HELP! De Deitrich (Brandt UK) recurring nightmare…

[DeDeitrich_Nightmare]

Our first De Deitrich fridge/freezer (12 months old) got real hot while we were on holiday and came home to unimaginable stench-filled kitchen. Engineer advised that a glue joint had caused the refrigerant to leak-out and that it was written-off. After letters to Brandt UK they finally agreed that they should replace it (was just over 1 yr since purchase, but due to new kithcen being fitted, was just under 1 yr since first powered-on).

So after 3 months with no fridge, they finally sent us one to replace the first one – a different model, but it fitted the same recess/door sizes.

This one, a De Deitrich DRC725JE – a frost free upright fridge-freezer – is 18 months old. Last weekend I noticed that the fridge felt much less cold than ususal. So I pressed the INFO button to display the fridge temp and it was +13degC which seemed way too high, and it refused to drop no matter what I set the temp to (although the weather was very hot). I thought I’d try to reset it – so I powered off for 30 secs and back on. This set off the alarms (not sure why they didnt go off before), the screen went red, and showed that both the fridge and freezer were way too warm. Spoke to a guy online who sold replacement thermostats and advised me to defrost it anyway as ice may have blocked the vents to the fridge. So I did. It was pretty frosted up around the radiator bit in the freezer compartment. I also noticed that the fan didnt seem to be working which the guy said could also be due to the frost.

After pulling all the shelves out, and dis-assembling the top of the fridge (to make sure the motorised flap was working) as well as the top of the freezer (to access the radiator/fan thing), I put it all back together and let it cool back down to the set temps. All seemed to be working fine till today when I went to take out each of the drawers to clean them…

Noticed that the food in the freezer seemed to be a little thawed (before I put the drawers back) although the display was reading -18. So checked the fridge temp and it was back up around +10degC (set to +3). Thought that was a bit weird so turned off the power for a few secs and turned back on again. As expected; the alarm sounded, the screen lit up red, and the freezer temp was showing -8 with the fridge on +10.

The freezer has now cooled back down to -18 degrees and since the freezer reached -18 (the set point), the fridge started to cool back down again from +13 but has now stopped at +12 and I cant hear the fan. Tired turning off/on and still no fan. Not sure if the fan is frosted up, if the controller has a problem, or what..?

Can anyone tell me:

1. Is this something that can be diagnosed without an engineer coming out?
2. Do you think it’s a sensor, fan or controller at fault?
3. I’ve been quoted £140 for a call-out inc labour and parts (+3mth wty) – does that sound reasonable?
4. If it turns out that the whole thing is knackered, should I get another the same and hope I’ve just been unlucky or try to find one that is cheaper/better, but fits the same recess?

This is a £700 fridge – I cant believe we may need to replace with the third one in less than 3 yrs!!!

Assuming there is some kind of fatal problem; my experience of De Deitrich fridges has been a shocker, but maybe you engineers have experienced otherwise, or can suggest a better brand to replace with (assuming they make one to the same dimensions).

Having just been made redundant I really can’t stomach £700 to replace an 18month-old fridge with the same cack design, or £140 for a call out which may not fix the problem… Any help or advice much appreciated! :bang:

[kwatt]

Re: HELP! De Deitrich (Brandt UK) recurring nightmare…

I really must change the advice in this fridge section to ask that you tell us what it is as well as the model number. 😉

Basically it’s a two door integrated frost free, electronically controlled.

First things first please. Can you dig out the instruction and installation manual and ensure that the ventilation has been correctly allowed for by the installer please? It’s a silly mistake, but a common one that has often cost the poor hapless victim of an installer that can’t be bothered to read the instructions a lot of money.

If it is that and, I think it possibly is, then unless the installation is corrected it will take this machine out as well, whether or not it’s good or bad as a product.

Once you get beyond that, then the £140 is a good deal with Brandt / De Dietrich’s pricing on spares, very, very worthwhile. I would think the only alternative to that is to start from scratch and then we’re back to the whole installation thing unless you want to fry another one if that’s the issue.

HTH

K.

[DeDeitrich_Nightmare]

Re: HELP! De Deitrich (Brandt UK) recurring nightmare…

Thanks very much for the advice.

I have done as you suggested and the ventilation gap at the bottom does seem a little bit undersized – easily fixed with a jigsaw 🙂 The unit seems to sit around 4cm off the wall (manual says 5cm). However as the unit is installed in the corner of the room (and doesnt quite meet the wall on the left hand side) there is a 3″ gap around the side that adds some extra ventilation.

Looks like I could quite easily slide the whole fridge cabinet out by 1cm without it looking too ugly to sort this. But the main problem seems to be with the fridge, not the freezer. It could have been that the freezer was in “defrost” mode (with the heater on to melt the ice) when I reset it and thats what gave me the -8deg figure as other than that it’s not missed a beat since it was installed 18months ago.

