Fridge too cold and frosting

[Dave]

Been away for a few days and just noticed on our return that the fridge has started acting almost like a freezer. The back panel has maybe an 1/8th to a

1/4 inch of frost on it and things such as two bottles of lemonade that were very lightly in contact with the panel have frozen solid.

It's a Hitachi Larder Fridge (Model R11 LCS) and, when we bought it about 10 years ago, we set the temperature dial to "6" and it's never been moved from that setting at all, ever.

Any idea what's wrong and if it's diy-fixable?

Dave.

[adder1969]

Turn it to "3"?

If the cooling elements run in the back then you can get localised freezing.

[Phil Anthropist]

If it's the thermostat, and you know how to remove it and fit a new one, then yes. But if the dial is the usual zero to 6 then setting it on 6 is normally too cold and results in freezing. Usually a setting of 3 or 4 is OK. If it has been set at 6 for 10 years, and 6 is the maximum value, then it's strange that this problem hasn't occurred before now.

[Guy King]

The message from "Dave" contains these words:

Lucky it doesn't go up to 11, really.

As a first step, try turning it down!

[Dave]

Many thanks to adder1969, skipweasel and Phil - especially Phil as he *may* have hit the nail on the head, so to speak.

I don't like hot drinks, never have, and I like my orange juice, my cans of coke etc., to be as cold as possible, remembering that the fridge isn't just mine (got a beer fridge in the garage) and has to have other things such as milk, eggs, butter, salad etc., etc., in there as well.

The temperature dial goes from 0 to 7 and has *always* been set at 6 for the last *10* years and we've never had this problem before so something has gone wrong or changed to make this suddenly happen. I'll try turning it down to, say, 3. If the ice on the back panel begins to melt I guess we can say that the thermostat is working because it's responding to turning down.

However, I know now that 3 just isn't cold enough for us so what will it point to if it works at 3 but frosts up at 6 - remembering that 7 is the max?

Dave.

[Andrew Gabriel]

The ice implies a good source of moisture available, which there normally isn't inside a fridge. Are you sure the door was completely shut whilst you were away? Also check for door seal not working -- it should be able to grip a till receipt all the way round when the door is closed. If the ice has a dusty snow surface, that implies it formed quickly as would be expected if the door wasn't fully shut.

Poor air circulation in a fridge can cause some parts to freeze whilst others are actually too warm. Make sure food is tightly wrapped so loose wrappings don't block air circulation, and don't overfill the fridge such that air movement inside is blocked.

In either case above, from the safety point of view, you should assume that the required cold temperature has not been maintained throughout the whole fridge (even though some things froze).

Check the things above before looking for other faults.