I would like to repair my fridge-freezer. But what's wrong?

[r1986h]

Hello,

This is my first post, folks!

Can anyone give an educated stab-in-the-dark as to what might be wrong with my fridge-freezer, please? I want to buy the appropriate part and repair. It is a Beko CDA660FW. I'd guess approx. 10-12 years old.

The fridge works fine. But the freezer fan (and chill function) alternates stop/start, for hours at a time. it doesn't relate to me opening the door - it just does it anyway.

I removed the inner back white plastic freezer panel (accessed by taking at drawers out - it is behind those). I defrosted the grill behind this inner panel. The frost free function had always worked fine as far as the food goes. But the grill was thick with ice.

Defrosting meant the freezer worked properly again, with immediate effect. But it has gradually gone back to stop/start. I will, today, take the panel off again and see if it's clogged up a second time. But it's only six weeks from the first defrost.

Could it be the thermostat? Would make more sense if the fridge was playing up too...

Many genuine thanks for reading.

 

[Bluejets]

Most use an auto defrost timer which activates either a heater in the fan coil section or reverse cycle defrost.
Either of the above is terminated with a small termination thermostat usually mounted on the fan coil itself.
So either the timer is crook and not going into defrost or........
If reverse cycle defrost, the reverse cycle solenoid coil.
The termination thermostat cut out at the end of a defrost cycle and never reset itself.
These termination thermostats are commonly a round disc approx. 20mm diameter and 15mm thick with 2 leads and a stainless clip to clamp to the coil.
At any temperature above about 3 degrees C, the thermostat disc should be open circuit.
Below this, the internal contacts are closed.
They are a non-servicable item but should be replacable with just about any defrost termination thermostat if that is the problem.
Take care around the coil as the fins can be rather sharp.

 

[dave9]

I wonder if it's just leaking, now low on refrigerant and thus freezing up to cause the shut down. I assume this "grill" you had to thaw out was the evaporator coils, while frost free generally just melts the frost off food, not needing to defrost that.

 

[Bluejets]

I wonder if it's just leaking, now low on refrigerant

Op said after defrosting the ice away, the system worked ok until iced up again.
I assume this was over a couple of days.

Frost free refers to the fact that no manual defrosting of the evaporator is required.
It will frost up regardless and require a defrost either by heater or reverse cycle.
This is normally done at least once in a 24 hour period.
It has nothing to do with any so-called frost on the food.

If the system was low on refrigerant due to a leak in the system, or if the compressor valves were kaput, the frig would run continuously and not get down to temperature.

 

[dave9]

^ If it's not very low yet it could take a while for ice buildup to be a show stopper.

I wouldn't assume frost free means defrosting the evaporator with more modern designs attempting to eek out higher efficiency. Consider freezers that aren't frost free, don't need the coils manually defrosted instead, just the food/interior.

 

[ChosunOne]

You might try this forum, which has expert DIY advice from pro's that specialize in large kitchen appliances.
https://www.doityourself.com/forum/electric-large-kitchen-home-appliances-1/

 

[Bluejets]

I wouldn't assume frost free means defrosting the evaporator with more modern designs attempting to eek out higher efficiency. Consider freezers that aren't frost free, don't need the coils manually defrosted instead, just the food/interior.

No, afraid you lost me there. No idea what you are on about.
Only thing rings any bells there is the older cyclic defrost system, but that is an entirely different arrangement.
If you mean the all freezer, coils in the lining, then yes they do build up ice over a period of time but normally they are only accessed perhaps on a once a day arrangement. Hence very little moisture to condense, plus many are chest style and when opened the hot outside moisture ladened air does not enter.

Frost free esentially means the coils are not visible and are not accessed in any way as were the old evaporator up top styles.
Hence it appeared to the customer that there was no frost.

All getting away from the Op's problem though.

 

[r1986h]

@Bluejets and @dave9 and @ChosunOne, thanks kindly for the reply. I have pulled the fridge-freezer pulled out. I see no sign of any leak. Regarding the auto-defrost timer/reverse solenoid coil. I don't know if this changes anything. But, I do still use the freezer. This frosting up of the coils seems to lengthen the amount of time that the fan doesn't turn. But it doesn't stop the unit being functional, entirely.

The unit might operate for 6 hours, then stop for a few hours. Then operate for another 6 hours, then stop again. If I put a cup of water in the freezer during it's off period, it will not freeze.

I just tend not to open it during these off periods, and bread, frozen veg, puddings, etc., are all fine, despite being in there for weeks on end. I've only had to defrost the coils the once, in many years. Because it got to the point that the off periods got so long, things had started to defrost.

So, it was 6 weeks ago when I defrosted (first time ever), and it would run continuously, to my memory, after this defrost. But gradually, the off periods have crept back in, getting longer and longer, over the past few weeks.

Many thanks.

 

[Bluejets]

Leaks in the refrigerant are rarely visible except occasionally for an oil film in a visible area.
There is concealed pipework with possibly aluminium to copper joints which you will never see.

Originally you quoted.......

Defrosting meant the freezer worked properly again,

Above was what I based my diagnosis on but now you say something different.

Refrigeration does not run on time but controlled by temperature so watching for a kettle to boil is akin to waiting for a frig to cut in and cut out.....waste of time and effort.

Time to call in a service man for your problem I believe as it appears to be way beyond any distance interpretation or diagnosis.
Just be forewarned that @ 12 years age, the frig will be looked upon as being in the why bother catagory.

 

[r1986h]

@Bluejets thanks for the clarification on the refrigerant. I probably didn't express myself very well: defrosting did initially fix the problem, but the issue seems to have crept back, leading me to assume the ice has built up again.

I try to repair where possible, over just buying a new one the moment something goes wrong. But based on what you've said, I will consider replacing the unit.

Thanks again.