On Monday, February 11, 2019 at 4:08:18 AM UTC-10, Gary wrote:
> Cindy Hamilton wrote:
> >
> > Jill McQuown wrote:
> > > Ay yay yay! You didn't have a frost free freezer? I cannot imagine! I
> > > have vague memories of having to chip ice out an old freezer on top of a
> > > refrigerator.
> >
> > Frost-free freezers aren't as good for long-term storage because they
> > warm up a little bit every defrost cycle.
>
> And chest freezers are best for that because the cold air doesn't
> fall out every time you open the freezer. The side-by-side are
> the least efficient. Open freezer door and immediately all the
> cold air goes right out onto the floor.
>
> I have a frost=free freezer on top of fridge. Thought the entire
> machine was dead...warm temps top and bottom. This was just about
> 5-6 weeks ago. Turned out that my "frost-free" finally did frost
> up and was causing all the problems. I defrosted it and it works
> now better than it has for years.
>
> Brand is Whirlpool and it's a small and probably the cheapest one
> they sold with freezer over fridge. I got it brand new about 25
> years ago. Frost free all those years until last month.
>
> Size: (outside dimensions) a 28" wide by 28" deep by 62" tall
> Many here will gasp at size but it's been quite fine for me and
> when daughter lived here.
>
> Probably the most redeeming feature with a cheap appliance is...
> no extra nonsense that can break. No icemaker and no digital
> nonsense either.
>
> This cute little Whirlpool is the Energizer Fridge, keeps going
> and going..........

All you have to do is turn the refrigerator off every once in a while to defrost the coils. Sooner or later you might want to fix it. My guess is that your timer is no longer working. It's the gizmo that cycles the heater element on that defrosts your evaporator coils. If it's not your timer, it's likely that your heater coil is bad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F2d7x5nDao