to thinking everything would be fixed this morning but fridge still not getting cold :(
Wow - I looked at a bunch of videos about taking off this panel or that panel, about various tools that may be needed & then I found this one. Narrator describes exactly what happened to my frig. Defrosted, but that did not solve the problem. Was about to call a repairman, but thought I should try Chris’ fix. No special tools needed. Got lots of dirt off the coils with a small broom & chipped away some ice that had formed in the return. THANKS!
OMG identical issues here and I laughed as you diagnosed the airflow thing. Its just like you are my appliance doppelganger or something. Good work.
I just want you to know it's 2021 and you're still helping, this worked exactly, and I used the blow dryer on medium high until I could see the openings
Yeah I was really surprised at how many views and comments this video has gotten. I was expecting a few hundred views per year maybe?. It is so nice to help so many people!
@@chrisdawalt7830 thanks again
Thanks 🙏 watched another diy guy who said 90% of the time it’s damper. I spent 90$ in a new one replaced it and watched yours now it’s all runnin like a clock again thx
Thank you so much I've had this problem for months I was so annoyed with the beeping I was ready to take the refrigerator and shoot the damn thing LOL
Just chiseled out the cold air return. Cleaned the trim piece of all the dust bunnies. Let’s see if that fixed it. If so, you are a life saver
You showed me something the repair person didn’t even see. I had to use a blow dryer to get all that ice to melt enough to clear the cold air return. Hopefully problem now solved. Thank you for the video!!
Thank you so much!! I thought it was my ice maker, tried everything I could think of and never thought of this! Seriously just saved me from spending too much money on a new fridge!!💚💚💚
Awesome video and thank you. Mine was like this where the Ref side was erroring and the freezer side was extremely frozen. I did exactly what you said and chiseled out the bottom return and BAM cold air flow, perfect. Thank you again so much.
You rock! My problem was slightly worse than this, with a clogged drip line creating a three pound block of ice below the condenser coils. But, I never would have known where to start without this video. My landlord and I both thank you.
I have that same issue were you able to fix it?
Same here. I had been trying various things, I had cleaned underneath and vacuumed and then did the back on the outside but was afraid to take the back piece off to vacuum underneath, I wiped everything down and still the same thing, same H1 code and incessant beeping. In the freezer, I was also afraid to take the back panel off from covering the coils, so I did not touch that in the past, but water was dripping and then ice was freezing in a puddle down at the bottom. When I saw ice in the vent in front of the coils, I thought I would probably have to take the panel off at some point but again fearing I would mess something up I did not.
Then, when I watched this video I went right to the bottom of the fridge he shows where there is a little vent by the crisper and saw the exact same ice build up, then I followed it over to the freezer side and realized I had no choice but to open the panel. Like you said, I also had the whole bottom of the coil was a huge block of ice that I had to pour hot water over it just to loosen it up to pull it out. I cleaned up the bottom of the fridge underneath from the dust and finally opened up the back piece and found lots of dust in those coils and vacuumed it out as best as I could wiped it all down and I am now waiting to see if this works.
I would love to send you a Christmas present every year for the next 20 years since I can afford it because you just saved me thousands of dollars.
The moral of the story is...you're the real MVP.
Excellent video. Extremely helpful. I wish I watched your video before I purchased and replaced an $85 damper motor. 🤦🏻♂️. I cleared the lower vent and everything worked fine. I can’t thank you enough! 🙏👍
Thank you!!! I was prepared to have to spend $2000 for a new fridge. you saved me a lot of money!
Thank you so very very very much for your video. You described exactly what was happening to or side by side. I felt in the corner, no airflow, opened the freezer door and sure enough there was airflow. Took out the produce drawer and saw ice/frost. Again thank you so much for saving our family. God bless you ❤️
How did u took the ice from there
@@lizettedelgado6244 , I took out the drawers on both the freezer and refrigerator sides. Then I took a small hammer to break up some of the ice. I hit it from both sides as well. Then I unplugged the appliance to let the remaining ice melt.
Excellent video!! Your analysis was our problem exactly. We used a hair dryer to melt the built up frost. Thanks!!
Thank you for this! I was on my way to call a repairman, but this was a simple fix I was able to do with a hair dryer and screwdriver :)
Glad I could help!
