As of last week there is a slab of ice forming on the back inside wall of my fridge. It's a self defrosting one, and the temp setting is on 2 (out of 5). Cleared it off at the weekend but it's back again now.
Is it terminally ill?
|
|
The first thing to check is that there is not something slightly fouling the door. If it is fractionally open the fridge will be working hard to maintain its temperature and the air circulating through the fridge will form the ice. You will find that the condensation drain is frozen as well. In my case it was the cheese container that had something behind it so that it protruded beyond the shelf slightly.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Thu 14 Jun 12 at 08:24
|
Hmm, I have same problem in my fridge as well. Cleared ice few times and it is appearing again.
Mine is a Beko one bought in 2010.
|
Can't see anything causing a break in the seal, and when you open it, it feels like it's sealed - but that may not have always been the case - it was particularly full last week.
It's over 10 years old.
|
|
I would strongly suspect the condensation drain as ON says. Use pipe cleaner (or similar) to clean/clear.
|
|
Probabl knackered Smokie - read the thread on my procurement of a Beko at the start of the year !
|
|
If it's forming ice it can't really be truly knackered.
|
My experience is that a blocked condensate drain results in flooded shelves rather than excess ice. Either the door isn't sealing or the cooler is working overtime - thermostat gone?
Is their evidence of food freezing or frost damage to salad veg?
|
AFAIK, "frost free" fridges have a timer (to activate heating element) for the once/twice daily or thereabouts defrosting session. If the seal is not the problem, then the defrost cycle may have failed.
home.howstuffworks.com/question144.htm
A frost-free freezer has three basic parts:
A timer
A heating coil
A temperature sensor
Every six hours or so, the timer turns on the heating coil. The heating coil is wrapped among the freezer coils. The heater melts the ice off the coils. When all of the ice is gone, the temperature sensor senses the temperature rising above 32 degrees F (0 degrees C) and turns off the heater.
|
one suggested fix:
www.whitegoodshelp.co.uk/frost-free-fridge-freezers-automatic-defrosting-fridges-how-do-they-work/
"If the door is left open for too long (especially in humid conditions) the evaporator freezes over and the unit will not keep the food cold. This problem (unlike the older machines) has a greater impact because you can’t see the amount of ice built up around the back of the panel hiding the evaporator. In many frost free fridges the ice can form all the way round the fan and cause it to run slowly or even seize up. Prior to seizing up the fan may catch on the ice and make a high pitched noise. This will of course result in the fridge or freezer not getting cold. If you hear a strange noise from your frost free fridge freezer which sounds like something is catching on a rotating fan it could be due to ice forming around it.
If it stops working due to ice forming behind the evaporator and round the fan then defrosting the unit manually can fix it but it involves unplugging the unit for at least take 12 hours or so. You may not see much frost as it would be behind the back wall or behind the fan unit. You can’t really use a hair dryer on modern units because they may have a thermal fuse which protects the defrost cycle. Also, even just getting to the evaporator to defrost it can be a mammoth task especially with some of the new American-style fridges. If a fault re-occurs later it could be due to faulty sensor but if the fault was only due to the door been left open for a few hours accidentally then a total defrost could work."
|
Clever stuff innit? :-)
Thanks John for those posts. I think something has broken, because when it was frozen last weekend we left it off and open overnight to allow the ice to thaw, then it got a good clean before going back on again.
I'll try a few bits, including your suggestion, over the weekend, but it looks like the wallet might need some exercise...
The Big Question is whether to fix it or bin it... a quick glance shows a similar size Bosch at just over £400, but there are less of us to fill it now that the kids (natch) have moved out, so maybe time to "downsize", or maybe get a combined fridge freezer which would enable us to release the spare fridge freezer in the garage (which is possibly too big to directly replace the existing one).
|
|
Almost certainly the stat has gone - check every time you walk past, is the compressor running? You can probably change it, but it may not be easy. We did one on an Ariston fridge freezer, and I remember having to break part of it to get the old one out. A net search on the model number may well turn up some info.
|
>> You can probably change it, but it may not be easy. We did
>> one on an Ariston fridge freezer, and I remember having to break part of it
>> to get the old one out.
Replaced stat on a 1986 Zanussi around 1994. Like Richard I found accessing it difficult but once in it was a simple wiring job.
Miss B, a toddler at the time, thought Daddy lying in the floor with his head in the fridge a huge giggle and kept trying to get in with me!!
|
>>The Big Question is whether to fix it or bin it... a quick glance shows a similar size Bosch at just over £400, but there are less of us to fill it now that the kids (natch) have moved out, so maybe time to "downsize",
>>
You may well be forced to downsize :-(
When I went looking for a replacement freezer I found that most of the "new" ones were more energy efficient at the cost of very thick walls and of course downsizing re capacity.
I opted for an old fashioned one and retained the space inside.
|
The OP refers to self defrosting rather than frost free. I assume this to mean the system that's been around for yonks where the ice formed while cooling thaws while the stat is open and then drains via a channel into a trough over the condenser from where it evaporates.
My suggestion was based on that rather than more sphisticated truly frost free systems with fans and suchlike.
|
|
...OP has no idea, will get the model number later and try to establish what I've got!! :-)
|
We had a problem with our frost free freezer earlier this year. But it wasn't a problem of the fridge icing up - it was not keeping food cold. The other symptom was the freezer was frosting up.
This was noticed a few days after the freezer door was left ajar (freezer is in the cellar). So the freezer frosted up. In fact it seemed to be running all the time. So I suspected it had frozen up and couldn't keep the fridge cold.
So I tried unplugging it for a bit (not wanting to lose the food) but of course it needed to defrost. So I took out the baskets from the freezer, left the door open and had a fan heater blowing into it. It didn't take long to defrost and the food remained frozen. Put it all back in after cleaning/mopping water out and it's been fine since.
But this was a case of the fridge not cooling and the freezer frosting up....
|
Fridge freezing... - Old Navy
