Hotpoint FFA97 fridge compartment not chilling

[dave1963]

Hi all.

Had an FFA97 back in May. It never worked from day one. The freezer kept freezing and fridge never chilled. Engineer arrived and advised this freezer had a big recall in the factory ( once the fault had been spotted ) due to this problem, something to do with the ducting??
Anyway, new one arrive and worked OK.

Today, exactly the same symptoms or very similar. Fridge is not chilled and I have ice crystals on the front of the freezer trays. Now of note, the missus but a large back of ice in the freezer top draw, an open one.
Now according to the manual, you shouldn’t do this as moisture can get into the “system”?

So, I’m thinking that if the FFA97 known problem was a ducting issue, then it worked when I had a replacement, then logically, it shouldn’t be this? Therefore, I’m wondering something has frozen up or failed due to the ice being placed in the freezer.

We have emptied the freezer, swithed it off and left the freezer door open.
I’m hoping whatever may have frozen my thaw?

Any thoughts on what it could be and what I should do ? ( Comet engineer booked for the 6th Nov. not ideal, but that’s the earliest they can do ).

[dave1963]

Re: Hotpoint FFA97 fridge compartment not chilling

Fingers crossed, allowing the unit to warm up for around 7 hours and then switching it back on has worked.
Fridge down to correct temp. and has stopped cooling further, freezer almost there, just waiting to ensure it does not continue to cool past the correct temp.

Still no idea what caused it, frozen “pipes” or maybe some PCB fault?

[neilroberts315]

Re: Hotpoint FFA97 fridge compartment not chilling

😥 Had same machine for almost a year now. Got exactly the same problem. Engineers been out three times. Cured the problem by removing a bulkhead behind the freezer drawers. Impossible to do this yourself as you need a special bit to remove screws.

Having removed bulkhead engineer demands a hairdryer to loosen ice. Remove a bowl ful of ice from duct to fridge.

Tried defrosting but that doesn’t seem to work. Probably because fridge needs to be off for 24 hours or more top remove all of ice that has built up.

Hotpoint don’t seem to accept this is a design fault and supplier (Next Electric) not keen on finding a solution.

[BenD]

Re: Hotpoint FFA97 fridge compartment not chilling

Had exactly the same problem – Hotpoint FFA97, fridge not chilling, fan suddenly started making labouring/banging noises.

Rather than call an engineer out and face a huge bill, I did some web searching and found this link

http://www.applianceaid.com/frig_notcold.html

which pretty much described the problem. Problem appears to be caused by the frost free unit icing up. We turned the fridge/freezer off for 24 hours, which let all the ice melt, and touch wood it’s been absolutely fine since.

[Author]

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