The story so far . . . Over the past few days my upright freezer has not been reaching the set temperature [-18 c]. I have switched off the appliance, cleaned the back [ was clean anyway] and switched it back on. The freezer is only reaching -14 c. The question is should I get in a service engineer? [ I live in a rural area of Scotland therefore call out charges are high] or bite the bullet and buy a new one? [ the thought of removing the padlock from my sporran has me petrified]. Has anyone any idea what might be wrong?
Is it an auto de-frost? Sometime these still get frosted up and the air can't circulate properly and ice acts as insulation. Only real cure is remove contents to another freezer and allow to defrost naturally - can take a couple of days depending on room temp. I had this when my Bosch auto DF freezer door was left ajar for a day. The defroster could not cope and the whole thing turned into a block of ice.
Is the compressor running all the time? if so the thermostat is probably good but the compressor could be knackered or the gas is escaping. Usually not worth repairing unless machine is quite new or 'special' in some way- built into units of a (now) non std size etc
If the compressor is switching on and off but still not achieving the target temperature, suspect the thermostat or the temperature display. Check the actual temperature with a thermometer if you have not done so already. Thermostat change can often be DIY and relatively cheap but you must get the right type for the type of freezer eg auto defrost or not etc does not always have to be the same make or the manufacturers supplied (expensive!) spare.
Thanks for your response Bob. It is a John Lewis auto defrost freezer. I emptied the freezer and left it for aprox. 6 hours to reset. Has been running for the past 24 hours. The compressor is running continually and the temp is -13. Will not drop any lower. Hope this helps
That means either the compressor has lost its gas, or the insulation has failed. If you let it defrost fully (days), you may find pools of water around the outside of the freezer, which would confirm insulation failure. DIY repairable to some extent - clear out as much of the old insulation as you can, then replace it with expanding foam.
Thanks for your response Bob. It is a John Lewis auto defrost freezer. I emptied the freezer and left it for aprox. 6 hours to reset. Has been running for the past 24 hours. The compressor is running continually and the temp is -13. Will not drop any lower. Hope this helps
Ronnie
Yes, frost free is uggg. It sounds like it is still frozen up due to not coming onto the defrost cycle. 6 hours will not be long enough if it is frozen up. Or then again it might well be a refrigerant leak. You could eliminate the frozen up theory by leaving it unplugged and with the door open for a couple of days. If all is then well the problem is a dodgy defrost timer/heater. If it still won't reach temperature the problem is probably a refrigerant leak. It can be recharged but if the guy can't find the leak and repair it then it will happen again.
That is my experience, except in my case I removed the inside back of the freezer compartment to expose the heat exchanger which was completely clogged with ice. I then attacked it with a hair drier to melt the ice taking care not to melt the plastic. I couldn't wait the 2 days or so for it to melt away by itself!
You should be able somehow to get sight of the cooling plates themselves. Being frost-free, they will be close-spaced, and it may well be that they are still clogged with ice which didn't have time to melt. Sometimes the ice also builds up around the internal circulating fan. Is it running properly?
Yes, that is one way of doing it. However I was not going to advise the OP to do that for obvious reasons. I used to repair refrigeration, frost free was always the nightmare.
the garden and buy a new one. [do they still take white fivers?] Cheers from Scotland Ronnie
Not forgetting that if the freezer is defrosted the water may well run outside of the compartment. Insulation failure is unlikely on a such a young appliance. Not unknown but unlikely. It is not realistically repairable.
I found using a fanheater blowing inside the freezer didi it in a couple of hours. You need to be carfeul not to have it too close so you don't melt the plastic.
I found using a fanheater blowing inside the freezer didi it in a couple of hours. You need to be carfeul not to have it too close so you don't melt the plastic.
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