My father in law has an under worktop integrated fridge, the sort that
slides into and is fixed to a standard 600mm wide base unit and the kitchen
cupboard door is screwed to the fridge door hinge mechanism. Anyway the
fridge does not get any lower than 10 degrees C, even with the temp dial
turned right up, (or down??) to 5. We took the fridge out at the weekend
and drilled some holes through the worktop to increase airflow, but this
hasn't really helped. When we had the fridge out we noticed it didn't have
the 'normal' radiator thingie on the back as you would find on a free
standing model, presumably because a built in fridge doesn't need one. Also
the plate at the back (inside) frosts up quite badly. What is the likely
cause of the lack of coldness and is it worth fixing or is it junk? The
fridge is approx 5 years old and has worked OK except for the last few
weeks.

TIA

John

John wrote:
Anyway the fridge does not get any lower than 10 degrees C
and
the plate at the back (inside) frosts up quite badly.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but how can it frost up, and not be any colder
than 10 C, at the same time?

--
LSR

On Wed, 28 Apr 2004 11:56:42 +0000 (UTC), "John"
wrote:

My father in law has an under worktop integrated fridge, the sort that
slides into and is fixed to a standard 600mm wide base unit and the kitchen
cupboard door is screwed to the fridge door hinge mechanism. Anyway the
fridge does not get any lower than 10 degrees C, even with the temp dial
turned right up, (or down??) to 5. We took the fridge out at the weekend
and drilled some holes through the worktop to increase airflow, but this
hasn't really helped. When we had the fridge out we noticed it didn't have
the 'normal' radiator thingie on the back as you would find on a free
standing model, presumably because a built in fridge doesn't need one. Also
the plate at the back (inside) frosts up quite badly. What is the likely
cause of the lack of coldness and is it worth fixing or is it junk? The
fridge is approx 5 years old and has worked OK except for the last few
weeks.

Perversely, you possibly need to turn it *down*. It may be running non-stop
and icing up very badly very quickly. If this goes beyond the point where
the (presumed) automatic defrost cycle can remove the ice, then it will tend
to build up and up. It seems that solid frost is not that good at actually
cooling the fridge contents.

I had this experience with a fridge in a holiday cottage once. The previous
occupants had emptied it and left it open (as requested), but of course it
then had a hard time in the hot weather trying to get cold. Once we'd eased
the stat back a bit (it was on max), after a day or so the plate was free of
ice build-up and the whole thing was noticeably colder.

--
How can I be out of money if I still have these checks?

Mail john rather than nospam...

Elessar wrote:

John wrote:

Anyway the fridge does not get any lower than 10 degrees C

and

the plate at the back (inside) frosts up quite badly.


Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but how can it frost up, and not be any colder
than 10 C, at the same time?



Essdy. The door isn't closing properly. Mine does the same when She
overstuffs it with rotting vegetables. Fridge works overtime and freezes
the backplate, but never gets the air temp down.