The LEC Elan fridge freezer that I bought three years ago has never
worked properly. First the handle broke and I was sent a replacement of
a new design. Then a freezer drawer front broke. The main problem
though is the temperature control of the fridge and freezer
compartments. On the recommended settings of between 3 and 5 a large
block of ice forms aroung the thermostat at the back of the fridge and
everything in the salad drawers freezes and becomes inedible. At lower
settings water sits in the bottom of each compartment and the freezer
only reaches -8 to -10 degrees which doesn't seem healthy. I have
contacted LEC and had an engineer out but it has never improved. Is it
just mine or do all LEC Elans suffer from this?

In article . com,
"huckleberry" writes:
The LEC Elan fridge freezer that I bought three years ago has never
worked properly. First the handle broke and I was sent a replacement of
a new design. Then a freezer drawer front broke. The main problem
though is the temperature control of the fridge and freezer
compartments. On the recommended settings of between 3 and 5 a large
block of ice forms aroung the thermostat at the back of the fridge and
everything in the salad drawers freezes and becomes inedible. At lower
settings water sits in the bottom of each compartment and the freezer
only reaches -8 to -10 degrees which doesn't seem healthy. I have
contacted LEC and had an engineer out but it has never improved. Is it
just mine or do all LEC Elans suffer from this?

Not familiar with that fridge/freezer, but a couple of suggestions.

It sounds like you have a wide temperature variation in different
parts of the fridge. This is normally caused by overfilling the
fridge, or having items loose wrapped such that the wrappings are
restricting air circulation in the fridge. Avoid loose wrappings,
and make sure there are spaces between items so air can circulate,
evening out the temperature, and the thermostat will also then
'see' a temperature which is representitive of the fridge. The
freezer may operate only as a side effect of the fridge, so if
the fridge temperature control isn't working, freezer won't either.

Block of ice could be caused by the door seal not sealing properly.
Check it will grip a till receipt all the way round. It might also
be caused by overfilling the fridge as above, if there is also a
source of moisture (such as unwrapped food) or if it's causing the
compressor to operate continuously and never gets a chance to defrost.

Be careful not to eat vegetables which might have got partially
frozen and thawed out again. This destroys the cell walls, and
enables bacteria to much more rapidly spread through the food
when it's thawed. Although cooking will destroy the bacteria,
it won't destroy some of the toxins which might have been produced
(nitrites are common in this case).

--
Andrew Gabriel