Jenn Air makes a range of high quality appliances, including column, built-in, freestanding,, and undercounter fridges. One of the main functions of a Jenn Air fridge that has a freezer is to freeze food, and beverages. Today, I will explain how to fix a Jenn Air fridge that is not freezing.
In general, ensure cooling is turned on by using the ‘cooling’ button. It can be disabled if there was a temporary power outage. After that, check the vents on the inside of the fridge and freezer aren’t covered by a food or drink item. Next, do the steps below.
In total there are 7 troubleshooting steps you should do if your Jenn Air fridge is not freezing. In many cases, it can be something simple that can easily be fixed in a few minutes. Below, I will cover each of these steps, as well as, what to do if you try all of these steps and it’s still not freezing.
Jenn Air Refrigerator Not Freezing (How To Fix)
There are a few key settings that need to be right for the freezer on a Jenn Air fridge to work. In other cases there is something stopping your Jenn Air fridge from producing extremely cold air, or blowing it into the interior of your freezer. Here is the long and short of what to do when the freezer on your Jenn Air fridge is not working.
As a general rule, check that no food or drink items are blocking the vents located on the interior of your fridge, and move them away from the vents so that they are not blocked if necessary. After that, do the following steps.
Next, ensure that ‘cooling’ is turned on, if there was a power outage it needs to be turned on manually. After you have cleared the vents, and/or turned cooling back on, a Jenn Air freezer needs 24 hours to get to the right temperature. If none of these were the issue, there refer to the additional reasons why this is happening below.
Reasons Why Jenn Air Refrigerator Not Freezing
Refrigerators are not overly complex and therefore identifying why your Jenn Air fridge is not freezing is fairly straightforward, and most of the steps to get it working again can be done yourself. Here are the reasons why a Jenn Air fridge is not freezing, followed by how to identify and fix each of these issues.
In general, the cooling function needs to be turned on manually, the temperature needs to be set lower due to the temperature in the room, the condenser coils need to be cleaned, or the air vents are blocked. For new installs, it may be in ‘demo’ mode, which needs to be disabled.
It’s important to note that once you identify and fix the issue using the steps below, it will take 24 hours for the freezer to return to normal operation.
1. Cooling is not turned on – after power surge
On most Jenn Air fridges there is a ‘cooling’ setting that can be turned on and off. It’s common for there to be a minor power surge, which turns all the appliances in a home on and off again. When this happens some Jenn Air fridges will reset. And ‘cooling’ needs to be turned back on manually.
Typically, the cooling button can easily be located on the control panel for your Jenn Air fridge. It will say ‘cooling on/off’ or something similar. Ensure that it’s turned on.
If you can’t locate the cooling button for your Jenn Air fridge then refer to the paper version of your owners manual, or download an online version from this page of the official Jenn Air website. But, Jenn Air requires you to download the Jenn Air app to your phone to download the owner’s manual. Look in the owner’s manual for where the ‘cooling’ button is.
2. Air vents are blocked with a food or drink item
There are typically around 4 air vents located in fridge and freezer compartments on a Jenn Air fridge. Cool air is blown into the freezer, which then blows into the fridge. If these vents are blocked no cool air can get into the fridge or freezer.
Or, the amount of air that is blown into the fridge or freezer is much less. It’s easy to place a food or drink item too close or over one of these vents. Therefore, you should inspect the inside of your fridge, and locate the vents.
Then see if there are any food items covering them, or too close. Ideally, there should be a space of about 2 inches (5 cm) directly in front of each vent. That way the air can easily circulate within the fridge or freezer.
3. Located in a hot room or next to a heat source
A fridge draws in air from the room where it is located. This air is blown over what are called condenser coils which cool the air before it is blown into a Jenn Air fridge. If the surrounding air is warmer than room temperature a fridge won’t cool the air enough.
This can happen if:
- The room is particularly warm due to hotter weather
- The fridge is too close to a heat source like a stovetop or heater
- The fridge is located in direct sunlight
- The fridge is located in an attic, basement, or garage, that gets particularly hot
Where possible, simply move your fridge to somewhere where it will be at about room temperature most of the time. Room temperature is between about 68–72 °F (20–22 °C). But, a fridge can also be turned down using the controls.
