Why is the fresh food side warm while the freezer still holds?

A built-in runs two independent sealed systems, one behind each compartment. When only one side drifts, the fault almost always sits on that side alone — its evaporator fan, its defrost circuit or its damper — and the compartment that is still cold has already proved the supply and the machinery behind it.

Does a cabinet running warm mean it has lost refrigerant?

Rarely, and assuming so is expensive. Lost airflow reads exactly like a low charge on a shelf thermometer. Discharge air at the grille and the frost pattern across the evaporator separate the two, and both are measured in front of you before a gauge is connected to anything.

What does the repair come to once it is diagnosed?

$80 flat to diagnose, credited in full toward the work. A fan motor runs $270–$580. A compressor or sealed-system repair runs $900–$2,340. Which of those it is falls out of the readings rather than out of a guess, and the firm figure is written down before a part is ordered.

Is there a reset button on one of these?

Not one marked reset. What the cabinet gives you is its own control panel, which can be switched off and back on, and beyond that cutting power at the breaker for several minutes. Either clears a control that has latched. Neither repairs a stalled fan, a failed defrost circuit or a low charge, which is what a box that keeps warming actually has.

sealed system

Sub-Zero refrigerator not cooling in Jacksonville

One compartment warm, the other cold — and why two sealed systems split the diagnosis in half.

The open fresh-food compartment of a built-in refrigerator with its glass shelves bare, a technician holding a flashlight against the interior wall to read the liner and the vents. — P-11 Compartment temperatures come first, both sides, logged

Symptoms this sheet covers

Fresh food section warm while the freezer still holds
Both compartments drifting up together over several days
The compressor runs constantly and never cycles off
Interior air feels humid and produce wilts within two days
Frost building on one wall of the freezer only
The cabinet is quiet and nothing runs at all
The refrigerator is not cooling but the freezer still is
It stopped cooling after a power outage and never recovered

General note 1 — scope of work

On the ticket: Built-in and integrated Sub-Zero refrigeration, indoors, in a kitchen or a pantry: refrigerators, freezer and refrigerator columns, undercounter cabinets, wine storage and ice machines. The sealed system, the controls, the fans and defrost, the door and its gasket, and the opening the cabinet is trimmed into.
Not on the ticket: Heating and air conditioning. We do not install, service or diagnose furnaces, heat pumps, air handlers, condensing units for the house, thermostats for the house, or ductwork. We are not an HVAC contractor and not a ventilation contractor, and we do not hold ourselves out as either.

A Sub-Zero built-in runs two sealed systems, not one. There is a compressor and evaporator for the fresh food section and a separate pair for the freezer, which is why the two compartments can disagree. That single fact splits this call in half before anyone connects a gauge, and it is the reason a Sub-Zero is not diagnosed the way a one-compressor refrigerator is.

Which half is warm decides everything

If the freezer is holding and the fresh food side has drifted to the high 40s, the freezer’s sealed system is proven good. Refrigerant, compressor, condenser and the whole high side are working. The fault sits in the fresh food circuit or in the air path that serves it, and that is a much shorter list.

If both compartments climb together over three or four days, the shared parts come back into scope: condenser airflow, the electrical supply, and the control that starts both compressors.

The order we work in

Temperature at the shelf, not on the display. We log actual air temperature in both compartments with our own probe and compare it against the setpoint. A display reading 38 while the shelf reads 47 is itself a finding.

Condenser condition and discharge air. The condenser on a built-in sits behind the upper grille, and in this city it collects a season of pollen by March. A blocked condenser raises head pressure, and the symptom presented at the door is warm food, not a hot machine.

Evaporator frost pattern. We pull the interior panel and read the ice. Frost covering the whole coil evenly is normal operation. Frost on the first third of the coil and bare metal after it points at a low charge or a restriction. A solid block of ice over the coil points at a defrost fault, and defrost faults are cheap compared to sealed-system work.

Evaporator fan and air path. Cold air has to be moved. A stalled fan or a duct blocked by a food container produces a warm fresh food section with a perfectly healthy compressor behind it. We check this before anything else in the sealed system, because it is common and it is inexpensive.

