I have an old Zanussi fridge-freezer (model 19/5),
and the fridge thermostat seems to have developed a problem.
Would I be able to replace this myself?

Any advice or suggestions gratefully received.


--
Timothy Murphy
e-mail (80k only): tim /at/ birdsnest.maths.tcd.ie
tel: +353-86-2336090, +353-1-2842366
s-mail: School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland

Timothy Murphy wrote:
I have an old Zanussi fridge-freezer (model 19/5),
and the fridge thermostat seems to have developed a problem.
Would I be able to replace this myself?

What's the problem?

Any advice or suggestions gratefully received.

posted & mailed

Ian Stirling wrote:

Timothy Murphy wrote:
I have an old Zanussi fridge-freezer (model 19/5),
and the fridge thermostat seems to have developed a problem.
Would I be able to replace this myself?

What's the problem?

The fridge temperature adjustment seems faulty -
the fridge is either too cold, or not cold at all.
The local Zanussi agent said it sounded like a thermostat fault.

Any advice or suggestions gratefully received.

--
Timothy Murphy
e-mail (80k only): tim /at/ birdsnest.maths.tcd.ie
tel: +353-86-2336090, +353-1-2842366
s-mail: School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland

On Fri, 20 Jan 2006 17:28:11 +0000, Timothy Murphy
wrote:

|posted & mailed
|
|Ian Stirling wrote:
|
| Timothy Murphy wrote:
| I have an old Zanussi fridge-freezer (model 19/5),
| and the fridge thermostat seems to have developed a problem.
| Would I be able to replace this myself?
|
| What's the problem?
|
|The fridge temperature adjustment seems faulty -
|the fridge is either too cold, or not cold at all.
|The local Zanussi agent said it sounded like a thermostat fault.

That proved that the compressor is working OK.
Looks as though the local Zanussi agent was right, replace the thermostat.
--
Dave Fawthrop dave hyphenologist co uk
17,000 free e-books at Project Gutenberg! http://www.gutenberg.net
For Yorkshire Dialect go to www.hyphenologist.co.uk/songs/

"Dave Fawthrop" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 20 Jan 2006 17:28:11 +0000, Timothy Murphy
wrote:

|posted & mailed
|
|Ian Stirling wrote:
|
| Timothy Murphy wrote:
| I have an old Zanussi fridge-freezer (model 19/5),
| and the fridge thermostat seems to have developed a problem.
| Would I be able to replace this myself?
|
| What's the problem?
|
|The fridge temperature adjustment seems faulty -
|the fridge is either too cold, or not cold at all.
|The local Zanussi agent said it sounded like a thermostat fault.

That proved that the compressor is working OK.
Looks as though the local Zanussi agent was right, replace the thermostat.
--
Is it frost free ? Single or dual pot ?

Peter

I think its best not to fiddle with things like fridges
just replace it

Boiler man wrote:
I think its best not to fiddle with things like fridges
just replace it

Shares in argos?

On 20 Jan 2006 14:02:34 -0800, "Boiler man"
wrote:

I think its best not to fiddle with things like fridges
just replace it

Well that tells us more about how little you think.

There's not much you can usefully fix on a fridge - but the thermostat
is one thing. It's cheap, it's easy, and it's a reliable fix when done.
Why ever not ?

On Fri, 20 Jan 2006 22:37:36 +0000, Andy Dingley
wrote:

On 20 Jan 2006 14:02:34 -0800, "Boiler man"
wrote:

I think its best not to fiddle with things like fridges
just replace it

Well that tells us more about how little you think.

There's not much you can usefully fix on a fridge - but the thermostat
is one thing. It's cheap, it's easy, and it's a reliable fix when done.
Why ever not ?


They are inefficient, especialy Zanusi's. Even new fridges of the same
size can have energy use stats that vary by ~100%. A crapy old Zanusi
will be much worse.

On Sat, 21 Jan 2006 08:02:49 GMT, marble
wrote:

They are inefficient, especialy Zanusi's. Even new fridges of the same
size can have energy use stats that vary by ~100%. A crapy old Zanusi
will be much worse.

That's a reasonable argument, but then you should replace the fridge
even if it were still working. It's not an argument against throwing
out a fridge _because_ the thermostat has failed.