What exactly did you do? Defrost the ice with the dryer? What did you use the screw driver for?
@@chrisdawalt7830 idk what I’m supposed to do?? I turned off the fridge… now I’m waiting for the clogged ice to melt ? And I cleaned out all the fuzzy .
@@amykuy4907 You can see if the cold air return is blocked with ice and knock it out manually to speed up the process. As soon as the cold air return is open and Aircon flow, you should be able to plug it in and it should function normally. Sometimes they take a while for the temperatures to stabilize.
@@overclockersclub I so I open up the back part of the freezer looks like it’s all melted. Now I don’t know what else to look for ? Pls help
I was getting no air flow from the vent. I opened the freezer side and got lots of air flow. I then looked at the return and found a Ziploc bag blocking the return vent. Voila! Circulation has returned! If not, for your explanation on how the refrigerator worked, I would have been taking the thing apart today. Thank you for your video
My goodness, u save me for buying a new refrigerator, at first I thought it is the problem with damper, but i check my damper is working fine it is on open position, but i just cant feel the air pass through, until i saw u video and i try to clean the cold air return my refrigerator work again. Thank you so much.
Sept 11 2023 and this video discussed my exact issue! Already vacuumed the coils and just cleared the ice in the return.... no beeping or error code..... hoping it's fixed! Thanks!!
Awesome! Our power got shut down due to storm, and my fridge was beeping H-1 code! You fixed it! Thanks!
Same happened to me but still not working even after this video. Still wont cool properly
Same for me, I had to check on the freezer the sensor
Exact same problem we had. Just finished clearing the blocked vent so now we will see if it goes back to regulating itself as it should. Fingers crossed!! Thank you for figuring this out.
it worked?
@@MarceloTinelli. It did. However, it was a crap refrigerator so it kept icing over and we kept having to do this. In the end, we just ended up having to buy a new one because temperature regulation was pretty impossible.
Thank you dude. You may have just saved us a few hundred bucks. Needs 9 hours to reset...hoping for the best. Thanks again...
Thank you so much. I knocked the ice out of the fridge like you showed and instantly I felt cool air coming into the fridge. Hopefully this is the fix we needed.
I was so happy to find this video! Exact same fridge and syptoms!
I did everything I showed, and took it one step further and did a full defrost.
However...my freezer is once again nice and cold....bit fridge doesn't seem to be getting air....any suggestions?? I live far out, no repair guys will come for under $400!!!🤦 Thanks so much !!
The damper door at the top may be stuck shut.
And is the only way to fix it, is to replace it? Or can I repair it? Ty!!
THANKS CHRIS!!!! This video saved me from buying a new fridge. Good and clear direction.
Great explanation, exactly what was happening to mine. I watched your video twice and and as I was chipping the ice out of lower holes. Had no idea they were even there if it weren't for your video. Bravo Zulu Sir
I had the exact same problem . It was clogged with ice . Thanks ! I couldn’t find the problem before this Video!!
Glad that worked out for you!
@@chrisdawalt7830 did this fix last long term? I just did this to my fridge today and I'm concerned it'll happen again
@@Bacongreaseshot It has been 6 months and mine is still working with no issues.
@@chrisdawalt7830 Awesome. Thank you. I'm trying to wrap my head around why this issue occurred in the first place. It must have just been years of the fridge door being left open while putting groceries in, pulling things out, etc. Glad to hear things are still working 6 months later. For peace of mind I'm going to continue checking on the hole behind the vegetable drawer every now and again.
@@Bacongreaseshot Also remember to clean the coils underneath. They have to have good air flow and a lot of dust and fuzz accumulate over time.
great fix, well explained! saved my bacon tonight. Thank you sir!
Thank you! We had chirping and I was not aware it was a code to look up. It was not cold in the fridge. Checked, and found it iced up! Used a blow dryer to melt the ice, now waiting.
This helped alot. I had to chip out the cold air return at the bottom like yours. Thanks!
My good man I owe you dinner... Thanks for your video and your spot on diagnosis. You just saved my backside... at least for a little while anyway. I cleaned up the coils and vents but had no proper cooling of defrosting till I watched this video. I'm quite confident this did the job. Once again thank you. God bless.
Thank you soo much for this video! This helped me and my dad figure out exactly what was wrong and saved us from calling someone and spending money :)
Us too!
