Integrated fridge

[John]

My father in law has an under worktop integrated fridge, the sort that slides into and is fixed to a standard 600mm wide base unit and the kitchen cupboard door is screwed to the fridge door hinge mechanism. Anyway the fridge does not get any lower than 10 degrees C, even with the temp dial turned right up, (or down??) to 5. We took the fridge out at the weekend and drilled some holes through the worktop to increase airflow, but this hasn't really helped. When we had the fridge out we noticed it didn't have the 'normal' radiator thingie on the back as you would find on a free standing model, presumably because a built in fridge doesn't need one. Also the plate at the back (inside) frosts up quite badly. What is the likely cause of the lack of coldness and is it worth fixing or is it junk? The fridge is approx 5 years old and has worked OK except for the last few weeks.

TIA

John

[Elessar]

and

Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but how can it frost up, and not be any colder than 10 C, at the same time?

[John Laird]

Perversely, you possibly need to turn it *down*. It may be running non-stop and icing up very badly very quickly. If this goes beyond the point where the (presumed) automatic defrost cycle can remove the ice, then it will tend to build up and up. It seems that solid frost is not that good at actually cooling the fridge contents.

I had this experience with a fridge in a holiday cottage once. The previous occupants had emptied it and left it open (as requested), but of course it then had a hard time in the hot weather trying to get cold. Once we'd eased the stat back a bit (it was on max), after a day or so the plate was free of ice build-up and the whole thing was noticeably colder.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Essdy. The door isn't closing properly. Mine does the same when She overstuffs it with rotting vegetables. Fridge works overtime and freezes the backplate, but never gets the air temp down.