Electrolux fridge freezer not freezing enough

[marb]

Our 12 year old Electrolux seems to not quite freeze food enough now. I did turn the dial down a bit because it's so cold and our kitchen is icy. If I feel the bread it's still squashes in, the ice cream is the consistency of a mouse and nothing is rock hard. There is ice and frost in there. I turned the dial up to full last night in the hope that it would have frozen everything solid but it hasn't.

Can the extreme cold of our unheated kitchen in a single brick walled old house be causing the fridge not to switch on as much ? The light is on but I don't hear any noise. I really really hope it isn't broken as I can't afford another or to have it repaired.

 

[big-all]

you probably need to raise the temperature to13 degrees + otherwise the freezer wont get cold enough

if your room is plus 3 then your fridge wont require cooling so wont cut in

 

[marb]

I defrosted the fridge and it had a huge lump of ice on the ceiling of the fast freeze. Now it has all gone and clear again it works a bit better but still not enough. The annoying thing is I can't put my finger on exactly what it is. I put an ice cube tray of water in the middle of the freezer last night and this morning the top had frozen quite hard but there was water underneath.

 

[big-all]

its because your freezer will be cycling from just above freezing to just below as it looks after the fridge
you need to raise the room temperature so the fridge needs cooling more thus lowering the temperature in the freezer towards a more acceptable -15

 

[marb]

Thats the problem. Our kitchen is freezing cold since we had our boiler replaced by a new combi. All the heat goes outside as the old one used to give a bit of heat back into the kitchen. We have no radiator in there so we are at the mercy of the weather. The kitchen is 10.1 degrees.

 

[marb]

I have had a freezer thermometer in all night and it has stabilized at -10 degrees. This is after it was defrosted though the freezer is half empty. Will it get colder if we put more food in ?

 

[wingcoax]

You've been given the answer. Put a convecter heater or such in the kitchen overnight set at a low temp and see what happens. Your freezer needs to be in a higher temp than it is so the compressor can do it's job. Freezers rely on thermal transferrence so if the surrounds are cold it cannot work.

 

[marb]

But it's been mild of late and the kitchen was over 14 degrees and it still wasn't getting cold enough. We will have to get an extra radiator in the kitchen.

 

[big-all]

you fridge will only try and cool very occasionally and for a very short time so your freezer will barely get cold
the hotter the room the colder the freezer will get
the colder the room the less cold the freezer will be

if the room is at 5 degrees the fridge will never cool as its cold enough