DIYbanter - View Single Post - Fridge freezer

OG

On 15/05/2011 10:26, wrote:
Hi all,

our Ariston FF stopped working suddenly (bought 2nd hand 3 years ago).
Sounds like something inside the compressor has broken as it's a lot
noisier than it used to be but zero cooling.
I assume there's little point in repairing it.

However, does anyone know if there are any bits worth saving off it?
It's quite a posh one with a digital display for setting the
temperature of the fridge and freezer separately.

Cheers PJ

Does it claim to be a Frost Free?
Is it completely broken or just failing to get cold enough?

If the latter, let it defrost completely over a weekend and restart it.
Frost Free freezers work by blowing refrigerated air from a relatively
compact freezer unit throughout the main freezer compartment. This means
that any frost from condensate is restricted to the main unit and this
is removed using a local heater that melts the ice and lets it flow away.

However, if the freezer is overpacked, the air vents that are used for
circulating the frozen air get blocked with ice. These aren't near the
heater so they never defrost and the frozen air stops circulating.

We had the same with our Hotpoint Frost Free. A 12 hour defrost was
useless, but a 48 hour absence let all the trapped water thaw and it's
been good as new since then.

Hope this helps