The drain hole of the refrigerator section of my Neff fridge/freezer is
freezing up and the defrost water is not draining away. The fridge goes
through the defrost cycle but the ice built up is so thick in just a day or
two that it doesn't melt before it starts to frost again. Consequently the
defrost water lies in the bottom of the fridge.

I've cleaned around the drain outlet so that's not the cause.

Is a faulty thermostat likely to be the cause?

"Roly" wrote in message
...
The drain hole of the refrigerator section of my Neff fridge/freezer is
freezing up and the defrost water is not draining away. The fridge goes
through the defrost cycle but the ice built up is so thick in just a day
or
two that it doesn't melt before it starts to frost again. Consequently the
defrost water lies in the bottom of the fridge.

I've cleaned around the drain outlet so that's not the cause.

Is a faulty thermostat likely to be the cause?


Hi

I had the same problem with my fridge...... I tried everything and asked for
advice and one answer came back that I thought it couldn't be but it was.
Turns out that the foam insulation aroung the drain hole at the back of the
fridge got some water in it, this freezes up and then causes the drain to
freeze. My drain had a small crack in it that caused the leak.

Before you say yes, mine is the same have you tried melting the ice with hot
water. Before I set about fixing it I melted the ice plug so that the drain
was clear and any water would easily drain away. You might just have
something blocking the pipe that needs clearing.

How to fix...... quite hard but possible.

I loosened the coils at the back(couldn't remove as they are connected) to
gain access to the back of the fridge, I cut through the plastic cardboard
material to expose the foam aroung the drain. Then I carefully poked and
chipped the foam away around the drain, this is where you need to be
carefull as there was a cooling pipe near and you dont want to dammage it. I
then took the un-necessary step of completly removing the drain which was
glued onto the back of the fridge. I cleaned everything up and patched the
little crack in the drain and hot glued it back in place.

I didn't bother with the next step which was suggested that you re-foam the
area, I didn't think it was necessary for such a small area, I just put a
couple of layers of the plastic cardboard material back in and taped it up
so that if it happened again I could get at it easily.

The place where I got advice from was www.ukwhitegoods.co.uk , They have a
message forum with some great people there.

check out the thread describing my problem and fix
http://www.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/module...ewtopic&t=1633

cheers
Paul

"Paul ( Skiing8 )" wrote in message
...
"Roly" wrote in message
...
The drain hole of the refrigerator section of my Neff fridge/freezer is
freezing up and the defrost water is not draining away. The fridge goes
through the defrost cycle but the ice built up is so thick in just a day
or
two that it doesn't melt before it starts to frost again. Consequently
the
defrost water lies in the bottom of the fridge.

I've cleaned around the drain outlet so that's not the cause.

Is a faulty thermostat likely to be the cause?


Hi

I had the same problem with my fridge...... I tried everything and asked
for
advice and one answer came back that I thought it couldn't be but it was.
Turns out that the foam insulation aroung the drain hole at the back of
the
fridge got some water in it, this freezes up and then causes the drain to
freeze. My drain had a small crack in it that caused the leak.

Before you say yes, mine is the same have you tried melting the ice with
hot
water. Before I set about fixing it I melted the ice plug so that the
drain
was clear and any water would easily drain away. You might just have
something blocking the pipe that needs clearing.

How to fix...... quite hard but possible.

I loosened the coils at the back(couldn't remove as they are connected) to
gain access to the back of the fridge, I cut through the plastic cardboard
material to expose the foam aroung the drain. Then I carefully poked and
chipped the foam away around the drain, this is where you need to be
carefull as there was a cooling pipe near and you dont want to dammage it.
I
then took the un-necessary step of completly removing the drain which was
glued onto the back of the fridge. I cleaned everything up and patched the
little crack in the drain and hot glued it back in place.

I didn't bother with the next step which was suggested that you re-foam
the
area, I didn't think it was necessary for such a small area, I just put a
couple of layers of the plastic cardboard material back in and taped it up
so that if it happened again I could get at it easily.

