We have a supposedly frost-free freezer which mostly works as designed: the
cooling fins on the heat-exchanger remain clear of ice. But several times
over the last year, we have found the reported temperature increasing and a
lot of ice around the heat-exchanger, so we have to take everything out
(thank goodness for a spare freezer) and defrost/re-freeze.

There is no sign of obvious blockage in the pipe that drains the
heat-exchanger to a tray above the motor/compressor.

It doesn't seem to happen at any particular time of year, and as far as we
are aware, we don't store more/less food in there or open the door more at
some times of year than another.

I'm intrigued what could cause a freezer to keep itself frost-free for
several months (with no visible gradual build-op of ice) and then suddenly
ice up.

NY wrote:
We have a supposedly frost-free freezer which mostly works as designed: the
cooling fins on the heat-exchanger remain clear of ice. But several times
over the last year, we have found the reported temperature increasing and a
lot of ice around the heat-exchanger, so we have to take everything out
(thank goodness for a spare freezer) and defrost/re-freeze.

There is no sign of obvious blockage in the pipe that drains the
heat-exchanger to a tray above the motor/compressor.

It doesn't seem to happen at any particular time of year, and as far as we
are aware, we don't store more/less food in there or open the door more at
some times of year than another.

I'm intrigued what could cause a freezer to keep itself frost-free for
several months (with no visible gradual build-op of ice) and then suddenly
ice up.



I would imagine that the commonest cause is an unnoticed obstruction to the
door closing fully. It only needs a drawer to be not fully closed or an odd
shaped package to be sticking out slightly to allow moist air in.

It could be an intermittently faulty defrost timer but I would imagine that
its more common for that to either work or not work rather than develop an
intermittent fault.

Tim

--
Please don't feed the trolls

On 19/09/2020 11:16, NY wrote:
We have a supposedly frost-free freezer which mostly works as designed:
the cooling fins on the heat-exchanger remain clear of ice. But several
times over the last year, we have found the reported temperature
increasing and a lot of ice around the heat-exchanger, so we have to
take everything out (thank goodness for a spare freezer) and
defrost/re-freeze.

There is no sign of obvious blockage in the pipe that drains the
heat-exchanger to a tray above the motor/compressor.

It doesn't seem to happen at any particular time of year, and as far as
we are aware, we don't store more/less food in there or open the door
more at some times of year than another.

I'm intrigued what could cause a freezer to keep itself frost-free for
several months (with no visible gradual build-op of ice) and then
suddenly ice up.

air leak to outside.

I've got failing seals on my fridge, and occasionally its all wet inside
where it aint icy, and the temperature is 4 degrees higher than it should be

I just close the door carefully...

--
The biggest threat to humanity comes from socialism, which has utterly
diverted our attention away from what really matters to our existential
survival, to indulging in navel gazing and faux moral investigations
into what the world ought to be, whilst we fail utterly to deal with
what it actually is.

On 19/09/2020 11:43, Tim+ wrote:
NY wrote:
I'm intrigued what could cause a freezer to keep itself frost-free for
several months (with no visible gradual build-op of ice) and then suddenly
ice up.

I would imagine that the commonest cause is an unnoticed obstruction to the
door closing fully. It only needs a drawer to be not fully closed or an odd
shaped package to be sticking out slightly to allow moist air in.

Yes, we've had that happen upon occasion.

On Sat, 19 Sep 2020 11:16:47 +0100, "NY" wrote:

We have a supposedly frost-free freezer which mostly works as designed: the
cooling fins on the heat-exchanger remain clear of ice. But several times
over the last year, we have found the reported temperature increasing and a
lot of ice around the heat-exchanger, so we have to take everything out
(thank goodness for a spare freezer) and defrost/re-freeze.

There is no sign of obvious blockage in the pipe that drains the
heat-exchanger to a tray above the motor/compressor.

It doesn't seem to happen at any particular time of year, and as far as we
are aware, we don't store more/less food in there or open the door more at
some times of year than another.

I'm intrigued what could cause a freezer to keep itself frost-free for
several months (with no visible gradual build-op of ice) and then suddenly
ice up.

Exactly the same with mine at the moment. I asked a question about it
a while ago.No obvious cause. Took everything out, defrosted/refrosted
and it was all OK until I noticed that it had frosted up again a few
days ago, but it would have been doing that for a while before I
noticed. In my case, the only thing I can think of it that the room it
is in gets the sun on it in the afternoon so the ambient temperature
is much higher than it is used to during the summer.