I have an energy meter on my fridge. It's switched on continuously, so
it is one of my more expensive appliances. If it ever lost insulation
and started to be inefficient, I'd certainly look at swapping it.

marble wrote:
snip
They are inefficient, especialy Zanusi's. Even new fridges of the same
size can have energy use stats that vary by ~100%. A crapy old Zanusi
will be much worse.

Looking at the argos website, I find an astonishing lack of variability
in the energy use.
More money just buys you a prettier box, and more stuff.
It does not give better insulation.
I approximately halved the energy use of my freezer with several slabs
of 10cm polystyrene.
This paid itself off in the first year.

It may be that better more efficient ones are available, but not in
argos.

marble wrote:


They are inefficient, especialy Zanusi's. Even new fridges of the same
size can have energy use stats that vary by ~100%. A crapy old Zanusi
will be much worse.

The efficiency is an interesting argument.

If the fridge is inefficient, then it will be losing power through heat.
That heat then helps the overall house temperature to some small degree
(ok, for heating electricity is a poor / expensive choice). So,
arguably, the more energy to lose due to an inefficient appliance, the
less demand there is on the heating.

Maybe a small, contrived point - but valid to some degree non-the less.

A second consideration would be the question as to how much energy goes
into the manufacture of the replacement fridge, together with
transportation, salesroom energy useage and so on.

A third consideration would be environmental - you have an old fridge to
tip into the nearest landfill, safe disposal of the refridgerant, and
the damage to the environment in the manufacture and transportation of
the new fridge.

Personally, I'd go for the new fridge, but if the OP wants to fix the
old one then every credit to him.

On 20 Jan 2006 14:02:34 -0800, "Boiler man"
wrote:

I think its best not to fiddle with things like fridges
just replace it

How sad we have this throw-away society.

Would you replace your car just because you have a puncture in a tyre?

--
Frank Erskine

Timothy Murphy wrote:
I have an old Zanussi fridge-freezer (model 19/5),
and the fridge thermostat seems to have developed a problem.
Would I be able to replace this myself?

Any advice or suggestions gratefully received.

Thermostats are easy to replace - if you can see it you can put a new one
in.

Si

Timothy Murphy wrote:
I have an old Zanussi fridge-freezer (model 19/5),
and the fridge thermostat seems to have developed a problem.
Would I be able to replace this myself?

Yes, assuming you're not a complete dunce when it comes to electrics
(and that the problem is really the thermostat). You can get generic
thermostats designed fit just about everything, except perhaps some of
the latest microprocessor controlled fridges (but yours doesn't sound
like one of those). You may be able to get one in a local repair shop,
but round here they gave me the brush off when I asked, so I got one on
eBay. Just put "fridge thermostat" in the Search box. Some of the
sellers offer a help line.

If the thermostat fails completely while you're waiting, short out its
contacts and run the freezer off a timeswitch with, say, 5 minutes on,
15 minutes off (you'll have to experiment with the aid of a
thermometer).

The thermostat will come with a long tube which you have to thread into
the freezer along the same route as the old one. This can be a bit
tricky, as I found my old one was wrapped around something inside, but
I got it installed in the end.

Chris

wrote:

The thermostat will come with a long tube which you have to thread
into the freezer along the same route as the old one.

Many is the time customers have ordered a new thermostst for their hot water
high pressure cleaner and assumed the tube was a wire.

So they cut it and joined the new one on with a cable crimp. Oh how we
laughted :-)

Dave

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember "david lang"
saying something like:

Many is the time customers have ordered a new thermostst for their hot water
high pressure cleaner and assumed the tube was a wire.

So they cut it and joined the new one on with a cable crimp. Oh how we
laughted :-)

I've not come across it yet, but I wonder if anybody's done that with a
remote fire valve.
--

Dave

Grimly Curmudgeon wrote:
"david lang" said

Many is the time customers have ordered a new thermostst for their hot water
high pressure cleaner and assumed the tube was a wire.

So they cut it and joined the new one on with a cable crimp. Oh how we
laughted :-)

I've not come across it yet, but I wonder if anybody's done that with a
remote fire valve.

