On Wed, 10 Mar 2021 13:55:40 -0800 (PST), Scribbles
wrote:

Something I should have included above is mention of the only day-to-day maintenance problem I ever encountered with a self-defrosting appliance was when I noticed puddles of water forming in the bottom of my old Hotpoint fridge-freezer.

Some DiY investigation revealed that the little drain hose and drip tray at the rear had become clogged up with dust, grease and the odd dead spider. The appliance was over 30 years old at this point and owed us nothing but two or three times a year, we pulled the thing out of the awkward corner it occupied, cleaned out the drip tray and reamed out the little hose with a pipe cleaner. It continued to work well for a further 3 or 4 years until we pensioned it off at the time of a house move.

Thanks for follow up. I am familiar with such as we have one on our
Zanussi fridge and that has needed a pipe-cleaner (I got some extra
long ones especially) a few times to clear it out.

Cheers, T i m