We have had (What we Californians call "Santa Ana Winds)" for most of this week, (last of April & first of May, 2014).

The temperatures got into the high 90's (98F etc). We had very strong winds and a lotta fine dust, (alto not as bad as the "Dust Bowl"), but still lotsa dust in the house and on my 3 convertibles.

I went to the fridge to get some cold water. I looked at the temp displays inside the fridge, The fridge showed 38F (should be 37F) but~~~~~ the freezer showed 10F, (should have been "0" F).

Now those of you with double compressors , had you seen this, You "might have started transporting food in the fridge to the backup fridge" or maybe try to talk your neighbor into "borrowing some space in their fridge".

Well I don't have a backup fridge (don't want to spend the money with the electric company to run two fridges)!

I decided to check the condenser for dust, (easy to do with the JA), you just lift off the cover at the top of the fridge and there sits the condenser. As I suspected, it was "Covered with dust"! I took the small vacuum cleaner and cleaned it, also cleaned the condenser in the Elux wine fridge.

I checks the fridge temps about an hour later. We did not have the AC on and it was about 83 inside the house.
Well now the fridge showed 38 for the fridge but 11F for the freezer, Oh ---OH! Still plenty of room between 32F and 11F, so no danger of stuff thawing out in the freezer,so I just left things alone (thinking freezer would cool down once house cooled down).

Now "fast forward to this Morning" (May 2, 2014).
I checked the fridges digital readout of the fridge and freezer temps. Fridge still says 38 but the freezer now says "14F", Oh--OHH!!!, is my JA gonna need its first service call in 8 years?~~~~~~~NOPE!!!!!!

I figured that the vacuum probably only cleaned the very front portion of the condenser coils, ~~soooo!!!!~~~I got out my can of CRC Duster, and sprayed the "Heck outta the condenser"!!!!!

Now "fast forward" again to about 2 hours later.
I checks the display readouts for the fridge & freezer.
Fridge back at good old 37F, and freezer at "0"F.
YEAHHHHHH!!!!!!

So the reason for this post is "two fold"

First, before "Panicking", when you see a "higher than normal" temp in either your freezer or fridge, go buy a can of CRC Duster, (or similar product) and spray the heck outta the condenser. It could save you transporting food as well as a service call!!!!

Secondly, The above "scenario" is why I am a BIG FAN, of the single compressor system. The way this cooling system works, is it "Borrows" cold from the freezer compartment, to keep the fridge temp (close to set limit "37F). Even though the condenser could not keep the freezer at "0" F, (due to the dust), it was still able to keep the fridge within 1 degree F of (set temp), and still keep the freezer well below freezing (32F).

With a dual compressor system, the fridge would have "Quickly lost its cool" and the food would have had to been transported, (assuming the dirty condenser was on the fridge side).

So I had "Plenty of time" to sort out the problem without "Panicking", and I did NOT have to refrain from accessing the fridge~~~so it would "Keep its COOL"!!!

Now we know some folks are fans of the dual compressor systems as they don't want the air "Mixing" between the fridge & freezer compartments~~~but I must admit, in my 72 years here on "Terra Firma", I've never encountered "Off taste" things that was cause by the Mixing of the air in the 2 compartments, IE ice cubes that taste like onions (or whatever)~~~to me, the efficiency of a single compressor system, the simplicity of same, as well as having more time to solve a problem (Like the one) I just posted, FAR Outweigh, (at least for me), any possible benefits of a dual compressor system!

Gary