Is my Fridge Freezer bust?

[MarkL057]

Hiya guys,
I woke up this morning to no power in the flat at all. The circuit breaker was in the off position, i tracked it down to the fridge freezer, 100% definitely that. As soon as the fridge is switched on, it trips again.
I tried it in another plug socket hoping it was the socket, still instantly trips when I put the power back on.
I've yet to try changing the fuse as I had to rush to work, is it plausible to think it could be that?
I've seen on another thread about extension cabling it to another circuit ring to see if its the fridge or the ring, but other things worked on the same socket so think it's more likely the fridge.
It's 3 months out of its year guarantee so not an old fridge by any means, but it is cheap and cheerful store brand.
Any suggestions? Could changing the fuse possibly work? Or is it likely i'm going to need a new fridge?
Thanks in advance,
Mark.

 

[Taylortwocities]

HAve a look in the plug itself, the wiring could be not very well. Otherwise you'll need an appliance repair man, or a new fridge..

 

[stillp]

Not likely to be the fuse.

 

[ericmark]

When mine went it was clearly a motor fault when I inquired it would seem no one does a bring it in and we will repair it is all we come to you. And it seems lowest quote to visit was £60 without cost of parts, by time I added parts then near cost of new fridge/freezer. One exception is if you have a maintenance contract. There are parts in frost free freezers which could cause a RCD to trip and can be DIY swapped. Also with frost free there are some electronics which could go faulty and since the freezer costs more to start with it may be possible to repair at an economic rate. With non frost free it is a case of check the plug look for water ingress and after that it's a new fridge/freezer.

Since it happened to me I looked carefully at the replacement, my wife wanted frost free, I wanted cheap. But on looking I realised non frost free had a lot more than the de-frosting against it. Temperature in non frost free is hit and miss, it has the active parts spread around the freezer compartment so you can't remove a draw for Christmas turkey and the temperature is monitored at one point only with no circulating fan so there can be hot spots. The frost free has all active components behind a shield and a fan circulates the air so whole freezer the same temperature so single point monitoring of temperature is good enough.

So she got her way, we got a frost free with a 10 year guarantee on motor and inverter although only 2 years for rest of fridge/freezer. When we had a general power cut I found it flashes the highest temperature reached before the power returned which was not in the instructions but very handy to know if food still OK. Reset by opening door. It also gives a read out every time door opened of temperature. However on down side it uses more power than a non frost free and cost a lot more. It is also a lot less noise than old freezers which always knocked when starting and stopping. Only around 18 month old so time will tell if worth the extra money.

In most freezers there is a overload on the motor which is prone to failure specially if there is a volt drop, but can't see that causing the unit to trip the supply. Some have electronics which could get wet, but the repair men need a computer to test so not really DIY. So personally I would cut off the plug and fit a new one just in case it's the moulded plug and after that it's dependent if frost free or not, but in most cases the heater only comes in after it has been running for some time so it is unlikely to be frost free heater. I am assuming it is the RCD which tripped.

 

[MarkL057]

Thanks for the replies.
I had a feeling the fuse wasn't likely to work, wishful thinking I'd say. Just irritating as it's not an old machine.
Will try a new plug, if no luck there looks like a new machine
Thanks again!

 

[MarkL057]

So personally I would cut off the plug and fit a new one just in case it's the moulded plug.

Replaced the plug when I got in from work, currently have a working fridge freezer. Thankyou so much, saved me £200!

My first plug wiring since tech class at school so very happy with myself!

Thanks again, Mark.

 

[ericmark]

Glad it all worked out OK. Do thank "Taylortwocities" I only repeated his advice.

 

[MarkL057]

HAve a look in the plug itself, the wiring could be not very well. Otherwise you'll need an appliance repair man, or a new fridge..

Thankyou! Changed the plug when I got home and works a treat now. Made a £200 job cost £1.49!

 

[Iggifer]

HAve a look in the plug itself, the wiring could be not very well. Otherwise you'll need an appliance repair man, or a new fridge..

Thankyou! Changed the plug when I got home and works a treat now. Made a £200 job cost £1.49!

You still got mugged off! Glad it's sorted though