Mysterious symbols on Ocean freezers

[golaup]

I have an elderly Ocean Freezer (I can’t see what model it is but it’s probably at least 10 years old) and I am trying to figure out what the symbols on it mean in order to keep it at the right setting as I’m not in a position to replace it at the moment. (A dial with 0, S, N, + and -, plus 3 lights, an orange one with an S below it, a green one with a horizontal line with a squiggle through it below it and the third, a red light, with a triangle.) I’m guessing the 0 means off but the dial won’t actually let me turn it that far.

The orange light is currently on all the time now. Should it be? If I turn the dial away from S the orange light goes out but no other light comes on to replace it, which has me worried that perhaps it’s turning the freezer off.

Any pointers gratefully accepted. :rolls:

[kwatt]

Re: Mysterious symbols on Ocean freezers

Orange = Fast Freeze

Green = Normal Operation

Red = Something’s Broken

10 years old, and the rest! 😉

HTH

K.

[golaup]

Re: Mysterious symbols on Ocean freezers

Brilliant, thanks.

I went to take it off fast freeze (who knows what it’s doing to my electricty bill!) but when I tried to turn it to N no light came on, but I left it there overnight. This morning I checked and nothing seemed defrosted (it was all pretty hard) but the freezer had turned off completely. Eventually I persuaded it to start up again on S, with the orange light on (it didn’t even want to do that initially) with also, for a little while while it got back to where it wanted to be, the red light on, and then I moved the dial to N, at which point the freezer was still making (quiet) noise but there was no light.

So, question No 2 is, do you think I’m better leaving it on S (has light on, makes noise) or on N (no light, but makes noise).

Thanks again.

[spimps]

Re: Mysterious symbols on Ocean freezers

If you have it on S “fast freeze/super freeze” when you turn back to N or normal it will switch off because the cabinet will be cold enough for the thermostat to switch of, as it should when the req’d temp is reached,it will come back on when the cabinet temp rises again.

[golaup]

Re: Mysterious symbols on Ocean freezers

That’s good to know, thanks. For some reason I’d expected it to switch off if need be but still thought the freezer would be making some faint noises. 🙂

[golaup]

Re: Mysterious symbols on Ocean freezers

The plot thickens ❗

It’s been on N since yesterday afternoon and, although no green light was on but sound was being made then, now it’s absolutely silent, no sound, no vibrations, with the ice inside slowly thinning. If I turn it to S again it does turn on but I’ve left it on N in the hope that it will start up again soon.

My husband says he’d accidently turned it to S a few weeks ago and didn’t know how to put it back where it had been (he thought you pushed the dial instead of turning it) so gave it up and left it there. Is it possible that a few weeks on fast freeze could have stuffed up the ageing thermostat?

I would very much like it to last another year and it is currently full of food so I think my options are

1) to turn it to S (but then I won’t know if it’s broken or not, my food will be overfrozen and my electricity bill will presumably be sky high in the time it takes to eat it empty enough to try again)

2) to leave it as it is and risk losing the freezer worth of food (luckily I have been able to move the most expensive food to a small indoor freezer) or

3) to call a repairman today and see if he can come out of work hours to replace the thermostat.

Meanwhile, perhaps I might put a posted ad on Freecycle for a backup freezer to last me the next year….

Any thoughts or suggestions much appreciated.

[kwatt]

Re: Mysterious symbols on Ocean freezers

When on fast freeze the thermostatic control is by-passed and the compressor runs all the time for most models. This also means that the freezer will likely get below -20ËšC constantly so your food won’t be being kept correctly.

In other words, it isn’t advisable to run it on fast freeze all the time.

I would doubt if many, if any, parts are still available for that machine I’m afraid due to it’s age.

HTH

K.

[golaup]

Re: Mysterious symbols on Ocean freezers

Thanks so much for your advice . I do appreciate the help! 😀

[clivejameson]

Re: Mysterious symbols on Ocean freezers

The lights on these are in fact LED’s, the green one is simply an indication that the machine has mains power to it (if the mains supply failed then the red alarm light couldn’t light up!) but these give up the ghost at a very early age so if no lights are showing on the N setting then it’s probably perfectly ok.

As said before the S (superfreeze) setting simply bypasses the stat so if it begins to actually defrost at this setting then the stat is at fault, they are a standard freezer stat on these models and any good refrigeration engineer will either carry one on the van or can get one very easily.

Expect to pay up to about £75 for the complete repair…job sorted! 😆

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