Refrigerator Down? Same- or Next-Day Repair in Metro Atlanta

Fridge Just Quit? Do This in the First Hour

What you do before the technician arrives decides how much food you keep. These steps take a few minutes and follow USDA and FDA food-safety guidance.

1. Keep both doors shut. A closed refrigerator keeps food safe for about 4 hours. A full freezer holds its temperature for about 48 hours and a half-full one for about 24 hours. Every peek lets cold air out.
2. Check power first. Look at the plug, try another device in the outlet and check the breaker. A tripped GFCI outlet in a kitchen or garage is a common reason a fridge goes silent.
3. Look at the temperature setting. A dial or touch control that got bumped to the warmest position looks exactly like a failure.
4. Put a thermometer inside. The fresh-food section should be at 40°F or below and the freezer at 0°F.
5. Move what matters most. Medicine, baby formula and expensive cuts go into a cooler with ice first.
6. Clear the way. Make room in front of the refrigerator and on the floor beside it, so the unit can be pulled out if the technician needs the back panel.

If the food has been above 40°F for longer than the times above, the USDA advises throwing out perishables such as meat, dairy, eggs and leftovers. When in doubt, throw it out.

What We Fix

Restaurant and business refrigeration is described on our home page.

How an Urgent Call Works

Step 1 — You call or send the form. A person answers, day or night. We ask for the brand, the symptom, how long it has been going on and your ZIP code, then give you the earliest visit window we have, usually same- or next-day.

Step 2 — The technician diagnoses on site. We measure temperatures, listen to the compressor and fans, look at the condenser, check the defrost parts and test the controls. You hear in plain words what failed and what the repair involves, and you decide whether to go ahead before any work starts.

Step 3 — The repair and the test. The failed part is replaced with a genuine or OEM-approved part. The technician restarts the refrigerator and watches it pull temperature before leaving. The work carries a warranty of up to 6 months on parts and labor.

What the Technician Checks

A refrigerator is several systems that depend on each other. One weak link can make the whole unit look dead.

The sealed system. The compressor moves refrigerant through the condenser, where heat is released, and the evaporator, where the cold is made. Only EPA 608 certified technicians may open this system and handle refrigerant, and every technician we send holds that certification.

Airflow. The condenser fan cools the compressor area; the evaporator fan pushes cold air through the freezer and into the fresh-food side. One stopped fan can warm a refrigerator in a day.

Defrost. The defrost heater, the defrost thermostat or sensor, and the timer or board that runs the cycle melt frost off the evaporator coil several times a day. If one of them fails, ice builds slowly and the cooling fades over several days.

Controls. Thermistors report temperatures to the main board, and the board decides when the compressor and fans run. Many newer LG and Samsung refrigerators use variable-speed compressors driven by their own inverter board, which takes model-specific testing.

Water and ice. The inlet valve, the filter housing, the water lines, the ice maker and the dispenser.

Doors. Gaskets, hinges and door switches. A worn gasket lets humid air in and loads the coil with extra frost.

Refrigerators We Work On

• French-door models with bottom freezer drawers and ice makers in the fresh-food section.
• Side-by-side refrigerators with through-the-door ice and water.
• Top-freezer and bottom-freezer refrigerators, the workhorses of rentals and older homes.
• Counter-depth and built-in units, including panel-ready models set flush with the cabinets.
• Garage and basement second fridges, which work hardest during Georgia summers.

Brands We Service

We service most major refrigerator brands, from everyday models to high-end built-ins: Samsung, LG, GE, GE Profile, GE Café, Whirlpool, Maytag, KitchenAid, Frigidaire, Electrolux, Kenmore, Bosch, Haier, Amana, Sub-Zero, Viking, Thermador, Monogram, Jenn-Air, Liebherr, Miele, Fisher & Paykel and U-Line. Our technicians have worked on these refrigerators for years.

Emergency Fridge Repair is an independent, family-owned business. We are not affiliated with or endorsed by any appliance manufacturer, and brand names on this page only describe the refrigerators we repair.

Repair It or Replace It?

For most refrigerators, repair is the sensible choice. Fans, relays, sensors, defrost heaters, valves, gaskets and control boards are replaceable parts, and a single part is a small fraction of what a new refrigerator, delivery, installation and haul-away add up to.

Replacement starts to make sense when an older refrigerator has a failed compressor or a refrigerant leak inside the insulated walls. If that is what we find, we say so plainly and give you the facts to decide, even if it means there is no repair to do.

Keep the Next Breakdown Away

• Vacuum the condenser coil every six to twelve months. On many models it sits behind the bottom grille; on some built-ins it is at the top.
• Give the refrigerator room to breathe. Follow the clearances in the manual, especially for a freestanding fridge pushed into a tight cabinet.
• Replace the water filter on the schedule your manual gives.
• Test the gaskets. Shut the door on a dollar bill. If it slides out with no drag, the seal is worn.
• Keep vents inside clear. A crowded shelf in front of the air outlet can warm the whole section.
• Watch the garage fridge in July and in hard freezes. Many standard models are not built for unheated spaces.

Where We Work

We cover homes across Metro Atlanta, including Atlanta, Marietta, Sandy Springs, Roswell, Alpharetta, Decatur, Smyrna, Dunwoody, Brookhaven, Duluth and Johns Creek. Enter your ZIP code in the form to see whether your address is inside our area.

Office for refrigerator calls: 3939 Roswell Rd NE, Marietta, GA 30062.

Call Before the Food Is Lost

The sooner a technician sees the refrigerator, the more food you keep. Call (770) 334-4410, a person answers 24/7, or send the form and a dispatcher will call you back to set a same- or next-day visit.