Best remote fire valve I saw was in my old company. There's a fire
panel on the wall, with a big yellow button that says "push to test"

So one day a passing stranger followed the instructions, and dumped a
sizeable halon tank into the comms room on the other side.

Fair made a big bang, I can tell you.

The following week, a perspex cover appeared over the "push to test"
button, with a lead crimp on it ;-)

Cheers

Paul.

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember saying
something like:

Best remote fire valve I saw was in my old company. There's a fire
panel on the wall, with a big yellow button that says "push to test"

So one day a passing stranger followed the instructions, and dumped a
sizeable halon tank into the comms room on the other side.

Bit daft though, having a 'Push to Test' sign on a live trigger.

Fair made a big bang, I can tell you.

The following week, a perspex cover appeared over the "push to test"
button, with a lead crimp on it ;-)

Break Glass for Wirecutters.
--

Dave

wrote:

I have an old Zanussi fridge-freezer (model 19/5),
and the fridge thermostat seems to have developed a problem.
Would I be able to replace this myself?

Yes, assuming you're not a complete dunce when it comes to electrics
(and that the problem is really the thermostat). You can get generic
thermostats designed fit just about everything, except perhaps some of
the latest microprocessor controlled fridges (but yours doesn't sound
like one of those). You may be able to get one in a local repair shop,
but round here they gave me the brush off when I asked, so I got one on
eBay. Just put "fridge thermostat" in the Search box. Some of the
sellers offer a help line.

Sorry to ask a really elementary question,
but where exactly is the thermostat likely to be?
Is it part of the instruments at the front,
or is it to be found with the refrigerating apparatus at the back?

I should really get a new fridge-freezer, as this one is quite old.
But I'm reluctant to do that as the freezer works fine.
Are they normally one unit;
or can an expert replace the fridge part, say?

--
Timothy Murphy
e-mail (80k only): tim /at/ birdsnest.maths.tcd.ie
tel: +353-86-2336090, +353-1-2842366
s-mail: School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland

Timothy Murphy wrote:
wrote:

I have an old Zanussi fridge-freezer (model 19/5),
and the fridge thermostat seems to have developed a problem.
Would I be able to replace this myself?

Yes, assuming you're not a complete dunce when it comes to electrics
(and that the problem is really the thermostat). You can get generic
thermostats designed fit just about everything, except perhaps some of
the latest microprocessor controlled fridges (but yours doesn't sound
like one of those). You may be able to get one in a local repair shop,
but round here they gave me the brush off when I asked, so I got one on
eBay. Just put "fridge thermostat" in the Search box. Some of the
sellers offer a help line.

Sorry to ask a really elementary question,
but where exactly is the thermostat likely to be?
Is it part of the instruments at the front,
or is it to be found with the refrigerating apparatus at the back?

I should really get a new fridge-freezer, as this one is quite old.
But I'm reluctant to do that as the freezer works fine.
Are they normally one unit;
or can an expert replace the fridge part, say?

The temperature dial adjusts the thermostat, and is typically on the
right inside the fridge. This stat has a long thin flexible metal
capillary tube with a bulb on the end, which is threaded through Hades
and back. The tube can not be removed from the stat - at least not
without making the thing useless.


NT

Timothy Murphy wrote:
wrote:


I have an old Zanussi fridge-freezer (model 19/5),
and the fridge thermostat seems to have developed a problem.
Would I be able to replace this myself?

Yes, assuming you're not a complete dunce when it comes to electrics
(and that the problem is really the thermostat). You can get generic
thermostats designed fit just about everything, except perhaps some of
the latest microprocessor controlled fridges (but yours doesn't sound
like one of those). You may be able to get one in a local repair shop,
but round here they gave me the brush off when I asked, so I got one on
eBay. Just put "fridge thermostat" in the Search box. Some of the
sellers offer a help line.


Sorry to ask a really elementary question,
but where exactly is the thermostat likely to be?
Is it part of the instruments at the front,
or is it to be found with the refrigerating apparatus at the back?

I should really get a new fridge-freezer, as this one is quite old.
But I'm reluctant to do that as the freezer works fine.
Are they normally one unit;
or can an expert replace the fridge part, say?


Google images for zanussi thermostat will show you what you are looking
for, except that the probe won't be neatly coiled in your frig.

Douglas de Lacey.