Refrig. question - lightbulb not working

[Autumnsun]

Hello all. I hope you can help me. Long story short - lightbulb burned out in frig. and I went and bought replacement lights but they did not work. I thought the bulbs were bad so I returned them and bought more and they did not work either. Freezer and frig. seem to be working fine. What could be the problem? Pretty dark in my frig. This appliance is getting a little old. Is this a sign of it going bad? Thanks for any help you can offer.

[Grace]

I would first make sure the button that turns the light on and off is not stuck. The button that gets pushed in when the door closes (to turn the light off), that's supposed to pop out when the door opens (to turn the light on). If it's stuck in and won't pop out, sometimes that's the problem. Otherwise the switch could just be old and burned out, or something with the wiring. Not something you can fix yourself. Good luck.

[Autumnsun]

Thank you for responding. Yes, I have checked the "switchy" thing to make sure it is not stuck. It is not. I guess it is looking like I'm going to have to call someone or else get a new frig (which is in order - almost 16 years old).

[testkitchen45]

Hi, Autumnsun! Welcome to the boards. I'm better with recipes than with appliances, but one idea I had is whether there's a fuse somewhere that controls that bulb (a fuse w/in the fridge)? Fuses that blow are generally easily replaced; you just pop in a new one if you can get at it (back of unit??).

Or you might call the co's 1-800 # and talk to them, or call a few longstanding repair places in your town, to see if someone might have a fast fix by phone b4 you have a repairman come out. I doubt the whole unit's going bad, b/c the lightbulb isn't related in any way to the compressor.

[Canice]

When I moved into my apartment 16 years ago my friends who lived there at the time told me not to bother replacing the bulb or trying to fix the light in the 'fridge - they'd tried it all and nothing worked. So I've never had one! Besides sucking up electricity, there's nothing else wrong with it.

[Beth]

if the fridge is 16 years old, I would check the things you can fix yourself, but after that, I would not put money into a service call. You'll get a better fridge that uses less electricity and won't have to worry about the thing dying on you and spoling a lot of food at a least opportune moment. Or any of the potential disasters of electrical problems.

[Hammster]

Corrosion can build up in the light bulb socket in the fridge.
Unplug the fridge and clean the inside of the socket being sure to get all the way to the bottom of the socket. With the fridge unplugged, you won't shock yourself during the cleaning of the socket.
Use isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol and an old toothbrush to clean the socket. (You can also use a Q-Tip dipped in the alcohol, but won't get as good scrubbing action)Then dry it out real well with a clean rag or paper towel.
Note that you might have to remove a plastic diffuser cover to get easier access to the socket. Those covers are usually only held in with some molded in plastic clips. (Sometimes they use screws) But see if you can clean it with the cover in place. (Assuming your fridge has one of those covers)
See if that helps. Oh, yeah, be sure to plug the fridge back in once you are done so you can verify if this helped with the light problem.
:)