On 19/09/2020 17:03, Peter Johnson wrote:
On Sat, 19 Sep 2020 11:16:47 +0100, "NY" wrote:

We have a supposedly frost-free freezer which mostly works as designed: the
cooling fins on the heat-exchanger remain clear of ice. But several times
over the last year, we have found the reported temperature increasing and a
lot of ice around the heat-exchanger, so we have to take everything out
(thank goodness for a spare freezer) and defrost/re-freeze.

There is no sign of obvious blockage in the pipe that drains the
heat-exchanger to a tray above the motor/compressor.

It doesn't seem to happen at any particular time of year, and as far as we
are aware, we don't store more/less food in there or open the door more at
some times of year than another.

I'm intrigued what could cause a freezer to keep itself frost-free for
several months (with no visible gradual build-op of ice) and then suddenly
ice up.

Exactly the same with mine at the moment. I asked a question about it
a while ago.No obvious cause. Took everything out, defrosted/refrosted
and it was all OK until I noticed that it had frosted up again a few
days ago, but it would have been doing that for a while before I
noticed. In my case, the only thing I can think of it that the room it
is in gets the sun on it in the afternoon so the ambient temperature
is much higher than it is used to during the summer.

It is almost certainly a failure of the seal somewhere. It doesn't take
much of a gap to end up with a lot of water vapour frozen inside the
freezer and very *MUCH* more than the self defrost logic can cope with.

Our fridge suffers the same mode of failure when there is too much
weight in the door. It doesn't quite seal on the magnetic clamp.

The oversize tropicana orange juice containers seem to be a problem.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

A leak in the door seal, ie the door does not always seal correctly. Leave
it open a crack and see what occurs, I did theirs accidentally, and the
result was ice inside and of course around where the leak was.
Bah humbug. Does it have a fan that might occasionally jam up?
Brian

--
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"NY" wrote in message
...
We have a supposedly frost-free freezer which mostly works as designed:
the cooling fins on the heat-exchanger remain clear of ice. But several
times over the last year, we have found the reported temperature
increasing and a lot of ice around the heat-exchanger, so we have to take
everything out (thank goodness for a spare freezer) and defrost/re-freeze.

There is no sign of obvious blockage in the pipe that drains the
heat-exchanger to a tray above the motor/compressor.

It doesn't seem to happen at any particular time of year, and as far as we
are aware, we don't store more/less food in there or open the door more at
some times of year than another.

I'm intrigued what could cause a freezer to keep itself frost-free for
several months (with no visible gradual build-op of ice) and then suddenly
ice up.

Who freezes orange juice or milk? Actually, I removed one of the door
shelves to gain a bit more depth in the freezer.
Brian

--
--
This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

Blind user, so no pictures please
Note this Signature is meaningless.!
"Martin Brown" wrote in message
...
On 19/09/2020 17:03, Peter Johnson wrote:
On Sat, 19 Sep 2020 11:16:47 +0100, "NY" wrote:

We have a supposedly frost-free freezer which mostly works as designed:
the
cooling fins on the heat-exchanger remain clear of ice. But several
times
over the last year, we have found the reported temperature increasing
and a
lot of ice around the heat-exchanger, so we have to take everything out
(thank goodness for a spare freezer) and defrost/re-freeze.

There is no sign of obvious blockage in the pipe that drains the
heat-exchanger to a tray above the motor/compressor.

It doesn't seem to happen at any particular time of year, and as far as
we
are aware, we don't store more/less food in there or open the door more
at
some times of year than another.

I'm intrigued what could cause a freezer to keep itself frost-free for
several months (with no visible gradual build-op of ice) and then
suddenly
ice up.

Exactly the same with mine at the moment. I asked a question about it
a while ago.No obvious cause. Took everything out, defrosted/refrosted
and it was all OK until I noticed that it had frosted up again a few
days ago, but it would have been doing that for a while before I
noticed. In my case, the only thing I can think of it that the room it
is in gets the sun on it in the afternoon so the ambient temperature
is much higher than it is used to during the summer.

