Old Ariston Integrated Freezer stopped freezing. Lights are on and water is running after restarting, but not freezing.

[diynewtothis]

Hello Everyone,

Racking my brain out trying to figure this all out without any extra tools. I have an old integrated freezer that suddenly stopped freezing. It turns on and water/coolant is running inside but doesn’t turn cold.

The coils and other components look to be in good condition at the back, but honestly didn’t know how to further inspect it.

I opened the top cover that houses the thermostat and lights, and the area around the thermostat has blackened. Could this be the issue?

Please feel free to give any suggestions. I have attached an image of the current condition of the freezer as i can’t seem to locate the Ariston model.

Thank you in advance.

 

[ericmark]

I refrigeration plant works by pumping a gas/liquid around in a circle, as it is pressurised it gets hotter and is cooled, as it cools it turns into a liquid, which is piped into the part to be cooled, and allowed to boil and expand drawing in heat. Air will not compress to turn into liquid, at pressures used, so if the refrigerant escapes and is replaced by air although motors continue to run, it will not cool.

The re-gasing involves plugging the leak, sucking out the air so a near vacuum and then refilling with refrigerant if the refrigerant used is still available, so many have now been banned, so you are talking about around 2 hours work, plus the cost of the gas, so in the main unless rather expensive to start with, it is cheaper to buy new.

Also the way fridges and freezers are now made, they tend to be more economically to run. So often better to change unit anyway.

The only thing is, gas is rarely lost all of a sudden. We tend to notice the motor never seems to stop, my chest freezer which just happens to be under test at the moment shows this use and the average power used is around 22 watt, where the run power is 63 watt, this is about right, the motor with most runs for around just over 1/3 of the time. I test mine around once every 6 months to see if they are degrading. OK I am using an expensive monitor, but one of these works fine to show what items use at around £8. However it would seem you need a new fridge, if motor is running and not getting cold unless a very expensive model it is not worth repairing, sorry.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Racking my brain out trying to figure this all out without any extra tools. I have an old integrated freezer that suddenly stopped freezing. It turns on and water/coolant is running inside but doesn’t turn cold.

By 'turns on', do you mean you can hear the black compressor at the rear/bottom actually running, and getting warm?

If not -

I opened the top cover that houses the thermostat and lights, and the area around the thermostat has blackened. Could this be the issue?

Then that might suggest the stat needs to be replaced..