Bulging fridge interior. Is it fixable?

[bordonbert]

Hi guys. I have a Zanussi ZBB27650SV fridge freezer which is mounted in a built in kitchen unit. The fridge is just over 3 years old. It has never given me any problems until recently. I noticed the moulded back interior of the fridge section had bulging inwards, so much so that it pushed the shelves forwards against the door. This progressed until now the door is pushed open by the shelving units. The deformation of the inner moulding is so bad that the top corners have creased inwards as the whole section has been moved forwards over an inch. The back has a hollow void behind it when pushed.

The fridge has never had an issue with needing defrosted, and the drain is clear. Recently the freezer seems to have developed an odd problem with its temperature climbing and setting off the high temp alarm a few times but it seems to return to normal operation quickly. I suspected this may be due to it not closing correctly and, on closer inspection, the freezer door seal has a 9 or 10 inch split along the top edge and may be a little soft and flat now. It obviously needs replacement but only if the fridge can be saved. This is not so marked that it obviously loses its ability to close the door properly though it may not seal with the firmness it once did. The mount into its kitchen cabinet has clear ventilation throughout the bottom/rear run from the front foot of the unit up the rear to the ceiling and there is no build up of fluff or dust around it anywhere.

On looking into this online I have now read of other fridges suffering this sort of problem. The usual advice is that it is due to water penetrating the insulation around the upper section and expanding when it freezes to blow the inner moulding inwards but this has moved a long way more than thermal expansion of water freezing would suggest. Can anyone offer any confirmation of this idea or of a more likely cause? And does it now mean the fridge is useless and must be replaced? I did wonder about gentle reshaping with a hot air stripper gun. Thanks for your time and thoughts.

[electrofix]

if you have bulging you have probably got ice inside the wall

in a word its scrap

Dave

[bordonbert]

Oh darn! Not what I wanted to hear but thanks Dave. Good to have it confirmed by someone who knows. Is there anything which I might have done which leads to this?

I’ll just have to start looking – – – and stretching my wallet. 🙁

[electrofix]

its not your fault

i assume a fault in the insulation allowed dmpness to form on the evaporator coils and over time its expands

Dave

[Tony R]

I have seen this issue and the ones I saw it was down to the fridge evaporator losing gas and the pressure of the gas inreaed as the fridge warmed and caused the rear wall to expand, total right off, not fit for purpose etc etc sale of goods act etc etc.

[bordonbert]

Thanks for that info Tony, makes perfect sense.

Ok, that seems to suggest that the evaporator has probably gone very slightly leaky so efficiency would reduce over time, maybe has been reducing for a while. If it is a known effect it surprises me that the rear cavity containing the evaporator should be made without something built in to allow any escaping gas to vent without letting moisture inwards. Granted, that could reduce its insulating properties a tad but that should be minimal. It also seems surprising to me, (the layman), that the fridge interior should buckle inwards and not the insulation outwards. It must be pretty tough stuff though I had imagined it would be almost just an expanded foam, or there may be a strong protective cover over it of course.

[Tony R]

Having dug the back out of one years ago, they glue the aluminium half round pipe to the innner wall from top to bottom on a thin metal plate then add additional tape and a plastic cover over the pipework serpentine and the whole lot is then buried by the pumped in insulation foam.

[Author]

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