Fridge not cooling enough

[Bee 175]

Hi all.

I have a 20 year old Ocean fridge freezer, model number APM 6825 (from MFI, remember them?) that has been working perfectly up until a few weeks ago.

I have scoured all sources of fridge freezer advice but cannot get to the bottom of the problem. The problem being that my freezer is freezing well and my fridge is warm (10°C).

I know this topic has been covered a hundred times before, but I’m yet to find a solution that fits my exact problem.

The evaporation coils have a light layer of frost but no ice. The internal fan is working just fine and makes no undue noise.

Where I have come unstuck is that there is no ducting of any sort to take cold air from the freezer to the fridge. There is no inlet of any size or shape inside the fridge. Every single website, forum and YouTube video seems to suggest I check this ducting hasn’t become blocked, mainly with ice. But unfortunately the ducting doesn’t exist, even though I have the fan!

I am left assuming that in the case of my fridge, the cold air is circulated behind the rear fridge wall and that the cold is transferred directly through this wall. There is a thin layer of frost and ice on that back wall, but the fridge simply refuses to get cold, currently 10°C. I have 3 thermometers all reading the same. The freezer is at minus 24°C but I have had the thermostat set on the coldest setting trying to get the fridge to cool down.

The other thing I have checked is the door seal. As far as I can tell it seems fine. The door gets “sucked in” by the magnets and the seal is nice and square with no holes or damage. I’m not sure how to do a more thorough check on them.

Hoping someone can point me in the right direction as I’m getting close to getting my wallet out

Gary.

[electrofix]

is the compressor running all the time

Dave

[Bee 175]

Hi Dave.

It is certainly running a lot of the time. I’ve been in and out of the kitchen all day and it has been running every time. I cannot be 100{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} sure it’s running constantly.

A few weeks back it was definitely switching on and off.

[electrofix]

the way these fridges work is the gas goes to the freezer first and if it all gets used up there is none to freeze the fridge

does sound a bit odd the freezer is -24 but the fridge is not getting cold. I can only assume that the compresor is getting tired or its lost a small amount of gas

at 20 year old it may be time to call it a day

Dave

[Bee 175]

So the fan with the evaporation coils is just circulating cold air around the freezer then?

Is the fridge cooled independently of the freezer?

I only started learning about fridge freezers this morning, but I do seem to have a rare one as most circulate cold air from the freezer into the fridge.

Is there any possibility that my theory about cold air being circulated behind the fridge rear wall has any merit?

BTW, the compressor switched off 10 mins ago. I wonder when it will fire up again? Fridge still 10 degrees and freezer still minus 24. Thermostat was returned to a more normal setting about an hour ago. Made no difference!

Thanks,
Gary.

[electrofix]

its only the later self defrosting freezers that use the air method
in your case the gas or liquid as it starts out is delivered to the freezer. the pipe goes round the freezer first where the liquid refrigerant boils off taking the heat with it. as the freezer gets colder the liquid is harder and harder to boil off and as thing progress the liquid goes all the way through the pipe and enters the fridge. it then cools the fridge till the thermostat which is in the fridge section switches off the compressor

thats interesting about the compressor turning off as it could mean its a faulty stat. but from what i can see its an electronic board which means it could be a sensor problem and they cant be changed

Dave

[Bee 175]

Thanks for all that Dave. Very informative. I love learning

So the fridge has its own pipes or coils but may not be fully functional if I understand correctly. These coils are obviously out of sight behind the fridge rear wall.

The compressor has fired up again some time in the night and surprisingly the fridge is now at 6 degrees. Freezer still minus 24 but I’m trying another thermometer to confirm that.

I forgot to mention in my first post that underneath the coils in the freezer the drain hole was iced up. I cleared that yesterday. Is it possible that clearing that hole has helped matters? The fridge drain is clear.

I should also point out that the freezer has achieved minus 24 whilst empty. I moved everything to another freezer to save it all from thawing out. So I’ve no idea at the moment how it will cope once reloaded. I think I will add a little at a time and see. The fridge compartment is 3/4 full.

I think I will leave it running for a while and see what happens. If it gets worse as I reload the freezer, I will switch of for 48 hours and do a total defrost in case the hidden fridge coil is iced up. In the meantime I will look into the cost of a new fridge stat. If that’s cheap I’ll change it anyway.

Thanks again Dave. Nice to have someone explain things.

[electrofix]

if the hidden fridge coil is iced up you would get buldging in the internal plastic. water expands when it freezes

Dave

[Bee 175]

Ok thanks. I’ll check to see if it is bulging.

Presumably, if it is bulging, it’s going to do it again even after a defrost. Worth a shot though. I have the time to do a 48 hour defrost. I’m now wondering where any water will come out from, and where it’s going to go, although I’m guessing there won’t be much.

Thanks again for your help Dave

[Bee 175]

Just an update Dave.

The fridge has no bulging in the rear panel, so hoping that’s ok.

By mid morning the fridge had got itself down to 2.5 degrees which is where it has sat for the rest of the day, so at the moment I’m not going to try a defrost. The freezer is still hanging around minus 24 ish. If I turn the fridge down slightly, aiming for 4 degrees, I’m assuming the freezer will drop back a little as well. I will also start re introducing frozen food into the freezer to see how it copes.

Could it really be that frozen drain hole in the freezer causing all the problems? As it seems like it may be recovering.
​​​​​​

[Author]

Posts