Cabel C195/53 Fridge Freezer

[madge1]

Hi

We've got an inbuilt Cabel C195/53 Fridge Freezer and the fridge doesn't seem to defrost by itself. If I turn it off quickly at the thermostat it does tick over by itself for about 10 minutes before firing up the motor again, but otherwise the motor is always on. It doesn't go off every 1hr (or whatever it should be) to allow the defrost action to occur.

Any ideas what i can? They want to charge £72.50 just to come out to have a look, and as the fridge (two years old) can't be worth much more than that I'm loath to do it.

pete

 

[madge1]

no one got any ideas?

 

[racket]

Could be a couple of things. A dodgy thermostat, or is the plate at the back of the fridge fully frosting up. if the plate is not frosting up where the thermostat sensor is attached then the compresor won't switch off, you will just get a large build up of ice on the plate. If this is the case the fridge is short of refrigerant. If the plate is fully frosting then you may find things freezing up in the fridge if this is the case I would say a dodgy thermostat.

hope this helps

 

[madge1]

the plate at the back does seem to mostly frost up on one side (although given time it will freeze both sides!). Does this mean then the fridge is lacking in refrigerant? Nothing actually freezes in the fridge itself though - just the back wall.

It's already been re gassed once (and only just over 2 years old) so does this mean that we have a leak somewhere - or is just coincidence?

Presumably I would have to pay someone to come and do it and I wouldn't be able to do it myself....

Thank you for your reply!

 

[racket]

Yes definitely the fridge has lost gas . You say it has been regassed before, did the engineer find a leak and repair the leak?. I think that your fridge is on r134a refrigerant, and trying to find the leak is very hard,and if you do find it repairing it is also quite difficult, you couldn't repair this yourself. My advice to you is to put your money towards a new fridge.

 

[madge1]

oh what a pain. We've only just replaced the washing machine. All happens at once doesn't it.

Thankyou again though.

 

[madge1]

Would it get worse do you reckon or is okay to keep it going for a while? It's still awfully cold inside the fridge (about 4.5c) and apart from frosting up and being always on there's nothing wrong with it.

pete

 

[racket]

Yes the fridge is OK to use, but it will eventually loose all the gas. It seems there is only enough gas in the system to half freeze the evaporator, if you don't over load the fridge it should be Ok for a while. The gas in the system also cools the compressor, and you stand the chance of the compressor overheating, also with the compressor not switching off this will also cause it to overheat.

sorry to be the bearer of bad news