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- Kenmore Elite refrigerator not cooling: find out who really built it first
Kenmore Elite refrigerator not cooling: find out who really built it first
Kenmore never built refrigerators. Sears bought them from LG, Whirlpool and Frigidaire and put its own badge on the door, and the first three digits of your model number say which one you own. That prefix decides everything about a no-cool call, from the likely fault to whether any factory coverage survives. Start there, then work down this page.
A person answers Mon-Fri 9am-5pm. Outside those hours, leave a message and a local company calls you back.
Answered by an independent Phoenix-area appliance repair company. Not a call center.
Check the three digits before the dot in your model number. A 795 is an LG with the linear compressor and inherits that whole saga. A 106 is Whirlpool-built and usually has a defrost or fan problem, and a 253 is a Frigidaire. Fridge warm with the freezer fine points at the evaporator fan or defrost system on any of them; everything warm points at the sealed system, which on a 795 means the compressor conversation.
Is your model one of them?
The model plate sits inside the fresh food section. The prefix before the dot is the sourcing code, and it tells you whose service manual your fridge actually follows.
Photograph the plate, then match the prefix above. If you're holding a 795, read our LG compressor page next, because that unit's fate follows LG's warranty terms, and LG's own line at 1-800-243-0000 will discuss a 795 serial. Owners are routinely surprised that the Kenmore badge gets them an LG answer.
Don't see your symptom?
Describe it on the phone. The company on the other end works on these every day and will know what to ask.
What actually fails
On the 795s, two failures dominate. The famous one is the linear compressor giving up years early, and everything on our LG compressor page applies here, model list and all, because the machine is an LG in a Sears coat. The quieter one is the evaporator fan motor behind the freezer's rear panel. It ices up or wears out, airflow to the fresh food side dies, and you get the classic warm-fridge-cold-freezer split while the compressor soldiers on.
That split matters because it points away from the expensive repair. Cold air is made in one place and blown to the other. No airflow means fan, iced-over coils or a stuck damper, all of them ordinary repairs. A tech who hears 'freezer's fine, fridge is 55' over the phone already suspects the fan or defrost system before the truck starts.
The Sears part is its own failure mode. The store that sold the warranty has mostly left the field, so 795 owners bounce between what remains of Sears service and LG. Practical answer: for the compressor itself, talk to LG with your serial. For everything else, any independent company that services LG refrigerators services a 795 with the same parts and the same manual.
Check these first
Safe to do yourself. Unplug the appliance before you start.
- Split the symptom in two
Thermometer in the fridge, thermometer in the freezer, two hours. Freezer at zero with a warm fridge is an airflow problem. Both drifting warm is a cooling problem. This one measurement decides which half of the page you're in, so don't skip it.
- Listen behind the freezer wall
Open the freezer and hold the door switch closed with a finger. On many units the evaporator fan spins up after a few seconds. A healthy one whirs. Silence, or a strained buzzing like something spinning through slush, is your answer, and it's one of the cheaper repairs on this list.
- Look at the frost pattern
Pull the food out of the freezer and look at the back panel. A clean panel is normal. A full sheet of frost across it means the defrost system has quit, and the fix is a heater, thermostat or board rather than anything sealed. Snap a photo before it melts; techs love that photo.
- Give it one honest reset, then call
Unplug it for five minutes, plug it back in and give it a day if the food situation allows. Boards do get confused, and there is no hidden reset button beyond the plug. If temperatures don't recover, or the compressor clicks and rests over and over, stop experimenting. On a 795 that clicking starts the LG coverage conversation, and you want it on record early.
What's still covered, as of September 2026
The Kenmore badge added a middleman, then the middleman mostly disappeared. Nothing about that erased what the actual builder owes on the hardware, so identify the builder before you accept that anything is out of coverage.
What the repair runs around Phoenix
Companies set their own rates, so treat these as the shape of each job when you compare quotes. The pleasant surprise on this page is how often a scary no-cool Elite turns out to be the fan or the defrost system, the small end of the table.
What's different in the Phoenix area
A lot of Valley Elites are the demoted fridge: they served the kitchen for years, then moved to the garage when the remodel came. That second act is brutal here. The garage runs 30 degrees hotter than the kitchen ever did, the evaporator works longer defrost-to-defrost, and dust finds the condenser within a season. If your garage 795 quit in August, triage fast, because monsoon-season heat spoils a warm fridge in hours, and the coverage call to LG works the same from a garage as from a kitchen.
Garage installs run hot from May through September
A lot of Mesa, Gilbert and Chandler homes keep the washer, dryer or a second refrigerator in the garage, where afternoon temperatures pass 120°F. Control boards, compressors and drain pumps age faster there, and refrigerators can't hold temperature at all when the ambient is above what they're rated for. Tell the repair company the appliance is in the garage so they plan for it.
Desert dust adds to lint and coil buildup
Fine dust from monsoon storms and dry months gets into dryer vents, refrigerator condenser coils and dishwasher filters. Coils and vents in Valley homes usually need cleaning more often than the once-a-year rule of thumb.
Common questions about appliance repair in Phoenix
Who makes Kenmore Elite refrigerators?
Sears sourced them: 795 prefixes are LG, 106 prefixes are Whirlpool, 253 prefixes are Frigidaire. The prefix sits at the front of the model number on the plate inside the fresh food section, and it decides which failure pattern and which coverage story applies to you.
Why is my Kenmore Elite fridge warm but the freezer works?
Cold air is made at the freezer coils and blown to the fridge side. When the fridge warms alone, the evaporator fan, an iced coil or a stuck damper has cut that airflow. All of those are ordinary repairs, and none of them is the compressor.
Is there a reset button on a Kenmore Elite refrigerator?
Not a hidden one. The honest reset is the plug: five minutes out of the wall, then a day of watching temperatures if your food allows it. A fridge that comes back and stays cold had a confused board. One that drifts warm again has a real fault worth a visit.
My 795 stopped cooling entirely. Is that the LG compressor problem?
Quite possibly. The 795s carry LG's linear compressor, several were named in LG's class action, and total loss of cooling with clicking from the back is the classic presentation. Read our LG compressor page for the full coverage picture, and call LG with your serial before paying out of pocket.
Does the LG settlement cover my Kenmore?
The cash window closed in February 2021, for Kenmores and LGs alike. What's worth chasing in 2026 is the compressor part warranty, which runs from your purchase date. LG will look up a 795 serial; be ready with a receipt if you have one.
Can a regular repair company work on a Kenmore Elite?
Yes, and in the Valley that's usually the fastest route. A 795 takes LG parts, a 106 takes Whirlpool parts, a 253 takes Frigidaire parts. Tell the company your full model number when you call and they'll arrive with the right manual in mind.
The freezer's back wall is a sheet of ice. What does that mean?
The defrost system has stopped doing its job, so every cooling cycle adds frost until the coil suffocates. A heater, a thermostat or the control board is the usual culprit. It looks dramatic and repairs on the mid-to-small side, but put a towel down and expect meltwater on the way back.
Is a fifteen-year-old Elite worth repairing?
For a fan motor or a defrost part, usually yes; those repairs are small and these boxes were built solidly. For a compressor or another sealed-system fault at that age, get the quote, then price new. The quote is the least expensive information you'll buy either way.
Still showing the problem after the checks?
Call and describe what you tried. A local company can tell you what a visit involves.