Hotpoint FFA71 – v warm case-edges, loud new gurgle

[RaymondD]

Firstly I’d just like to quickly say how genuinely helpful and pleasant this place is, unlike a number of other so-called “help” sites!

Okay, to my poblem …

We have a Hotpoint FFA71 that has always been just fine, however it has now developed something that clearly needs attention. There are one or two symptoms that I can connect logicaly, however I am not an electrcian or an engineer just a reasonably decent handyman, so rather than start fault-chasing with less than complete knowledge I would appreciate observations or perhaps a suggestion or two from someone more expert and no doubt able to point out the blindingly obvious!

1 – the normal cycle of sound cutting in and out has within the last few days developed a clear “gurgle” (technical term!) … my inexpert ear interprets this as the compressor working either harder or more aggressively?

2 – oddly, the case is very warm to touch for just the first 1″ back from the front-edge of the door opening on both sides! Feels like there’s a heater-element inside the case there!!This only affects the lower-section and does not extend further up the case to the fridge-section. Door seals fne. This heat does not pass in to the inside of the freezer compartment in those front-edges.

3 – the cylinder in the back/bottom is more than very warm to touch, borderline hot … ditto a couple of the pipes running in that area including up to the cooling matrix on the back of the case … this seems to be working fine, warm at the top and well-cool at the bottom. I just don’t know whether that heat in the clinder and pipes is normal or not, though the heat in the front edges of the freezer-section case clearly isn’t.

4 – it is noted that the fereezer compartment is freezing colder though not substantially so, however the setting/controls have not been altered.

The heat at the front lower edges of the case is of greatest concern, as would be the heat of the cylinder if that is in fact at an unusual level … the gurgle would appear to be a symptom of – loading? Intensity? Effort?

As I said, I can kinda join some dots, however on the basis that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing I would welcome comments from anyone more-knowledgeable who can see a clear picture here and can recommend checks to make and consequenses of findings.

Thanks.

[helo_75]

hmm
first thing to check would be the cooling fan near the condenser at the back, its there to cool the transum (the bit that runs around the outside of the doors) if that fails, the transum becomes hot, and the firdge/freezer over work but dont work properly
also, try taking the front kickstrip off, and clearing all the fluff out

good place to start, you not getting any error codes? adverse affects?

hope this helps?

[RaymondD]

Re: Hotpoint FFA71 – v warm case-edges, loud new gurgle

helo-75:

I have only just checked back, having not anticipated a reply quite that swiftly!! Thanks for that, it is appreciated.

The checks will have to wait till this evening now, however that all sounds very logical. The transum would account for the very location-specific presence of heat right at the opening-edges, and since first discovering the hot-strips yesterday a watchful eye has shown that they heat with condenser-activity then cool right off during idle …

The unit doesn’t have a kickstrip, the carcass goes full to the floor.

If by error codes you mean adverse states on one or other of the warning lights on the top trim-strip, then nope, just the one always steady-green for running ok.

No obvious adverse effects, just a recent observation that the freezer compartment seems to be freezing a little colder though the controls haven’t been changed.

I’m assuming that the lack of transum-cooling when the compressor is running is causing the temperatures at the front-edge within the casing to elevate as described, this being picked-up and triggering extra-cooling to compensate, which in turn sustains the increasing temperature of the transum which heats the case which trips extra cooling which ….. etc.

So it seems like when I check I am likely to find exactly what you suspect then, a fan that is either inoperative or inefficient. I’ll come back and confirm either way for the benefit of others with maybe the same problem in the future.

If the fan is kaput rather than simply inefficient due to dust/whatever, is a replacement easy to obtain and fit? Where would I find the part number to be sure of getting the right one, on the unit I suspect?

Thanks again Ace!

[LeftE]

Re: Hotpoint FFA71 – v warm case-edges, loud new gurgle

I have very similar symptoms on my FFA74. I.e. The compressor is running almost continuously. There are a lot of loud gurgling type noises all the time the compressor is running. The compressor is almost too hot to touch but the grill is not very hot. The metal strip between the fridge & the freezer is very hot most of the time ( if this is normal, as has been suggested elsewhere, it must use a lot of power ).

As you have stated there is no ‘kick strip’ on these models so how do I get to the fan(s) to check them and what else should I check?

The fridge and freezer temps are apparently normal but the constant noise is very annoying, any help would be appreciated.

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