The place where I got advice from was www.ukwhitegoods.co.uk , They have a
message forum with some great people there.

check out the thread describing my problem and fix
http://www.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/module...ewtopic&t=1633

cheers
Paul



Thanks Paul for the detailed reply. Yes, I have tried melting the ice with
hot water but it's frozen again within a day or two.

I've read your thread on the whitegoods forum and it seems very likely that
mine is also caused by the insulation icing up.

It's also a built in unit which makes it more of a problem and it's already
been out once as I thought that it just needed cleaning, but it didn't. The
coil is riveted to the cabinet so I'll need to drill them out for access
behind.

To save having to cut away the insulation do you think that a hair drier
might dry it out? If that would work it would save having to release the
coil.

Roly

"Roly" wrote in message
...

"Paul ( Skiing8 )" wrote in message
...
"Roly" wrote in message
...
The drain hole of the refrigerator section of my Neff fridge/freezer is
freezing up and the defrost water is not draining away. The fridge goes
through the defrost cycle but the ice built up is so thick in just a
day
or
two that it doesn't melt before it starts to frost again. Consequently
the
defrost water lies in the bottom of the fridge.

I've cleaned around the drain outlet so that's not the cause.

Is a faulty thermostat likely to be the cause?


Hi

I had the same problem with my fridge...... I tried everything and asked
for
advice and one answer came back that I thought it couldn't be but it
was.
Turns out that the foam insulation aroung the drain hole at the back of
the
fridge got some water in it, this freezes up and then causes the drain
to
freeze. My drain had a small crack in it that caused the leak.

Before you say yes, mine is the same have you tried melting the ice with
hot
water. Before I set about fixing it I melted the ice plug so that the
drain
was clear and any water would easily drain away. You might just have
something blocking the pipe that needs clearing.

How to fix...... quite hard but possible.

I loosened the coils at the back(couldn't remove as they are connected)
to
gain access to the back of the fridge, I cut through the plastic
cardboard
material to expose the foam aroung the drain. Then I carefully poked and
chipped the foam away around the drain, this is where you need to be
carefull as there was a cooling pipe near and you dont want to dammage
it.
I
then took the un-necessary step of completly removing the drain which
was
glued onto the back of the fridge. I cleaned everything up and patched
the
little crack in the drain and hot glued it back in place.

I didn't bother with the next step which was suggested that you re-foam
the
area, I didn't think it was necessary for such a small area, I just put
a
couple of layers of the plastic cardboard material back in and taped it
up
so that if it happened again I could get at it easily.

The place where I got advice from was www.ukwhitegoods.co.uk , They have
a
message forum with some great people there.

check out the thread describing my problem and fix

http://www.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/module...ewtopic&t=1633

cheers
Paul



Thanks Paul for the detailed reply. Yes, I have tried melting the ice with
hot water but it's frozen again within a day or two.


Same with mine

I've read your thread on the whitegoods forum and it seems very likely
that
mine is also caused by the insulation icing up.

It's also a built in unit which makes it more of a problem and it's
already
been out once as I thought that it just needed cleaning, but it didn't.
The
coil is riveted to the cabinet so I'll need to drill them out for access
behind.


Mine was also built in unit, pain to get out, thats why I was hoping it was
something I could do without removing

To save having to cut away the insulation do you think that a hair drier
might dry it out? If that would work it would save having to release the
coil.


you could try but I dont think it will help. When I dug out the insulation
on mine it was really icy and sodden, I would dig a chunk out and when it
warmed up a bit and you squeezed it the water would oooze out, I don't think
you could dry it out unless you switched off your fridge for a few days and
then tried to dry it out. I used a hair drier after a while just to soften
the foam before digging it out.


I think the best way forward is to bite the bullet and release the coil,
just be very carefull because you do nt want to damage the pipes that
connect to the compressor. When I did mine I left the bottom screw in place
near wher all the pipes connected and slightly bent the coils away (this
bent the metal bracket a little). This supported the weight of the coils and
allowed enough access. If you can get enough access it will take you about
an hour to carefully remove the foam but it is worth it when you don't have
to mop out the fridge again.