It is almost certainly a failure of the seal somewhere. It doesn't take
much of a gap to end up with a lot of water vapour frozen inside the
freezer and very *MUCH* more than the self defrost logic can cope with.

Our fridge suffers the same mode of failure when there is too much weight
in the door. It doesn't quite seal on the magnetic clamp.

The oversize tropicana orange juice containers seem to be a problem.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

I've frozen milk for at least 30yrs. What's the problem?

On Sun, 20 Sep 2020 09:56:12 +0100, "Brian Gaff \(Sofa\)"
wrote:

Who freezes orange juice or milk? Actually, I removed one of the door
shelves to gain a bit more depth in the freezer.
Brian

--
--
This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

Blind user, so no pictures please
Note this Signature is meaningless.!
"Martin Brown" wrote in message
...
On 19/09/2020 17:03, Peter Johnson wrote:
On Sat, 19 Sep 2020 11:16:47 +0100, "NY" wrote:

We have a supposedly frost-free freezer which mostly works as designed:
the
cooling fins on the heat-exchanger remain clear of ice. But several
times
over the last year, we have found the reported temperature increasing
and a
lot of ice around the heat-exchanger, so we have to take everything out
(thank goodness for a spare freezer) and defrost/re-freeze.

There is no sign of obvious blockage in the pipe that drains the
heat-exchanger to a tray above the motor/compressor.

It doesn't seem to happen at any particular time of year, and as far as
we
are aware, we don't store more/less food in there or open the door more
at
some times of year than another.

I'm intrigued what could cause a freezer to keep itself frost-free for
several months (with no visible gradual build-op of ice) and then
suddenly
ice up.

Exactly the same with mine at the moment. I asked a question about it
a while ago.No obvious cause. Took everything out, defrosted/refrosted
and it was all OK until I noticed that it had frosted up again a few
days ago, but it would have been doing that for a while before I
noticed. In my case, the only thing I can think of it that the room it
is in gets the sun on it in the afternoon so the ambient temperature
is much higher than it is used to during the summer.

It is almost certainly a failure of the seal somewhere. It doesn't take
much of a gap to end up with a lot of water vapour frozen inside the
freezer and very *MUCH* more than the self defrost logic can cope with.

Our fridge suffers the same mode of failure when there is too much weight
in the door. It doesn't quite seal on the magnetic clamp.

The oversize tropicana orange juice containers seem to be a problem.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

"AnthonyL" wrote in message
...


I've frozen milk for at least 30yrs. What's the problem?

Yes I freeze milk: we sometimes buy more milk than we need for the week and
freeze it in screw-lid containers of about 300 ml, to keep some in reserve.
The main thing is to remember to take out a container of frozen milk 24 hour
before I'll need it on my breakfast cereal, to let it thaw in the fridge. It
means that if we don't manage to get out to a supermarket, there's still
milk for breakfast. Also, if we are ever going on holiday, we freeze
whatever is left: a) so it isn't wasted and b) so there's milk for breakfast
if we haven't called in to a shop to buy any on our way home from holiday.

Frozen milk turns a rather repulsive yellow colour, but that reverses when
it thaws. As with any frozen liquid, make sure you leave enough expansion
room in the container because frozen milk takes up more space than liquid
milk.

On 20 Sep 2020 at 13:06:00 BST, "AnthonyL" AnthonyL wrote:



I've frozen milk for at least 30yrs. What's the problem?

I'm surprised it keeps that long without autoxidation and rancidity.



--
Roger Hayter

On Sun, 20 Sep 2020 13:03:37 +0000 (UTC), Roger Hayter
wrote:

On 20 Sep 2020 at 13:06:00 BST, "AnthonyL" AnthonyL wrote:



I've frozen milk for at least 30yrs. What's the problem?

I'm surprised it keeps that long without autoxidation and rancidity.



--
Roger Hayter



I'm looking forward to trying my 1972 vintage.

--
AnthonyL

Why ever wait to finish a job before starting the next?

On Sun, 20 Sep 2020 13:53:41 +0100, "NY" wrote:

"AnthonyL" wrote in message
...


I've frozen milk for at least 30yrs. What's the problem?

