Polystyrene under Fridge/freezer lid - packaging ??

[Coniferman]

Zanussi DF56/45 10+years old.

I recently took this out of its very tight 'home' to give good clean etc. I found a big piece of polystyrene surrounding the freezer section compressor (it has 2 compressors) with a big "remove before 1st use" sticker!! Ho hum! It is likely the 1st time it has been taken out from its position. It was included when I bought the house. The freezer section still works very well by the way! Obviously I removed this polystyrene.

Under the top metal lid (above the fridge section) is another large sheet of polystyrene which is loose. I would have to remove two screws to lift the lid and remove this polystyrene. I assume this one is supposed to be there though to help insulate the fridge???? I am just wondering if this could also be packaging and supposed to be removed though too? (It could have been to prevent the lid from being crushed pre-install?) I can see that the fridge would be more efficient if warm air had the entire lid to convect heat away??

Can anyone confirm if this is packaging and should be removed as with the stuff around the compressor or is it meant to be there?

Just that the fridge is currently marginal in terms of performance and the compressor is nearly always on but increasing ventilation (or using a fan to blow air down the back) improves performance greatly.

 

[rocks1]

remove it from the comp but leave the stuff under the lid its surposed to be there ,if it requires a screw driver its surposed to be there, only wot you can see must be removed no tools are req cos it can be dangerous if some starts to take things apart and remove items that are there for a purpose.

 

[Gees]

A fridge needs ventilation to remove the heat from the radiator at the back.
If the heat is not removed the whole system will warm up and the compressor will be doing its best to cool the inside to the correct temperature.
Make sure there is somewhere for the heat to go ! A fridge is just a heat pump and like any other pump the "outlet" must be clear for it to operate.

 

[Coniferman]

Thanks for the replies and explanations. It's just strange (to me) that sometimes the fridge will sit at 7oC for many hours with the compressor constantly on and other times it will drop quite easily to 3 or 4 degrees allowing the compressor to cycle on and off. I guess the less time it is on the more efficient it will be as it has time to cool down at the back? The freezer is hardly ever on and easily maintains -18oC but I guess its own compressor is much higher spec?

I am happy to buy a new ff but would like this one to completely break as I know it will end up in the garage as a beer fridge - far from benefitting from reduced kWh/year! Plus I literally only have 55.0cm width to play with.