Hi Kazuhito, soft ice cream is usually the first sign that something is off, so you caught it early. A freezer should sit at about -18°C (0°F). At -10°C (14°F) your food is still frozen, but ice cream turns soft and frozen food won’t keep as long.
The “795” at the start of your model number means this Kenmore was built by LG. It’s most likely somewhere around 12–14 years old, so it’s fair to ask whether it’s aging out. Before you decide, check these things in order, because some of them are free fixes.
Quick checks you can do yourself
- The setting. Make sure the freezer control is set to 0°F / -18°C. Settings sometimes get changed by accident or reset after a power blip.
- Condenser coils. On this model the coils and the condenser fan sit behind the bottom rear panel. If they’re packed with dust, the refrigerator can’t get rid of heat and the freezer runs warm. Unplug it, take off that panel and vacuum them. This alone fixes a lot of “freezer not cold enough” calls.
- Door and drawer seal. Close the freezer on a piece of paper in a few spots. If it slides out easily, cold air is leaking. Also check that nothing is stopping the drawer from closing all the way.
- Air flow. Listen for the fan inside the freezer when the compressor is running. Make sure food isn’t packed against the vents on the back wall.
What it could be if those don’t help
- Frost on the back wall of the freezer means a defrost problem (heater, sensor or control). That’s a fairly normal repair.
- The fridge section is also warmer than it should be (above 4°C / 40°F) and the coils are clean: then the compressor or sealed system is probably getting weak. LG-built Kenmores of this period use LG’s linear compressor, and a weak compressor is a known problem on them. One of the first signs is a freezer that can’t get colder than about -10°C.
Repair or replace?
Honestly, it depends on which of these it is. A fan, a defrost part or a cleaning is worth doing even at this age, usually in the low hundreds of dollars. A compressor or sealed-system repair usually costs $800–1,500. On a refrigerator this age, I’d put that money into a new one.
Clean the coils first and give it a day. If the freezer doesn’t come back down to -18°C, have a local technician check how the compressor is running before you buy anything. If you have more questions, just send them in.