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Hi
We moved into a house and paid the previous owners to leave behind their Meile KFN12923ed fridge freezer, it’s about 4 years old.
We have found a problem with the fridge section, sometimes it seems to be at a normal cool temperature, other times it’s really quite warm.I fitted a temperature monitor to the inside of the fridge and measured the temperature over several days. I found that it only starts cooling when the temperature increases to roughly 14ºC. When this temperature is reached it cools down quickly to approximately 2.5ºC.
Here is a chart of the temperatures over a few days:
The red line indicates the point at which I left the fridge door open for a few minutes to speed up the warming, when I shut the door it again started cooling when the temperature reached 14ºC.
The cooling system seems to work OK so I can’t imagine it’s a serious fault, it just needs to start cooling a bit sooner!
Any ideas would be appreciated as it’ll cost a fortune to call out a Meile engineer.
Oh and yes the fridge setpoint is 1ºC and I’ve read the manual twice through so I’m sure I’m not doing anything wrong 🙂
Also I’ve looked at the back of the fridge and it looks to be in a bit of a state with a kind of turquoise discharge around one of the pipes, could this be related? A photo of it is here:
Thanks in advance!
GeorgeRe: Meile KFN12923 – Fridge only triggers cooling at 14ºC
Oh and also there’s no temperature warning alarms sounding.
ThanksRe: Meile KFN12923 – Fridge only triggers cooling at 14ºC
The most likely fault looking at the picture on this model is the fridge evaporator sensor.
The description of the fault also sounds like the sensor is faulty.
If the compressor is hot then it will be a refrigerant fault if it is cool or only slightly warm it will be the sensor.
This model has a foamed in sensor so you will need the fridge evaporator sensor modification kit.
It comes complete with instructions, sensor, and new sensor holder.
The kit has recently gone up in price and is not cheap it also requires good DIY skills to fit.
Bob
Re: Meile KFN12923 – Fridge only triggers cooling at 14ºC
Thanks for your reply SAMURI.
I felt the compressor when it was running one time and it was hot, I couldn’t hold my finger on it for more than a couple of seconds. At other times when not running it’s cool/warm.
Does this mean it’s a refrigerant fault? Is that repairable? How much will it cost!?Thanks
GeorgeRe: Meile KFN12923 – Fridge only triggers cooling at 14ºC
If is running so hot you cannot keep your finger on it then it may be low on refrigerant as this model has a diverted valve for the refrigerant and gives the freezer priority over the fridge.
So the fridge will not cool if the freezer is not down to temperature.
When the freezer is correct temperature it diverts the refrigerant to the fridge.
It will need an engineer to check.
Bob
Re: Meile KFN12923 – Fridge only triggers cooling at 14ºC
Thanks Bob.
Most of the time the compressor is not running and feels cool/warm when touched. It only seems to get hot when it’s running. If it was struggling to deliver cooling to the freezer would you not expect it to be hot for a larger percentage of the time as it’s doing more work?Also when I left the fridge door open to speed up the warming up of the fridge it started cooling about 10 minutes later, when it reached 14ºC. Based on the readings from the previous days I know that if I’d kept the door shut it wouldn’t have started cooling for another hour or two.
That indicates to me that it’s deliberately holding off cooling until 14ºC.The temperature sensor I’m using does work below about -10ºC, if I can get one that does I’ll put it in the freezer and monitor the temperature there.
Thanks
GeorgeRe: Meile KFN12923 – Fridge only triggers cooling at 14ºC
From your description if it is cutting out ok then it will be the fridge evaporator sensor and you would need the mod kit that comes complete with instructions, sensor holder and sensor.
Bob
Re: Meile KFN12923 – Fridge only triggers cooling at 14ºC
That makes sense, thanks SAMURI.
Do you know of any places which sell these kits?
Or do you know where I can find the part number for the kit?Thanks again for your help.
GeorgeRe: Meile KFN12923 – Fridge only triggers cooling at 14ºC
Should be part number 9590084 from LIEBHERR
Bob
Re: Meile KFN12923 – Fridge only triggers cooling at 14ºC
Excellent, thanks for your help Bob. Hopefully it comes with instructions and won’t be too difficult to fit. I’ll get one ordered at the weekend.
Cheers
GeorgeRe: Meile KFN12923 – Fridge only triggers cooling at 14ºC
Right, I’ve received the replacement temperature sensor.
Next problem, how can I replace it without damaging the back of the unit?!It looks like I need to remove the black condenser coil/grill as it covers pretty much the whole of the back of the fridge. But with all the connected pipework it doesn’t look like it’s designed to be moved out of the way.
I see six bolts holding the black condenser coil/grill part on, if I undo these bolts will the coil fall/move and be damaged?
If anybody can give me any tips on what to do here I’d appreciate it as I haven’t a clue. I’ve searched the internet for information but drawn a blank.
Thanks in advance,
GeorgeRe: Meile KFN12923 – Fridge only triggers cooling at 14ºC
Update – I’ve replaced the fridge temperature sensor and the problem still persists. I’ve even left the whole fridge/freezer switched off at the wall for 5 days to make sure everything had defrosted.
So I can only imagine it’s the fridge evaporator sensor (based on other people’s forum posts).
Can somebody let me know how hard this is to change? Does the back of the fridge need to be taken off?If it’s difficult I’m taking the fridge to the scrap yard as I’ve spent enough time on it already.
Thanks
George
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