You are quite welcome. Glad I could help!
Another saved fridge here! My return was frozen as well. Probably from a power outage. Thank You!
Thank you for posting this video, i had the same problem. I just watched your video and cleared all the ice from my fridge vent too. Thank you a million!
Thank you Chris!! You saved me from spending $100 on a new air damper!!
Glad I could help!
Man, my refrigerator was frozen with the return air passage. you saved me. Thank you
Glad I could help!
good advice, my wife has our fridge packed with food, vents and intakes were blocked, bottom intake was frozen, coils were dirty. Cleaned coiled, melted ice dam, and fridge is working like it should.
We are back going again with our fridge, thanks to your video. Big - thanks.
Thank you Chris , you saved me $100 service call plus plus plus. Can’t thank you enough such a simple fix. 👍👍
Huge help. Was about to start ordering the common part for the error I was getting (H1), but found your video and my solution. It was blocked with ice. Much appreciated.
Just wanted to show love in comments thanks big dog i always come to youtube university for help people like you never let me down thanks professor
This really helped me! This was exactly what was wrong with my fridge! Thank you!
Excellent video. Pulled inside back off my freezer and it was iced up. I had accidently left the door ajar. Cleared all the ice with a hair dryer so as not to damage anything.
Dude...I have been dealing with the H1 for way too long. Came across your video...BAM...fixed in 5..Thanks much for posting your vid
This was my 2 week long problems, fixed in a few minutes… BIG THANKS!!!
Thank you so much I watched and ran to frig and tested the opening shutting of the doors and yup it did exactly what you showed. Excellent video and description! Again thank you!
I just ran into this myself, one thing I will say though is although cleaning the condenser is always a good idea it really does not have any bearing on the airflow issue inside the ff and fz section. It does however affect the ability for the freon to condense and could cause the compressor to kick off on overload which would in turn cause the whole refrigerator to stop cooling until the compressor cooled off and restarted. Good video and great information though.
Yup. Just looked. A good 1 1/2" ice buildup blocking the return. Thanks so much. Saved us many hundreds.
Thank you so much. I had the same exact problem. You saved me a lot of money
Thank you ,i just realized my problem from earlier today that little vent was clogged with chunck of ice solid,cleaned drainhose on freezer side and things are work well.
Thank you for the education... a power outage happened in my area and when the fridge turned back on the H-1 code error popped up looked at the cold air return and it was solid ice lol thank you 🚀😇🚀
I have the same refrigerator at home with frost problem in my freezer i have had this refrigerator for 5 years so i thought it was just going bad
I will try this before i try to diag anything else
Thanks for the helpful video
Just dug into mine and it was exactly as you said. Fingers crossed
Did it work for you? Having the same problem but still not getting cold :/
This is exactly what my garage fridge is doing. Gonna check it out when I get home.
Great video, thanks a lot, had the exact same issue's thus week with the exact same fridge lol. U.S Desert Storm Veteran 1990-94.
Dude you rock!! We had the exact problems, cleaned out the frozen airway and life is good again. Thank you!!!
thank you for taking the time to post this you just helped me fix our old fridge. i appreciate you.
Thank you for the detailed video! Saved me from almost buying a new fridge
Thank you so much for posting the video, my refrigerator was doing the exact same thing and I noticed my ice cream was rock hard I could not even dent it with a spoon! LOL I checked the vent behind the vegetable drawer and sure enough it was clogged with ice, great job explaining how the system works also! Thanks again and keep up the good work!
This is exactly what happened to mine, thank you so much I ran out of ideas on what to do until I seen this video, I was just about ready to go buy a new refrigerator
Thank you. As soon as I removed the blocked ice I felt the cool air. The beeping was really getting to me...lol
Thanks again
chris it turns out that if people find the lower return port clogged with ice it is because of that damper door has failed. and i found out why that door fails. and i did a temporary repair to get you by until you get a new part. it turns out the center tooth on the pusher side of the rack inside the gearbox gets worn down to the point the teeth stop meshing and the center tooth snubs on the rack, which then causes the gears to start skipping. and if you listen you can hear them. and like i said before i have pictures of the tooth and how i did the repair and also i made a video of the gearbox running and showing that tooth at it goes past the first tooth and then on to the 3rd tooth to then start the opening process. let me know if you want it to include in your fix. thanks bp.
