integrated aeg fridge freezer not working well

[elcaro]

Hi all and a happy new year to everyone.
AEG integrated fridge freezer, it's in a cab I bought for the purpose from B&Q, although the rest of that part of the kitchen was put together by us.
I'm pretty sure the clearances etc are fine for ventilation.

1. Not long after we got it, there was a power cut; I did not open the doors, just waited as you should. It was supposed to be able to tolerate 16 hours of power outage or something like that (might have been 24 even). Anyway after 6 or so hours we got power back, I opened the freezer - and all the soggy contents had to be chucked out! I guess that should have rung a very loud alarm bell, and it was still under guarantee at that time, should have got back to the merchant then (2 or 3 years ago) but didn't.

2. Forward to last summer which was very hot. "Frozen" stuff didn't seem to be frozen. I bought a pair of fridge thermometers, which (if they are to be believed) suggest the fridge is ok, but the freezer struggled to get down to -8. It was set to -18 on the control panel. I changed the control panel setting to as low as it would go but never made it to -18 according to the freezer thermometer. We are careful with frozen food now as you might expect!
Anyway ended up with the setting around -20, don't know what temp it's actually achieving.

The thing is, it's running it's motor just about the time and driving us nuts. I'd be grateful for any suggestions, technical or legal. For example I read somewhere that you might get some money back even if out of guarantee, something about "merchantable quality or some such.

Thanks in advance.
Regards from Terry.

 

[jj4091]

Not quite as simple as that, you need to prove it had a manufacturing defect when you bought it which means having an engineer examine the appliance, diagnosing the fault & making a report. That would probably cost more then a new appliance. Have you tried defrosting it thoroughly & cleaning out the back of the machine. I'm not familiar with your model but some F/Fs have a fan & ducts in th e lower rear of the machine that need cleaning periodically.

 

[elcaro]

Ah thanks jj4091.
Now the festivities are finished we'll run the contents down and give it the once-over as you suggest!

Yeah, as regards "merchantable quality" I thought I might be in with a chance because of this from the sale of goods act 1923 (my italics and underlining):-

'(3) Without limiting the meaning of the expression
"merchantable quality" , goods of any kind which are the subject of a contract for a consumer sale are not of merchantable quality if they are not as fit for the purpose or purposes for which goods of that kind are commonly bought as is reasonable to expect having regard to their price, to any description applied to them by the seller and to all other circumstances.'

The operative word being price - this thing cost £626. I know you can pay double that, but you can pay £300 as well, it wasn't supposed to be cheap and cheerful! And it's only 3 years old (December 2015). I might have a moan at the merchant, the manufacturer and/or Which? (aka Consumer Association) as I'm a member of the latter.

If defrosting / cleaning doesn't fix it I might just go for a cheap replacement. Problem is the doors (cabinet doors, not the fridge's own doors) weren't cheap, so I'd need another 50/50 (obviously) but pretty close to the same fridge door dimensions too so they can be re-used. All good fun!

Regards from Terry.

 

[elcaro]

jj4091, others out there,
Sorry please disregard my wittering about sale of goods quote - that's from Australian law. Just noticed. Blooming internet!
- Terry.

 

[elcaro]

Ah looks as if Australian law is stronger on this than our law in the UK.
Well, there's a surprise ... not.
- Terry.

 

[jj4091]

Integrated appliance are always much more expensive than free standing ones, I doubt you will get one that will fit in your cabinet. The sale of goods act gives you the same protection in the UK that you say the Aussies have but as I say getting satisfaction using it is fraught with difficulties. If defrosting won't cure it ask a couple of local appliance engineers for an estimate to repair it rather than going to AEG straight off. Also try a google search of your model to try to ascertain if it is a known fault, that could strengthen your position with the supplier.
To be honest I will be surprised if defrosting does not cure it, have you read the user guide to find out how often it should be done?

 

[elcaro]

Hi jj4091, yes we can't go free-standing, we-re stuck with integrated. As far as I recall it's not supposed to require defrosting so I don't think it specified how often to defrost it. (Supposedly "frost-free"?) We'll try to use all the contents then defrost it anyway. Whether we could keep all the stuff in a couple of those insulated shopping bags while defrosting it I don't know, don't know how long it takes, I'll have a look around online.
- Terry.

