Temperature problems with Hoover frost-free unit HCA450FK

[Linn]

I have a Hoover frost-free fridge freezer, model HCA450FK. It was purchased new in early March 2005, so it’s just over a year old.

I noticed the items in the top drawer (1 of 3) in the freezer were defrosting, and the milk in the fridge started going off, even though I’d turned the temp down to coldest with the hot weather. The fridge was 6 – 8 degrees celsius, the top freezer drawer between 0 and 2 degrees celsius and the bottom two freezer drawers about -10 degrees celsius. Someone suggested to me that it might need defrosting, but I dismissed this at first as it’s a frost-free unit, and the handbook (I am one of those who reads them!) specifically says “does not require defrosting” (which is why we chose this model). However, I took out the freezer drawers to get rid of the defrosted food and noticed that there seemed to be a lot of ice in the two square holes in the back of the inside freezer wall. I was shocked to see that the whole back turned out to be frozen solid with ice (and had even cracked some of the plastic), so I let the unit defrost for 24 hours.

Switching it on again, it made some horrendous loud noises (woke us up in the night), and lots of vibration came from the rear freezer wall, but the freezer section quickly went down to -25 degrees celsius. However, the fridge thermometer still reads 6 degrees celsius, 48 hours later, which I think is probably too warm, and suddenly there’s very little sound at all coming from the fridge or freezer now. (Edited on Tues 15 Aug to say that freezer has now warmed up to between -6 and -10 degrees celsius and appliance has gone very quiet – clearly something wrong with it!)

Does anyone know:

1) What should the operating temperature range be for the fridge and the freezer when turned down to 4, which is the lowest setting (not superfreeze)? It’s not so hot weather now, so that shouldn’t affect it. Nothing in the handbook to give guidance on this.

2) I gather from other posts on this forum (and Mark Garner’s very illuminating article on frost-free refrigeration) that frost-free freezers often get iced up, so I feel somewhat misled (not least by the manual) that this unit will never need defrosting. I’d have considered defrosting it sooner if I had thought this was a contributory problem. Or shouldn’t it ice up at all if it’s working properly? Is defrosting it likely to have solved a symptom, but not the cause of the problem, so I might still need it looking at?

3) Any idea what the ongoing problem might be? I have a 5-year free parts guarantee, but would still have to pay the £89.23 call-out fee to Hoover, for a £500 unit that is only *just* out of its 1 year warranty. Surely this, under consumer law, would not be considered a “reasonable” timescale for a fault to develop – is it worth arguing the case with Hoover for a free call out?

Apologies for lots of info/questions but I feel like I’ve been ripped off by purchasing a unit that’s only lasted a few months over one year, before potentially needing a £90 engineer call out, and so I’m trying to get a better idea of what the problem might be so I can get this sorted out asap.

Thank you so much for any help.

Linn

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