Quick one about a Mistral

[Gerard]

Thanks for looking,
we have one of the above and had the door open/temp build up problem some time ago.
Today, both fridge and freezer were getting warm, no condensation on bottles though, so probably not a door open thing, slight noise coming from the bottom and the grill felt mild, rear lower case warm.
Switced it off/on, left it unplugged for a while and undid the plastic panel, the fan was free. I then replugged it in and it statred? unplugged it, put the screws back and it wouldn’t start. Left it for 10 and it kicked back in.
This has just happened and the fann didn’t seem to be pumping air but the fridge was “as noisy” as it should be when it is doing something.
Any ideas before a trip to the shop after football?
I know there are loads of posts, but footy is starting shortly! Just wonder why it has come back to life?

[Bill]

Re: Quick one about a Mistral

The fan may not cut in straight away as it is not cold enough yet. PLEASE let me know what model it is and I will try to help you.

Bill Ellis :scot:

[MKR]

Re: Quick one about a Mistral

If the freezer isn’t getting down to temp, it will normally be due to the condenser fan motor not working or the condenser blocked with dust.
Do you regularly remove the grill below the freezer door, and vacuum it out?

[Gerard]

Re: Quick one about a Mistral

Thanks for the replies but had enough.
I have decided to replace it as it is probably 5 years old and may end up with another full freezers worth of food in the bin.
After reading here, I decided to go and buy a Bosch and hope it lives up to the hype. 😉

[Dales-Electronic]

Re: Quick one about a Mistral

With no disrespect to Gerard, this is a classic example of a customer thinking that the only option is to replace an appliance. He now finds himself spending £150+ for a new fridge-freezer, discarding a repairable unit which would have cost a few pounds to sort and having the problem of disposing of the old and waiting in for the new. The Mistral is not an example of Hotpoloni crap but a solidly build Hotpoint from Peterborough in the UK, which when you know how they work, are not difficult to fix. This time the sheds won but repairs@ would have been a much better option both for Gerard and the environment.

[Gerard]

Re: Quick one about a Mistral

Maybe,
but two full loads of frozen foods and a repair bill to a machine with a fair amount of air time here made me exchange it. The Mistral, kicked back into life but struggled to reach a normal temp, it is ok today.
I don’t like forking out £340 on a whim, I just edged my bets that it is cheaper than binning food chasing an intermittent problem/fault.
No offence taken, nor expressed 🙂

[aris]

I have similar problem with my 10 year old Mistral plus (8596 i believe) – it was never very good in hot weather – freezer is normally -22, but on a hot day (and not opening the freezer much) it stays at around -18.

Today it decided enough was enough and temperatures were way off and motor not running.

No error codes on the lcd – but we left it off for several hours, and let it come back on, and the motor is running now, and slowly (very slowly) coming up to temperature, though at this rate i’m not sure if it will come up to full temperature at all.

I’d prefer not to buy a new one (yet) – does anyone know what may have caused this?

[aris]

Re: Quick one about a Mistral

After 4 hours It appears to be stuck on -12 in the freezer and +9 in the fridge. Ambient temperature is about 23C.

I’ll leave it overnight to see if it recovers – otherwise, can anyone provide any ideas?

The motor/compressor sounds like it is running – and the fan at the back of the freezer sounds like it is running too – and it sounds like it is switching on and off when i press the door switch on the fridge.

I don’t mind buying spares (i’ve bought a few from this site before) – but i don’t want to put good money after bad either 🙂

Thaniks in advance.

[Dave_Conway]

Re: Quick one about a Mistral

Have a read through the 7 page sticky at the top of this forum 😉

http://www.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/modules.p … pic&t=4509

The definitive Mistral post, no more can be written than what’s in there 😀

Dave.

[Gerard]

Re: Quick one about a Mistral

This is why we decided to jump ship. I know there are no guarantees of success from one brand to another but two full freezers spoilt are enough.
This new Bosch is so much more quiet, I know there are lots to read about the Mistral but you never know when it will be your turn, God forbid a total thaw/refreze/E-coli scenario!

[aris]

Re: Quick one about a Mistral

What model Bosch did you get? If this fridge doesn’t come right, i’ll be looking for a replacement too. The rest of my appliances are Bosch, and i’m very happy with them.

[aris]

Latest update on mine – I opened up the back of the freeezer compartment – found a block of ice the size of a wine bottle in there which I was just able to lift out. The grille at the back had a bit of frost on it, but not frozen. i decided to leave it to defrost again overnight and put it back on this morning – so we’ll see how it goes.

From reading the thread above which dave mentioned, it sounds like I may have to replace the thermistors. They seem simple enough to replace, – one is wedged into a channel in the freezer section behind the fan cover, and the other appears to be attached to the grille inside (in my case attached with a cable tie).

It has been on for two hours now and the temps are -10 for the freezer, and +12 for the fridge. Hopefully it will come right on its own.

[Gerard]

Re: Quick one about a Mistral

Aris, I hope the repair works for you. The Bosch we bought is model KGN33V00, a basic frostfee, smaller than the Mistral but so much more quieter. It is located close to the kitchen door, which is beside a sofa in the lounge, so a good result on that at least.

[aris]

Re: Quick one about a Mistral

Well everything is back to normal now. It needed a proper defrost. I opened the back of the freezer section, removed the wine-bottle sized piece of ice (yes it was that big!), and let it defrost overnight with the fridge off and the freezer door open.

Re-assembled the next morning and it took about 6 hours for it to come back to the proper temperatures -22 freezer and +4 fridge.

Hopefully it will stay this way.

[Author]

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