 

[jj4091]

Frost free only applies to the fridge part not the freezer. How long it takes depends on how iced up it is. May take 48 hours.

 

[elcaro]

Hi jj4091, the manual says :
"
5.4 Defrosting of the freezer

The freezer compartment of this model, on the other hand, is a "no frost" type. This means that there is no buildup of frost when it is in operation, neither on the internal walls nor on the foods.
"

That doesn't seem to be quite true though, we are removing ice at the moment!

The back panel inside the freezer seems to consist of four pieces; the top one has a metal slotted bolt, the others look to have plastic fittings which look they could be turned with a screwdriver.

As the appliance is integrated, it would make sense if the works could be got at without taking it out of its cab - in fact it would make so much sense I can't believe it

Don't know if there is likely to be anything worth a look behind these panels?

Terry.

 

[elcaro]

jj4091, guys,

Right, we've taken the top panel off and there's a fan behind there :

took fan off its spindle and the area is half full of ice !

Photos are tipped on their side, top should be to the left.

Once we get the ice out of there we'll take a view. There would be a case for taking the remaining three panels off and looking for more ice - e.g. if ice is stopping air getting to the thermostat sensor. But this might get us into disconnecting / reconnecting wires depending on how much slack there is.

To be continued.

Terry.

 

[jj4091]

Hi jj4091, the manual says :
"
5.4 Defrosting of the freezer

The freezer compartment of this model, on the other hand, is a "no frost" type. This means that there is no buildup of frost when it is in operation, neither on the internal walls nor on the foods.
"

That doesn't seem to be quite true though, we are removing ice at the moment!.

I've never seen a frost free freezer yet & would be interested to know how they can achieve this in a product designed to freeze things, especially to such a low temperature , the whole appliance would have to be evacuated & then hermetically sealed to achieve this so I would have thought rather impractical.

 

[elcaro]

jj4091, yeah we found plenty of ice, all concealed behind those panels. Removed some chunks of ice we were able to get at, had to let the appliance stand overnight until no more water came out , so presumably all ice now gone. Re-started and fingers crossed it's now on it's way down to -18 with a gentle purring sounds, passed minus 10 a while ago, as I mentioned above never seen lower than -9 recently The previous horrible noise is gone. Maybe that was the air circ. fan hitting the ice around it dunno. Fingers crossed as I say ... will report back later or tomorrow.
- Terry.

 

[JohnD]

I've never seen a frost free freezer yet & would be interested to know how they can achieve this

they blow the cold air through ducts, where any frost may form, then periodically melt it with heaters, and it drains away. If ice starts to form, it can build up fairly quickly enough to block the ducts, as probably happened here. The ducts are not easily accessible so it's common, when they block, to leave the FF open, turned off, for 24 hours or until all dripping stops. You may need to pull the appliance out from the wall to empty the drip dish.

Sometimes the heater elements, or the control circuit, fails. It might be possible to change or repair the electronics (usually under the top panel) but more often the appliance gets binned. Sometimes it happens if the door is accidentally not closed tightly.

IMO it's worth trying the manual defrost twice, after which you'll know how much of a pain it is and how often it's needed.

 

[elcaro]

Hi JohnD, that's a good idea, we'll see in a while if / how fast there is ice build-up in future.
This drip tray, wonder if we've got one and if so where? It wouldn't be easy to get the FF out of its cab - at least it wasn't too easy getting it in. It was too heavy for us just to lift into the cab. What we did then was we made a stand out of wood the area of the FF and on legs of spare 3x3 with felt on the bottom of them, the same height as the cab floor. Then we could all swarm around the FF mob handed and get it onto the stand.We've a wooden floor in that area. So the FF could be carefully pushed (cos of the felt) up to the cab and slid back into place. Worked well. Only thing is I think the wood from the stand got re-used for something!
Regards, Terry.

 

[elcaro]

Chaps, freezer thermometer thingy is currently showing -20.
Min / max over last few hours = -16.5 / -20.
Freezer temp on panel is set to -18.
No horrible noise.