Proline PLC200SL fridge not cooling, freezer ok?

[Notsocold]

Hi all sorry to register and dive in with a prob but this has me stumped!

2 days ago I defrosted my freezer, it’s a 50/50 with the freezer at the bottom.

Once I had cleared the remaining ice and water I left it for an hour before switching it back on and returning my food into it.

The freezer began to chill and by yesterday morning the food was frozen as one would expect. However, the fridge never chilled at all and my milk and several other food items were spoiled!

I moved the FF away from the wall and on the reverse is a circuit diagram that shows the thermostat, compressor, light, and that’s about it. (I’m an electronics engineer so know what I’m looking at) There appears to be no defrost circuit or fan to circulate the cold air upwards. I can only assume the cold air from the freezer is transferred to the fridge via thermal coupling.

Having just defrosted it again, using a fan to circulate the ambient air (28°C) I have turned it back on and am waiting with anticipation.

Is there any reason the members can suggest as to why this useless piece of junk will not work as intended?

Thanks in advance 😉

[kwatt]

Re: Proline PLC200SL fridge not cooling, freezer ok?

Usually the freezer gets the gas first, when it’s as cold as possible so it will usually chill down even if there’s something up with the refrigerant system.

Whether it is reaching -18?C as it should is another matter entirely, things can appear to be “frozen” at far higher temperatures. But that doesn’t make them fit to store then eat.

The temperature in the freezer will be telling as, if it isn’t low enough then the chances are there is a fault on the refrigerant system somewhere and, that’s not a DIY job.

It seems a pretty basic unit so my thinking is that it is unlikely to be anything else.

K.

[Notsocold]

Re: Proline PLC200SL fridge not cooling, freezer ok?

Thanks for your reply kwatt. The fridge/freezer has been powered up now after a full defrost for 4 hours. Still no sign of the fridge getting cold!
It’s a bit odd in as much as the outlet from the compressor goes into the freezer, it then passes through all the shelves and returns to the compressor. At no point does the refrigerant or tubing enter the fridge area. I can’t figure how on earth the upper fridge compartment is supposed to cool other than what I mentioned earlier about thermal coupling!

The compressor is still running and the freezer is nicely chilled and getting cooler by the hour!

[ELDAR59]

Re: Proline PLC200SL fridge not cooling, freezer ok?

Hello, I’m not familiar with this model, but it sounds just like a conventional fridge freezer and configured in the way most of them are nowadays.
If this is the case, then think of the evaporators in the two compartments as one big length of pipe work.
This pipe work runs from the compressor through the condenser and then into the freezer, before going up into the fridge and retuning to the compressor. It’s one big loop.
The evaporator in the fridge doesn’t take the same form as the one in the freezer, but is more likely what we term a ‘wet wall evaporator’.
That is to say that behind the plastic back wall of the fridge is a metal evaporator plate that will normally freeze over and defrost itself fairly regularly.
The fridge compartment conducts its cold from the back wall.
It does sound like ken was correct in his assumption of a system fault, although without standing in front of the appliance, we can only do just that, assume.

[Notsocold]

Re: Proline PLC200SL fridge not cooling, freezer ok?

Thanks ELDAR59, that’s very informative.

I’m resigning myself to the fact that I may have to strip this down so I can identify the fault but there is one major problem.
The back of the fridge/freezer is basically all plastic except for the bottom where the compressor is. How on earth is one to dismantle/repair something that looks like it’s a solid block of expanded foam?

Pics below of what I’m up against, thanks again.

[ELDAR59]

Re: Proline PLC200SL fridge not cooling, freezer ok?

hello, I think you’re over complicating things a little here.
this is a very simple system and it does look for all the world like you have a system fault, i.e. short of refrigerant or compressor fault.
there’s no way to strip the appliance down to further investigate.
an engineer would be able to quickly diagnose your problem properly.
in short, does the compressor run? if so, then your thermostat is ok.
that leaves you with one or two scenarios, lack of refrigerant or compressor fault.
that’s all there is to it really.
a system fault, whilst not being rocket science, does require specialist equipment and also a little specialist knowledge, which puts the job out of the capability of the even the most enthusiastic amateur.

[Notsocold]

Re: Proline PLC200SL fridge not cooling, freezer ok?

Thanks again for your prompt response.

What is really infuriating is the F/F worked perfectly before the defrost, which we did over a 10 hour period. The fridge compartment had a small amount of ice at the rear but not enough to cause concern, basically it was a thin film which quickly melted once the door was left open.

Once defrosted we powered it back up and the freezer immediately started cooling, it’s still working fine and the food is frozen.
The cooling elements in the freezer are frosted evenly.

The compressor is running although it is very quiet, and answering to the thermostat.

I’m beginning to suspect that the defrost period should have been extended to a full 24 hours, this in itself presents a food storage problem!

Finally, this FF is only 3 years old, thanks again.

[ELDAR59]

Re: Proline PLC200SL fridge not cooling, freezer ok?

Hello again, the length of the defrost period has had no bearing whatsoever on the fault, although possibly the fact that you did a defrost has.
You’d be amazed at how many faults show themselves after some sort of power interruption and in this case, it came with you turning off the power for the defrost.
It’s just really unfortunate.
Was the ice on the back wall of the fridge localised or just in the top corner, before the fault?

[Notsocold]

Re: Proline PLC200SL fridge not cooling, freezer ok?

The ice build up was only on the rear wall in the lower left hand quadrant, just a thin layer. The floor of the fridge compartment is cool but not cold and there is some condensation droplets again on the rear wall.

[ELDAR59]

Re: Proline PLC200SL fridge not cooling, freezer ok?

As you look at the back wall in the fridge you should see a fine covering of frost, covering approx two thirds of it from top to bottom.
This frost should give way to water droplets as the automatic defrost of the fridge kicks in – several times a day.

[Notsocold]

Re: Proline PLC200SL fridge not cooling, freezer ok?

No there’s nothing there, just a few condensation drops, and the rear wall temperature is not much different to the room temp.

[kwatt]

Re: Proline PLC200SL fridge not cooling, freezer ok?

Almost certainly a compressor failure I think.

Which, for a machine like that is terminal as it isn’t worth replacing on them.

K.

[Notsocold]

Re: Proline PLC200SL fridge not cooling, freezer ok?

kwatt wrote:Almost certainly a compressor failure I think.

I was hoping not to hear that! Do you think it would still be the compressor even though the freezer is working perfectly?

[kwatt]

Re: Proline PLC200SL fridge not cooling, freezer ok?

Is it though?

It has to reach temperature and I don’t know that it is but, even if that were the case, I’d still be pretty confident that the compressor was pumping weak.

K.

[Notsocold]

Re: Proline PLC200SL fridge not cooling, freezer ok?

Ok thanks Kwatt, i’ll get hold of a thermometer and see what it says, cheers.

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