The Case of the Pizza Culprit

By Norm Novotney

This happened to me about 8 years ago…. I had a fairly new GE side-by-side Profile fridge. All was well until the warranty had expired (by about 3 months). One day, the fridge didn’t seem quite as cold as usual, so I cranked it up a bit. Still no improvement.

My food was very cool but not truly cold. Digging further, I noticed the freezer compartment didn’t seem as icy as I remembered it. Putting in a digital thermometer revealed that it was just barely hovering below 32F.

Dialing the thermostat up and down, I could hear it clicking and I could hear the hum of the compressor coming on, so I turned it up full blast and waited. Again, no improvement. I had visions of a slowly failing compressor or Freon leak and an expensive repair ahead of me.

Fortunately, while digging out my little thermometer, I fumbled it into the depths of the freezer compartment. I pulled out the lowest basket and noticed a large frozen pizza box had fallen from the top shelf. It slipped straight down the back wall of the freezer, landing at the bottom. Behind the misplaced pizza was the return air vent - perfectly blocked by the tightly wedged box. It was a perfect fit. I immediately baked and ate the pizza while pondering - why would the designers use just a flush grill that was so easily blocked? A ribbed design or ledge around the vent could have easily prevented such a mishap. Luckily, my pizza and fridge were still good.