I hear what you are saying on the ventilation, but the freezer reached -18 again very quickly and has been a constant -18degC all night, but the fridge has only cooled to 9deg in the same time (even with some ice packs to help it) and is set to 3deg – I honestly think the problem is ventilation to the fridge unit from the freezer…

Thanks again for the help so far 🙂

[kwatt]

Re: HELP! De Deitrich (Brandt UK) recurring nightmare…

Hi,

This is the bit that is often poorly understood and, in some ways as installations vary, is difficult to explain. 😕

What you have to bear in mind is that the purpose of a fridge or freezer is twofold (in my eyes), to keep the ambient temperature out and create a controlled temperature within the cavity and to extract the heat from that area by means of a heat exchange. That’s about as simple as I can put it in basic terms.

How that is done is by using compressed gas, compressed by the compressor and a load of pipework basically. The temperature is regulated internally by means of thermostats or thermistors.

The point is however that the external ambient has a MASSIVE bearing on how well the unit will refrigerate or freeze.

From what I can see the model there is a single compressor with only one internal evaporator in the freezer. Cold air is drawn from the freezer section by means of a vent to chill the fridge. This airflow is controlled by an air flap, Brandt call it an aeration or some such thing.

Normally is that sort of setup (along with others) what will happen is that the fridge will draw air after the freezer hits the target temp, an average of -18ËšC. If the freezer is not reaching or struggles to reach that then you can get the symptoms that you describe, depending on the setup of course and I’m not intimately familiar with that model or the control system.

But if the compressor is working like a dog to get the freezer down to temp it’s all too possible that the fridge won’t be correctly chilled. Equally there could be a fault in the air control flap assy or indeed the control system itself causing a similar issue.

Assuming the former, if the external ambient temperature rises above the SN Class for the unit then it will struggle to cool and put adverse pressure on the compressor as it has to work harder. This is the temperature immediately surrounding the unit and, given as I said earlier that it’s a big heat exchange, the heat that is generated and radiated is done so at the back where the compressor is (which gets warm) and the condenser is (which gets warm) and if there’s inadequate ventilation this just heats and heats.

So, the compressor has to work harder and harder, essentialy beyond the duty cycles that it was designed for and the unit gets less and less efficient. All the while the run times are extended and you’re eating up electricity running the unit for extended period so you get hit with a double whammy, you get higher bills to run the thing and then have to bin it earlier than you should to boot!

Where it’s an integrated unit, like this one, the worry is that the temperature around the unit but inside the kitchen furniture into which it is installed, heats up to such a degree as to produce this effect.

Ultimately the compressor will fail early usually but there are other problems that can be created by a poor installation besides just that. The effects can happen in 2 minutes or five years, depends on the installation, ambient and often how it’s used.

It’s all pretty much common sense really but only if you stop to think about it.

HTH

K.

[Penguin45]

Re: HELP! De Deitrich (Brandt UK) recurring nightmare…

DeDeitrich_Nightmare wrote:Hi,

I have a De Deitrich DRC725JE integrated frost-free fridge freezer (see my other post for the full story) 18 months old.

Picture/spec/info here: http://www.promptonline.co.uk/item.php?ref=DRC … gefreezers

The freezer works, but the fridge doesnt. I think the problem is either the controller, or the temp sensor in the fridge (which I have located).

At first I thought a vent was blocked so defrosted the freezer, and powered-on which seemed to fix the problem. Less than a week later; the problem is back.

Basically what seems to be happening is that:

1. I go to the fridge – it seems warm.
2. I check the temperature display, and it shows that the temp is 2-5DegC.
3. I dont believe the fridge, so I power off, then back on again, and the display then gives me the actual reading of 10-15degC and begins to cool down again.

So this leads me to believe that by powering off/on, the system recalibrates the sensors. The fan works (when the fridge tells it to), and so does the motorised flap at the top of the fridge – hence why I THINK its the PCB or fridge sensor…

1. Is there any way of diagnosing wether the sensor or the controller is at fault?
2. The sensor looks like a sealed unit – can it be replaced easily, or does the whole cable need to be dug out of the foam?
3. Can I just chop the old thermistor off the end of the cable and solder a new one on, then seal it using some silicone/heatshrink? If so, what rating is it and where do I get one?
4. If the PCB needs replacing – can anyone tell me where to find it on the appliance, or where to get one from?

I have been quoted £140 by Brandt UK to come and look at it (inc parts+labour+3mth wty), but I dont want to do this, only for them to arrive and say “its knackered”.

Having been made redundant I cant stomach £700 for a new fridge but at the same time dont want to waste £140 on a call-out to tell me its irrepairable…

…if anyone out there can help, it would be eternally grateful! Thanks!
Please keep one problem in one thread – it all gewts very messy and confusiong otherwise.

Duplicate deleted.

Penguin45,
Moderator.

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