Hoping this is the fridge freezer section.....

[QBee]

We have a 6 year old American-style Daewoo fridge freezer. The type that has the 60 cm fridge on the right, the 30 cm freezer on the left and is 90 cm wide overall, 180 cm tall.

The freezer is working fine.
The fridge appears to be working, but is currently, on "max", or "Min", or any other setting for that matter, at 14.5 degrees C, so about as cool as my daughter describes my dress sense.

I have taken the rear lower panel off and vacuumed the fluff out, but beyond that I am stumped...... and don't want to have to shell out for a new one.

Can anyone suggest please:

1. What the problem is, or
2. How to diagnose the problem and
3. What parts to buy and what i have to do to fit them?

I do recognise one end of a Phillips screwdriver from the other, and know to turn the power off before unscrewing anything with wires attached.

[QBee]

Busa mav said:

is there any icing up of the cool air circulation vents at the back ?

No ice to be seen anywhere.

[QBee]

guindilias said:

It may need regassed - in which case there is a leak somewhere. Fridge bloke will have UV dye to put in with a bit of gas, and then spot the leak and hopefully solder it up.
Or, it could be the thermostat - much easier to do and no regassing!

It is a fridge freezer, but has one compressor and one heat exchanger. The freezer is working properly.

My instinct from what you guys are saying is that the fridge thermostat is misbehaving. Just trying to be sure before changing it, then changing something else, then something else.....

Don't laugh, but when our oven wasn't getting hotter than 190 degrees I changed the thermostat (the manufacturer agreed that was the problem), then I changed something else they suggested. Finally I changed the element. Each part cost £28, regardless of size or complexity. The element fixed the problem!

I will call Daewoo tomorrow and order a thermostat. Fingers crossed.

[QBee]

simion_levi said:

I had to replace a faulty fan in an upright FF as it was behaving in a similar way to yours. This, paired with a motorised flap, controls the distribution of freezer air into the fridge for cooling. I suspect this mechanism is fairly common.

Where was it (and the thermostat) located please? Do I take the entire back off, or approach it through the inside of the fridge?

[QBee]

simion_levi said:

The fan was behind the evaporator, inside the freezer. There is a duct running up the back of the appliance carrying air up to the fridge, with a motorised flap inside at the top that is controlled by the fridge thermostat. Thermostat itself is buried in the wall of the fridge. The fan was supposed to run to both circulate the cold air around the freezer and also push the air up the fridge duct when it was open - and would normally cut out when you opened the freezer door.

When the fridge stopped cooling I realised that the usual change in noise when opening the door had gone and concluded that the fan was likely the fault. Obviously we have different appliances, but I wouldn't be at all surprised to find that they work in the same way.

In my case I had to empty the freezer, remove the panel from the back wall and carefully drop the evaporator down from some retaining clips - avoiding crushing any of the pipes. That gave enough room to remove and replace the fan and it's been working fine every since.

That's fascinating, and very useful thank you. I will do more research on the layout of mine and get it fixed.
Fortunately, ever since my wife got seriously keen on cooking we have had more than one fridge and freezer, so we have been able to move the contents from the warm fridge to a colder one.
Cannot say the same for the freezer, however, as out other freezers are pretty full. If I have to empty the freezer to effect the repair I will have to enlist the grandchildren's help reducing the ice cream stockpile. Which might not meet with total disapproval

[QBee]

brrapp said:

Can you check inside the freezer section where the fan is?
Our Bosch fridge freezer started behaving similarly to yours, we bought a new one then as we were emptying the old freezer, found that a bag of frozen peas had slipped down the back of the rack and was blocking the fan which takes cold air from the freezer to cool the fridge. Removed the blockage and the 20 year old Bosch is back to working as well as ever.
Now we've got a spare fridge freezer.

Hmmmm. Ping, the penny may have dropped but I am 90 miles from home.
I think the transfer fan is at the top of the freezer.....and we keep our stock of Magnums for the grandbrats right in front of it.
I will ask Erin Dawes, to whom I am related by marriage, to move the goodies and see what effect it has.

[QBee]

Guys, you are all being really great and your input is most appreciated.

The boss is presently at the controls - she has removed the 12 boxes of magnums that filled the top shelf of the freezer and has her digital meat thermometer in the fridge ready to check.

She cannot do the fan noise test, as she is profoundly deaf (especially when i am making suggestions to do with spending more money on my car).

I will do that test when i get home, in the mean time I will set her onto the instruction manual hunt.
We keep them all in one drawer (THE drawer) in the kitchen, so it should be there.

Update coming soon - this is far more fun than doing accounts

[QBee]

dingg said:

she can feel the air blowing from the fan - its quite a good flow if its working okay

I went through the broken thermostat route before finding it was the fan , its a common breakdown on these apparently

should she feel for it in the fridge or the freezer?

[QBee]

she said she could see the fan going round when she opened the freezer door.....

[QBee]

I will have a look when I get home. Thanks for your help

[QBee]

Home at last.
Opened both doors (not at the same time), and pressed the door switches to trick the fans.
Freezer one went for it, good and hard.
Fridge one did run, but more reminiscent of an asthmatic blowing through a straw.
Is that what I should expect?
What to try next?

[QBee]

dingg said:

on mine , there is only the one fan and thats in the top freezer compartment , that roars away giving quite a blast , the air is then diverted over the evaporator and ducted to the fridge side of the appliance so is a more gentle flow.

I'd take the back panel off entirely , defrost the evap. with a hot air gun or hair drier just to make sure you have no ice build up stopping airflow , and start again and see how it performs.

good luck

Dim question - but back panel outside, or back panel inside?

[QBee]

Thank you. My job for this evening methinks

[QBee]

Right. It moves on
The freezer section is now barely below freezing, so I pulled everything out of it and took the back panel out. Fan was still working, by the way. Compressor seemed to be working too
Here is what I found



So what is my next move please? Not sure I understand the workings. Do I just get the wife's hairdryer on it?

BTW, it is switched off at the plug.

Left of the picture is the top.....right bottom. Bloody iPhones!

[QBee]

Presumably my auto defrost is not working, but where do I find it?

[QBee]

Thanks for the response. Just to see what happened, I defrosted it fully, cleaned it and then restarted it. Presently running at the correct temperatures, but I will find out about the auto-defrost and see if the part needs changing.

[QBee]

Thanks - having seen it naked I now understand how it works, and yes, the vent through to the fridge is quite low down and was blocked by ice. Great help everyone, particularly those who explained in detail.
If fridge freezers had V8 motors I would have far more chance of understanding them!