Multiple fridge/freezers randomly turn off

electrofix wrote:there is no reason i can think of for this happening but whatever it is must be common to all units. you say they are in different sockets but are they on the same circuit so fed from the same fuse ?

Dave

I’m not sure about the circuit Dave. I think so, how can I check? I deliberately moved the mini fridge freezer to another socket to see if that was the problem but it’s still happening.

One other thing to add, one of the guys I live with tends to put a bit too much food in his area of the large fridge. So the top half of the fridge is quite packed. Could this be the issue? Overheating the fridge somehow?

i just can’t believe a couple of slightly over full shelves would cause this to happen

electrofix wrote:the only thing you would get is lack of air flow within the fridge. If its an old style unit then only the back wall gets cold. If you insulate this with walls of food and no air flow then only the food close to the wall will be cold and the lack of air flow means it may not turn back on when it is supposed to

my only though was there may have been an electrical problem with the circuit they are on/ its a long shot but its the only thing i can think links all 3. If you get a power fault that turns them all off at the same time it may cause your problem. Most fridges that get turned off wont restart if they are too warm

try simulating this by turning off the socket for 1o secs and see if the fault you have is reproduced on switch on

you can find out if they are on the same circuit by switching off the circuit at the fuse box to see which items are on which fuse

Dave

Ok thanks I’ll look into this.

I personally have the mini fridge freezer to myself. As a short term solution, could I just plug it into a different circuit? So if the other two shut down, mine will be ok?

Im not sure how circuits work. Are they’ve simply divided into different rooms? I have an extension cord I could use to plug the fridge into a living room or hallway socket?

electrofix wrote:if one is on a different circuit and it works ok then that points in the direction of a circuit fault

Dave

Ok so I’ve check the fuse box. It’s an old style one so I had to remove one by one to see if they are on the same circuit. And it looks like they’re not.

This wouldn’t make any sense right? If they are on different circuits why would they effect each other?

electrofix wrote:correct we can eliminate an electrical problem
after that have no real idea why they seem to be doing the same thing

one thing you have to be aware of is these seem to be controlled by an electronic circuit which means if you reset the temp on the dial it is never instant like the old mechaniclke stats were

Dave

Can you explain your last point again please?

What should I do at this point? Get an electrician round?

electrofix wrote:old fridge freezers use a mechanical thermostat so you turn it up and the switch closes and the compressor starts

new style units use an electronic board. This means the knob just feed into a board which then decides when to turn it back on. The point is when you turn the knob dont expect instant results. Also later models when turned off and back on at the wall sometimes go into a defrost cycle first which again means the compressor wont start immediatly

As for the electrician it cant do any harm in fact it sounds almost like a HMO situation and could well do with the electrics updating and checking
An HMO is defined as more than 5 people from different housholds living in one property. something you would need a licience for in Croyden. If your under 5 your ok but the electrics still sound like they need a thorough check

Dave

Yes when they have stopped working and I try to turn the knob to make it work again the compressor doesn’t always come back on. I have to wait a while.

Thanks a lot for your help today. Do you have any other thoughts what could be going on here? Why the compressors on all 3 fridge freezers won’t come back on again like this?

But it only happening every once in a while? Thanks again

electrofix wrote:no idea its very odd all 3 seem to be doing the same thing at the same time. you need to keep an eye on them. Make sure there is room aroung them. Most units get rid of hot air at the back and i have seen units with lots of things stored on the top which in time gets pushed back so the hot air cant escape

has this happened in very hot weather ?

Dave

No i think this all started around 6 months or so in the winter time. Ive since reorganised things so now none have anything on top of them and the mini fridge freezer I use is on the other side of the kitchen. The other two are next to each other still.

All 3 knobs are set in the middle. Should I change this? And put them closer to maximum? This is what I have to do to get the compressors to start working again. I switch it to the highest setting. Then I move them back to the middle. And like I said most of the time this is fine.

Should I do some kind of thermostat reset which each fridge? I’m just totally lost at this point

electrofix wrote:buy a fridge thermometer for each unit. you need to check the temps of both fridge and feezer on a regular basis and adjust to suit. when its hotter it will need to be set higher . to be safe the freezer needs to be -18 or below and the fridge between 2 and 5 degrees

dave

Ok I’ll get on with that.

In general, considering this problem I’m having, what setting/number should I have on this knobs? On the lower or higher side? Or just leave in the middle? Thanks