Frost Free Freezer Behaviour

[andrewpreece]

Slightly OT perhaps, but my newish ( 6 months ) BEKO frost-free fridge/freezer is displaying weird behaviour. Twice in the last 10 days the freezer compartment, which should be at -18C or so has heated up to about -2C ( top basket ).

In fact, the very top tray, for ice cubes has risen in temperature to the point where the ice cubes melted. I think the temperature at the bottom of the freezer was more like -5C. Nothing would motivate the freezer to refrigerate properly, but after a day it went back to normal.

I'm thinking of calling the service engineer out, but does anyone know if this behaviour is in someway related to normal operation for frost-free freezers? I find it hard to believe, since ice-cream went all soft and developed ice-crystals when it refroze, also things like burgers go floppy. I can't believe this is right, anyone with any knowledge otherwise out there?

cheers,

Andy.

[BigWallop]

A frost free unit actually cycles through a warming period to allow any build up of ice on the freezer plate to fall off. So this behaviour is normal for these units. You may be noticing it more in warmer weather and at higher temperatures within the room the unit stands in. It might be a good idea to pull the unit slightly further away from the wall it's against to allow more air to circulate around it. Not to far, just another inch or so (20 to 25mm for all you young ones).

[Ric]

temperature

That is dangerous - you could die of food poisoning - think you should stop using it and call someone out.

[Mike Clarke]

Sounds familiar. We bought a Bosch fridge freezer several years ago and it showed similar symptoms. It was fixed under warranty but took quite some time to get it sorted. After several visits, numerous tests and a replacement logic board it was finally tracked down to a faulty thermostat.

After replacement of the thermostat ours has given years of service at a constant -18 C with no further trouble and never ever needing to be defrosted.

[Tim Mitchell]

In article , BigWallop writes

What??? Defrosting the contents? That is not normal. The main frost-free mechanism is a fan which circulates the air and stops the ice crystals forming.

You need to get someone to look at it. Also I would take care with eating the things which have been defrosted lest you get food poisoning.

[romic]

It has a heater inside as well to actually melt the ice (or at least my Whirlpool has, and also a Hotpoint one that I've seen.

Roger (my reader sometimes loses mail/newsgroup messages

- if you think you should have had a reply/comment, please e-mail me again. Ta!)

[Ric]

Yes, it will have a heater in it and a fan that form part of the defrost cycle, but this cycle shouldn't last long enough/get hot enough to defrost any of the freezer contents.

[Andy Hall]

The frost free mechanism generally does involve stopping the refrigeration and warming relevant components with a heater, but this should not be for long enough to cause any significant temperature rise in the freezer and certainly not to allow defrosting.

I would suggest two things:

1) Call out the service engineer beause the freezer is faulty (probably temperature sensor or thermostat). If they deny a problem, ask for a replacement freezer.

2) Sling out the contents of the freezer that have thawed and claim on the insurance.

.andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

[Pete C]

Hi,

It's likely there will be a thermostat on the cold coil which detects when the coil has defrosted, so the heater can be switched off etc. This could be faulty or have slipped out of position or there may be a wiring fault in it's circuit.

cheers, Pete.