Voltage under load. We read supply voltage while the compressor is starting. In older Jacksonville kitchens the cabinet often shares a circuit it should not share, and a compressor that browns out on start will present as a unit that cools poorly and runs all the time.

Door seal and door habits. A door held open by a bottle on the shelf edge, or a gasket that lost contact along the hinge side, loads the system with humid Florida air continuously. In summer that alone will hold a fresh food section five degrees above setpoint.

Only then, the sealed system

Sealed-system work is the last step, not the first, and it is the one that requires EPA Section 608 certification to perform legally. Recovering a charge, finding a leak and recharging is real work with a real price, and we will not quote it until the cheaper causes above have been ruled out in front of you and written down.

If the answer genuinely is a compressor or a leak in the evaporator, we will tell you what the repair costs against what the cabinet is worth. A built-in that is fifteen years old with an intact interior and a straight door is usually worth repairing. One that has already had two sealed-system repairs is a different conversation, and we would rather have it honestly on the first visit than after you have paid for a third.

What the visit involves

The diagnostic is a flat fee and it is credited in full toward the repair if you approve the work. You get the measured numbers — both compartment temperatures, supply voltage, and the frost pattern we found — in writing, along with the estimate, before any part is ordered.

We are an independent shop and we service Sub-Zero refrigeration only. Parts are genuine OEM, and the workmanship carries 90 days on labor with 365 days on the parts themselves.

What does refrigerator not cooling cost to put right?

One number is known before the van moves: $80 to read the cabinet, credited against the work if you approve it. Everything scheduled beneath it is a band and not a figure, because the part sets the number and the part is not named until the readings are in.

Schedule of completed repairs on this fault — part and labor to one line.
Item	Band
Reading the cabinet, diagnostic sequence	$80 flat
Compressor or sealed-system repair	$900–$2,340
Evaporator or condenser fan motor	$270–$580
Defrost heater, thermostat or sensor	$240–$640

$80 buys the readings; $2,340 is the ceiling of everything scheduled above it. The written estimate sits between the two and carries one figure, handed over before a part is ordered.

Asked and answered

Questions that come up on refrigerator not cooling

Why is the fresh food side warm while the freezer still holds?: A built-in runs two independent sealed systems, one behind each compartment. When only one side drifts, the fault almost always sits on that side alone — its evaporator fan, its defrost circuit or its damper — and the compartment that is still cold has already proved the supply and the machinery behind it.
Does a cabinet running warm mean it has lost refrigerant?: Rarely, and assuming so is expensive. Lost airflow reads exactly like a low charge on a shelf thermometer. Discharge air at the grille and the frost pattern across the evaporator separate the two, and both are measured in front of you before a gauge is connected to anything.
What does the repair come to once it is diagnosed?: $80 flat to diagnose, credited in full toward the work. A fan motor runs $270–$580. A compressor or sealed-system repair runs $900–$2,340. Which of those it is falls out of the readings rather than out of a guess, and the firm figure is written down before a part is ordered.
Is there a reset button on one of these?: Not one marked reset. What the cabinet gives you is its own control panel, which can be switched off and back on, and beyond that cutting power at the breaker for several minutes. Either clears a control that has latched. Neither repairs a stalled fan, a failed defrost circuit or a low charge, which is what a box that keeps warming actually has.

Book the diagnostic

Flat diagnostic fee, credited in full toward the repair if you approve the work. Written estimate before any part is ordered or any labor is billed. See the pricing sheet for how the fee works and the warranty sheet for what the finished repair carries.

Call +1 (904) 977-8701

Customer feedback

What owners said after refrigerator not cooling work

4.5 out of 5 across 71 customer reviews. Read every one of them.

An older cabinet in a tight 1920s alcove that I assumed was beyond saving. He read the plate before quoting anything, sourced the part for that serial run, and it has held since spring.

Bernadine C.2026-05-13

Everything in the fresh food side was going off within two days. He put his own probe on the middle shelf and left it there while he worked, rather than trusting the number on the front panel.

Octavia R.2026-09-16

Both compartments had drifted up over about a week and I assumed the worst. He logged shelf temperatures first, then found a defrost sensor reading far colder than the air around it.

Augustina F.2026-08-12