Yes I freeze milk: we sometimes buy more milk than we need for the week and
freeze it in screw-lid containers of about 300 ml, to keep some in reserve.
The main thing is to remember to take out a container of frozen milk 24 hour
before I'll need it on my breakfast cereal, to let it thaw in the fridge. It
means that if we don't manage to get out to a supermarket, there's still
milk for breakfast. Also, if we are ever going on holiday, we freeze
whatever is left: a) so it isn't wasted and b) so there's milk for breakfast
if we haven't called in to a shop to buy any on our way home from holiday.

Frozen milk turns a rather repulsive yellow colour, but that reverses when
it thaws. As with any frozen liquid, make sure you leave enough expansion
room in the container because frozen milk takes up more space than liquid
milk.


We buy the large 4l containers then pour that into our stock of 1 pint
containers, leaving enough spare to squeeze a bit of air out before
tightening the lid. The small containers are washed after use and a
light Milton rinse.

The upper shelf of the fridge has a defrosting pint which is then
moved to the lower shelf when that one is finished. The upper shelf
is replenished.

Works well and careful microwave defrost takes care of the odd
oversight.

Originally started doing this when the milkman was inconsistent in the
1980's and would come after we'd gone to work - leaving the bottles
outside to go rancid or feed the blue tits.

Freeze sliced bread too.

Going back to the OP our freezer in the fridge/freezer doesn't auto
defrost as it should. Maybe it is seals. Every couple of months or
so I have to move everything into the spare freezer and then defrost
overnight. Usually a litre of water comes out of the pipe at the
back.

Nice blast of air when it is set working again with temperatures at
-20degC. Then bit by bit the air flow drops and the temperature rises
to -12decC which is where it is now so tonight's planned defrost is a
bit overdue.

Unit, Zanussi Electrolux, came with the house which we bought 5yrs
ago. Only thing that deters replacing it is SWMBO's hope is for a
totally new kitchen and we wouldn't want it designed around a fridge.


--
AnthonyL

Why ever wait to finish a job before starting the next?

On Sun, 20 Sep 2020 08:53:30 +0100, Martin Brown
wrote:

On 19/09/2020 17:03, Peter Johnson wrote:
On Sat, 19 Sep 2020 11:16:47 +0100, "NY" wrote:

We have a supposedly frost-free freezer which mostly works as designed: the
cooling fins on the heat-exchanger remain clear of ice. But several times
over the last year, we have found the reported temperature increasing and a
lot of ice around the heat-exchanger, so we have to take everything out
(thank goodness for a spare freezer) and defrost/re-freeze.

There is no sign of obvious blockage in the pipe that drains the
heat-exchanger to a tray above the motor/compressor.

It doesn't seem to happen at any particular time of year, and as far as we
are aware, we don't store more/less food in there or open the door more at
some times of year than another.

I'm intrigued what could cause a freezer to keep itself frost-free for
several months (with no visible gradual build-op of ice) and then suddenly
ice up.

Exactly the same with mine at the moment. I asked a question about it
a while ago.No obvious cause. Took everything out, defrosted/refrosted
and it was all OK until I noticed that it had frosted up again a few
days ago, but it would have been doing that for a while before I
noticed. In my case, the only thing I can think of it that the room it
is in gets the sun on it in the afternoon so the ambient temperature
is much higher than it is used to during the summer.

It is almost certainly a failure of the seal somewhere. It doesn't take
much of a gap to end up with a lot of water vapour frozen inside the
freezer and very *MUCH* more than the self defrost logic can cope with.

Our fridge suffers the same mode of failure when there is too much
weight in the door. It doesn't quite seal on the magnetic clamp.

The oversize tropicana orange juice containers seem to be a problem.


I've just defrosted our fridge/freezer, a job that needs doing ~ every
2 months though last done 3 months ago. I need to put the two pipes
that go into the evaporation tray into a small bucket. Two litres of
water came out overnight.

The freezer pipe has a small plastic insert which seems to contain an
inverted soft plastic cone which I guess acts as a non-return valve
(letting water out via the wide edge but not letting it back again?).

There is no such insert on the fridge pipe but the unit came with the
house and so I don't know the history and whether it's gone missing.

Anyway I'm removing it and see if that makes a difference on the
theory that the auto-defrosted water is not draining and then freezing
thus defeating any auto-defrost function. I've missed a trick by not
putting the pipes into different containers to be sure which one is
draining water.

If the plastic inserts are needed I don't know what they are called or
where to get them from.


--
AnthonyL

Why ever wait to finish a job before starting the next?