I have pictures of the operation that I can post to you if you want....


Paul

I think the best way forward is to bite the bullet and release the coil,
just be very carefull because you do nt want to damage the pipes that
connect to the compressor. When I did mine I left the bottom screw in
place
near wher all the pipes connected and slightly bent the coils away (this
bent the metal bracket a little). This supported the weight of the coils
and
allowed enough access. If you can get enough access it will take you about
an hour to carefully remove the foam but it is worth it when you don't
have
to mop out the fridge again.

I have pictures of the operation that I can post to you if you want....


Paul



I'll give it a go next week.

Don't think that I need the photos thanks, as I've already had it out once
and, apart from releasing the coil, it looks fairly straightforward. Or is
that just wishful thinking!!

"Roly" wrote in message
...


I think the best way forward is to bite the bullet and release the coil,
just be very carefull because you do nt want to damage the pipes that
connect to the compressor. When I did mine I left the bottom screw in
place
near wher all the pipes connected and slightly bent the coils away (this
bent the metal bracket a little). This supported the weight of the coils
and
allowed enough access. If you can get enough access it will take you
about
an hour to carefully remove the foam but it is worth it when you don't
have
to mop out the fridge again.

I have pictures of the operation that I can post to you if you want....


Paul



I'll give it a go next week.

Don't think that I need the photos thanks, as I've already had it out once
and, apart from releasing the coil, it looks fairly straightforward. Or is
that just wishful thinking!!

Commercial freezers are often fitted with a heating wire which goes through
the drain to stop them freezing, this is usually connected to the defrost
timer, you could possibly try this yourself..

The Q

Roly wrote:

The drain hole of the refrigerator section of my Neff fridge/freezer is
freezing up and the defrost water is not draining away. The fridge goes
through the defrost cycle but the ice built up is so thick in just a day or
two that it doesn't melt before it starts to frost again. Consequently the
defrost water lies in the bottom of the fridge.

I've cleaned around the drain outlet so that's not the cause.

Is a faulty thermostat likely to be the cause?


Door seal ****ed?

On Mon, 18 Apr 2005 19:05:54 +0100, "Roly"
wrote:


I'll give it a go next week.

Don't think that I need the photos thanks, as I've already had it out once
and, apart from releasing the coil, it looks fairly straightforward. Or is
that just wishful thinking!!

Hi,

Another possibility is that when the door is closed the warm air let
into the fridge cools down and contracts, sucking air up the drain
pipe which water then condenses out of and freezes. Supposedly the
cure is to make the pipe longer.

Where does the water go after it leaves the pipe? If it goes into a
plastic holder for evaporation, another cure could be to put some
grains of rock or dishwasher salt in the drain to act as 'antifreeze'

cheers,
Pete.

On Mon, 18 Apr 2005 08:56:59 +0100, in uk.d-i-y "Roly"
wrote:

The drain hole of the refrigerator section of my Neff fridge/freezer is
freezing up and the defrost water is not draining away. The fridge goes
through the defrost cycle but the ice built up is so thick in just a day or
two that it doesn't melt before it starts to frost again. Consequently the
defrost water lies in the bottom of the fridge.

I've cleaned around the drain outlet so that's not the cause.

Is a faulty thermostat likely to be the cause?

This is a long-shot for a fridge, but you never know.

I had the same problem with my frost-free freezer. The reason turned out
to be that every time the door was opened some moist kitchen air was
drawn back UP the drain tube into the freezer compartment. Once there it
froze on the inside of the tube, and when the door was opened again a
little more froze until the tube was completely blocked.

The answer was given me by the makers (Ocean), which was to bend the
drain tube to form an S-trap near the bottom, and fill the trap with
water. That is sufficient to stop air being drawn back up the tube. To
my utter amazement it worked and I have had no further problems.

Ocean even sent me a free longer tube to accommodate the extra length
needed for the S-bend.

Phil
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