Zanussi fridge freezer - Fridge not cooling.

[greg_68]

Hi all, I have a Zanussi integrated fridge freezer. Every two weeks on the dot the fridge fails to cool and returns to room temperature. The freezer works as normal.

If I turn the whole lot off in the evening then put it back on the following morning then it works fine again (for two weeks)

It's starting to drive the mrs round the bend now and is just out of warranty.

Does anyone have any pointers of where to start.

Model: ZBB7266

 

[JohnD]

is it a frost free freezer?

 

[greg_68]

I believe it is yes.

 

[JohnD]

frost frees often get problems with the air ducts behind the back of the cabinet getting choked with ice. Once this happens they just get worse.

To clear it, unplug the FF, open the doors, take out all the food and eat it, leave the doors open in a warm room until all the ice has melted and dripped out. Pull it away from the wall and clean out the evaporation dishes on top of the compressor.

Wait until it has stopped dripping, both inside the cabinet, and into the dish. When you are sure it is fully dry, you can close the doors and turn it on again

 

[greg_68]

Cheers John, I will try doing all of that, although in the summer I think I left it off for over 48 hours and it still had the same problem after two weeks.

 

[JohnD]

The choked ducts are very annoying, but at least they have an easy DIY fix. If choked, you will find they contain a lot of ice, and it continues dripping for a long time

if, on the other hand, it turns out to be a loss of refrigerant gas, it might turn out to be beyond economic repair

 

[greg_68]

If it was a loss of refrigerant gas would I not have a problem all of the time though. From a layman's point of view something icing up over a two week period to the point of blockage seems totally feasible to me. It just worries me that if it requires me taking the integrated unit out I am going to have to keep doing it every so often.
I assume not everyone has to do this so what is so 'special' about mine that I have to and is there anything I can do whilst it is out to stop it reoccurring?

Thanks for the replies.

 

[JohnD]

there is usually a heating element to try to keep the ducts from icing up. If this becomes faulty, or if there is a very heavy load of ice (perhaps the door was left open, or has a bad seal, or a steamy stew was put in there with no lid) then the blockage would occur more often.

I only know the DIY solution as I am a householder, not a repairman, and it often works, but I wouldn't know what to try next.

p.s. I once defrosted without pulling it out, there was so much water that it filled the evaporation dish and overflowed, when I saw that and pulled it out, water lurched out and got into the electrical starter and blew it up

luckily it was a plug-in part and easy to change myself.

 

[greg_68]

Hi, has anyone got any other advice on what to do with this problem, still occurring on the dot every two weeks. Failing that are there dedicated Zanussi forums you could recommend?
Thanks.

 

[JohnD]

how much comes out when you defrost it?

 

[greg_68]

Hi, hard to judge, would a half litre sound about right, at least enough to fill the evaporation dish. Stopped dripping after an hour or so, left it off all night, two weeks later exactly the same.

Thanks for the quick reply.

 

[captaincaveman1]

This sounds like its not defrosting itself which would mean either the thermal cut outs (one is 40 degrees c but the other is 10 degrees c and linked in series so carnt be tested at room temp) on the evaporator or the defrost element is o/c the electronics on this model rarely give issues but ive had to change quite a few fans on this model so ensure this is ok as well (with the door open the fan wont run striaght away so leave door open at least 5mins) and wait to hear the sound of the fan above the compressor

 

[Andrew49]

Hi Folks
We recently bought an integrated fridge freezer, Model ZBB8294. It is not Frost Free. It worked fine for a few months, then within a day I noticed ice building up at the back of the fridge and some items in the fridge had frozen. I think the temperature regulator in the fridge was knocked by something and rotated to a lower setting. I believe this caused the fridge to work harder. The manual refers to the compressor running continously causing frost or ice to build up. I re-set the regulator at a higher temperature and the ice melted, but the fridge will not cool. It's sitting at a constant 12 degrees although I can hear some kind of motor running continuously. We've tried high and mid settings over a few hours, but it still isn't cold enough. The freezer is okay. Sounds a bit like the initial query above. Any ideas??. Didn't create new post as signs/symptoms were similar although different model.