Doing so will allow for the higher temperature in a hot room but does use more power. Ideally, a fridge should be in the coolest place it can be. In the next step I will explain how to turn the temperature down on a Jenn Air fridge.
4. Freezer or fridge temp needs to be turned down
Jenn Air fridge freezers are set to the middle setting by default. To turn it down refer to the instructions in the video below. Note that, Jenn Air fridges are made by the same company that makes Whirlpool fridges, therefore the instructions are pretty much the same.
Once you turn the freezer temperature down, wait for about 24 hours for the changes to take effect.
5. Demo or showroom mode is enabled (new installs)
When a Jenn Air fridge is brand new, it’s possible it’s set to showroom mode, which is also called demo mode. If your Jenn Air fridge is set to demo or showroom mode it will need to be disabled. On most Jenn Air fridges the control panel has a button that says ‘showroom’ or ‘demo’ mode.
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And you press it to turn it on and off. It also will tell you whether it’s on or not. It’s also possible this setting has been enabled accidentally.
If you can’t locate the demo or showroom button, then refer to your owners manual. Or, contact Jenn Air support over the phone to have them help you locate how to turn it off for your specific make and model of Jenn Air fridge.
6. Condenser coils need to be cleaned
The condenser coils on a fridge are a component that can be easily accessed. It’s a grill and air is sucked over it, and is responsible for cooling the air before it’s blown into your fridge. It’s common over time for the condenser coils to accumulate dust, spider webs, and/or pet hair.
When this happens the air flow over the condenser coils is less, and a fridge has a hard time cooling. They can be cleaned with a very soft bristled brush, and a vacuum.
But, they are easily bent, so care needs to be taken when cleaning them. Below is a video from Whirlpool where they show how to clean the condenser coils on a Whirlpool fridge:
Jenn Air fridges, and Whirlpool fridges have a nearly identical design. So, the instructions above will also work for a Jenn air fridge.
Firstly, visually inspect the condenser coils to see that they are covered in dust. If they are then clean them. Another related issue is the back of the fridge is too close to the wall behind it.
When a fridge is positioned too close, it also reduces air flow to the condenser coils. There should be a space between the back of your fridge and the wall of about 2 inches (5 cm), or more. Adjust your fridge if necessary.
7. The door seals are damaged or can’t create an airtight seal
As you may know, there are seals around the door of the fridge and freezer. These can get damaged over time, or a food spill can cause grime on the seals, and they won’t seal properly. When this happens air leaks out of the fridge, and it won’t be able to maintain its temperature.
Visually inspect the seals around the door of the fridge and the freezer to see if you can identify an issue. If they are dirty or the part where the stick to the door is dirty clean them with warm soapy water. If they are damaged, replace them.
Copyright article owner is ReadyToDiy.com for this article. This post was first published on December 19, 2022.
It’s possible to order replacement seals online. However, it’s a good idea to contact Jenn air support because it may be covered under warranty.
Tips on How To Avoid or Fix Jenn Air Refrigerator Not Freezing
Once a Jenn Air fridge has been set to all the right settings, and begins freezing, it can all of a sudden stop freezing. This can occur because of a few reasons that are easy to overlook. Here are tips for how to avoid your Jenn Air freezer from not working properly, and how to fix it when it’s not freezing.
In general, inspect the seals to ensure they are intact, and not damaged or dirty. After that, ensure the vents inside your fridge or freezer and not covered by a food or drink item. After that, check that ‘cooling’ is enabled, it can be disabled after a power surge/outage.
I have provided a full list of all the steps you should do when your Jenn Air fridge is not freezer a bit further up in this article. In total, there are 7 steps.
Start with step 1, and work your way through each of the steps until you identified why it was happening, and fixed the issue. Also, it’s a good idea to bookmark this page, and come back to it in case this issue happens again.
Overall, ensure the ‘cooling’ function is on using the control panel on your Jenn Air fridge. It gets disabled after a power outage or power surge. Next, inspect the air vents on the interior of your fridge and freezer to ensure they are covered by a food or drink item, then do the steps below.
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ReadyToDIY is the owner of this article. This post was published on December 19, 2022.