freezer failing

[chris]

Hi, I found my electrolux arctis frost-free freezer with a 5f error code the other eveningc and when pressing the "turbo frostmatic" button.

Since then the temperature has gradually risen over several days from

-18 to -3 even though there seems to be some kind of refrigeration still working as it stayed at -8 for a few days depite opening the door to get food out several times.

Do you think a total defrost is worth a try - and a dust round the back ? . The freezer is about 4 years old so just out of its 3 year warranty.

anything else to try or is it a case of phoning the engineer?.

It wasn't moved or damaged when this started happening.

TIA Chris

[The Natural Philosopher]

I have a horrid suspicion that it is in fact the first signs of loss of refrigerant.

Try a defrost, but start saving up for a new one.

[Chris J Dixon]

A full defrost should be your first task. If there seems to be a great deal of ice present, then the suspicion falls on the defrost system - timer or heater elements. It might also be worth checking if the circulating fan is still running OK.

This has been discussed here often before, so a quick Google should bring up more details.

Chris

[Toby]

As others have said, do a full thorough defrost (and leave it longer after all the ice you can see has gone, to make sure any hidden ice is gone too)

If this fails, then speak to the shop your bought it from, as 3 years is not a reasonable length of time for a freezer to last. If they just fob you off, speak to trading standards (Consumer Direct), as you may be able to make a claim for up to 6 years in England and Wales and 5 years in Scotland after the purchase of your goods, for a refund, repair or replacement.

[A.Clews]

Thus spake chris ( [e-mail]) unto the assembled multitudes:

It makes me wonder how far we really have advanced when a thing as simple as a freezer is designed so as to show error codes. How much exactly *can* go wrong with a freezer, after all?

(No disrespect or offence intended to anyone here; just a rant at life in general :-)

[Andrew Gabriel]

With a frost-free, lots.

Basic non-frost-free refrigeration systems have extremely high levels of reliability. The additional components and complexity involved in a frost-free design just can't come close to matching that reliability.

[chris]

Many Thanks for the various replies - I'll certainly raise with the store bought from - i.e.John Lewis but I'll see how the defrost goes first.

[Mark]

Which is why I do not buy frost free freezers.

To the OP: If you can't fix it do /not/ get a replacement made in the far east. Try to get one made in europe (e.g. Liebherr). Far eastern makes do not make spares for very long IME.

[chris]

Thanks for the suggestion for going to Consumer Direct! - they gave us the advice and confidence to keep going and get to the stage of almost going through the small claims track, when John Lewis had initially refused to pay for our repair - which in fact, turned out be a faulty compressor which needed replacing.

In summary after 4 rather confused email replies from them and a registered letter explaining that under Sales of Goods Act our freezer should last longer than 3.5 years before going faulty, J.L relented and agreed and paid the 180 quid repair bill we arranged via a 3rd party repairer.

Apprently the Customer Services person who dealt with our complaint ( in our view rather badly) is no longer in this position.

Chris