Hotpoint FZ175 Freezer - Access to the defrost drain

[aesmith]

Hi,
We have a Hotpoint FZ175 upright freezer. It is working OK in terms of cooling, but the defrost function is up the spout. Instead of water draining out of the tube at the back, it runs down the back of the freezing compartment, behind the spacers, and forms rivers of ice down the back and into and underneath the drawers. One other effect is that power consumption is much higher than it should be, presumably the defrost and refrigeration are fighting each other and it's expending power to defrost and then more power to freeze the water running down outside.

There's tubing running down the back to the trough above the compressor, this is I assume where the defrost water is supposed to go. What I would like to do is access the other end of that pipe to see why this isn't happening. It could be as simple as the pipe being blocked.

Does anyone know which bit I have to dismantle to reach this? From the inside at the top there's a sloping panel above the ice cube drawer, fixed with two cross point screws at the front/top, but removing these doesn't allow the panel to come away from the back.

Thanks, Tony S

 

[james_help]

Hi Tony, if you pour water down the pipe and if it drips down it's not blocked... if it is boil hot water and slowly pour it down that does the trick!

 

[aesmith]

Thanks James. The issue is that I can't access the top of the pipe, it's buried at the back of the freezer at the top, so I can't see it nor can I pour anything down it. The freezer's been standing for a few days dripping and thawing out, and I can no blow through the pipe from the bottom, but I really would like to see what's at the top so I can see why it might have got blocked in the first place.

Thanks again

 

[james_help]

in that case you need to let it completely defrost and leave it off for a few days

 

[aesmith]

Thanks. So there's no way to access the top of that drain pipe, is that correct? I hoped I'd get to it removing the sloping panel below, but that doesn't seem to detach. Nor have I been able to remove the top of the outer cabinet, it's not clear how that's fastened at the front as there are no fixing visible except two screws at the back.