So I need to replace the damper door. ? I found a video on that. Looks doable. Ok ty!!
Did u mean I made a video? To fix damper? Please, I'd like to see it
@@moonfire75 ok see if you get this and it helps you.
here is a link. www.dropbox.com/s/efpjlbdsrqhrjff/damper%20door%20operating.mp4?dl=0
here is a picture of the repair link www.dropbox.com/s/esrdqe3i0k0iwz2/damperdoor%20tooth%20repair.jpg?dl=0
Man ,you are the best I've saved money and time was about to throw away my fridge ,God bless you 🙏
We have the same fridge and have the same problem we just thawed the freezer to melt al the ice. We are still having problems with our water filter though. Thanks for your help.
Great video! We were ready to go get a new fridge and this saved us from spending that money unnecessarily!
Thank you thank you! I was certain I was going to have to buy a new fridge after just getting this one less than two years ago. Mine was frozen too chipped the ice on the return as you said and cold air is flowing again. THANK YOU!!
I just luckily watched your video first when researching and you were spot on. Thank you so much. Waking up on a weekend with a fridge problem is never good and thankfully it was this. My rear coil was so dirty because I never thought to remove the cardboard and vacuum it and the interior freezer coil was froze solid.
Thankkk youuu soooo muchhh. Easy fix. I was about to go out and buy another fridge lol. I paid too much for this
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! This solved the problem. After chipping away the ice, the air flow returned to the refrigerator. Thanks again for the video.
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!!!!
I watched three other videos before I watched yours… I wish I would’ve watched yours first. Lol
Thanks for the help. It gave me a starting point
and yes the return was frozen solid. So I knocked the ice out cleaned underneath and behind. Saved me a lot of money thank you Sir
Thanks for the great video, mine was chocked full of ice from a power outage!! Got it working properly, thank you!!
What a blessing! Thank you so much! I thought I had to buy a new refrigatator...God bless you.
Glad I could help you. I was on the fence about making this video, but I am glad I did!
This was the perfect video, perfect explanation I needed so desperately for this exact issue. Peak TH-cam
You just save me Over thousand dollars with your video. 🙂
Appreciate your video. I had the same problem to even my freezer was thawing out. Cleaned the fiuzz and cold air return and it was fixed.
thanks for the insight. i had a warm fridge side also and i had that return vent blocked with ice. my condenser was not all blocked it did have a few fuzzies on it but 90% clean. anyway, i cleaned the condenser and chipped out the return port ice dam and now to see if that takes care of it. again thanks for the info on a possible issue. this is the first thing and cheapest to check.
I think I had the same problem and I turned my refrigerator off, using the (press and hold for 3 seconds) on/off button, to defrost and clean it. However, when I went to turn it back on, nothing happens when I push and hold the on/off button and no lights are coming on when I open the fridge door. I unplugged the fridge and waited a while and plugged it back in...still nothing...suggestions anyone?! ...apart from having a repair man come out or buying a new one altogether...
@@jordanhodgensTry plugging something else in to that socket and make sure it still has power. You may have popped a fuse or a circuit breaker.
@@chrisdawalt7830 what i found to be the issue was the damper door was broken. so what i found was the rack on the door pusher had a worn tooth and so what i did was cut away the rest of that tooth so that tooth was even crossed it. i have a video of it running on the bench so people can see what I did if they ask for it. and pictures of the tooth with a pointer showing that tooth now a bit shorter. the teeth did not mesh anymore on the 2nd tooth so by cutting it partly away that allowed them to mesh again.
now this is only a get you by fix and the proper repair is to get another damper motor but it will get the fridge working again to get you by until the new parts arrive. if anyone wants to see it our you to add to your repair let me know thanks bp.
Thank you so much for this video. I put 2 large pizza boxes in the top shelf of the fridge last night and i think that's what caused the air flow and ice build up issue. Followed your vid and so far so good.
Great video. I did just that and my fridge works perfectly now.
Glad it worked for you!
Thanks you just saved me at least 1500 dollars
Omg live saver! On our way to get a new fridge then I ran into this video! Thank you
Exactly the issue I just had. Thanks for making this video!