Zanussi ZX56/4 not working

[frg009re4]

Hello,

I would appreciate any comments on the problem I am currently experiencing with my 5 ½ year old Zanussi ZX56/4 frost free fridge freezer.

I noticed the other evening that the fridge was too warm and the frozen food in the freezer defrosting. I moved the thermostat control on the front to the max then off, then back to the middle but nothing happen. I switched it off at the mains, checked for any ice build up, removed/refitting the back cover at the rear of the freezer compartment, but it was all clear. I left it for an hour then switched it back on, and it kicked into life, all the usually sounds, cold air flowing around the freezer and fridge. Within three hours the fridge was cool, and the ice cubes frozen. I went to bed. Upon awaking in the morning I found that the fridge was too warm and the ice cubed melting again. I repeated the above the next day and again the same thing happens.

I’m thinking that when it gets to the correct temperature it switches off to perform a defrost cycle but for some reason never kicks back in once defrost complete or when the temperature rises. What would cause this fault? Is it the defrost timer or something else? Also how accessible and where would I find the defrost timer on the ZX56/4?

I would appreciate any comments. Thanks.

[Kirk]

Re: Zanussi ZX56/4 not restarting after defrost cycle?

This unit has a defrost timer fitted on the back down by the compressor it sounds like this has packed up. Part number dst2262240068.

Dave Conway on spares@ukwhitegoods.co.uk can supply it, remember switch of at mains if you are going to look at it.

Best of luck Kirk

[frg009re4]

Re: Zanussi ZX56/4 not working

Here is an update should anyone else have problems with these or any other fridge/freezer.

I had a service engineer around, as I wanted the fault sorted quickly. He tested the defrost timer. That checked out ok. The defrost timer can be checked very easily by unscrewing the white box located at the bottom left rear of the fridge/freezer. A screw should be visible on the top cover which when turned with a screwdriver forces the timer into the off or on position. Depending on the fault, the timer will be in the on or off position. There are many websites, which go into great detail about testing the timer fully. As nothing happened when the timer was forced into both positions. The defrost timer was deemed working.

The fault was tracked down to the K59L2037 temperature regulator found at the front under the top cover of the unit. To bypass the temperature regulator he short-circuited two pins on the regulator which made the fridge/freezer kick into live (I didn’t observe which pins they were). Very dangerous don’t try this if you don’t know what you are doing. It’s safer to measure the resistance between the contacts using a DVM.

I observed that measuring a working thermostat contacts with a DVM the resistance between each of the three contacts read zero ohms at room temperature. The faulty thermostat read open circuit i.e greater than 100Mega ohms between two of the three contacts.

It would appear the fault I experienced, was that the thermostat was telling the rest of the fridge/freezer system that the temperature within the fridge was at the correct temperature, when clearly it wasn’t, so nothing was happening. It’s possible the thermostat could fail differently, and tell the rest of the system that the correct temperature hasn’t been reached so the fridge/freezer will be on permanently trying to cool the fridge temperature down. I would expect the symptoms seen here would be a very cold fridge and constant operation from the unit.

The service engineer didn’t have a replacement part with him. So I was left to order the part and fit it myself. I ordered an exact replacement part from UK Whitegoods, it arrived the next day, great customer service via email and phone. Highly recommended.

Fitting the new thermostat was easy. Here is the procedure should anyone be tempted to do it.

Disconnect unit from mains.
Remove screws from top cover, slide cover forwards and lift off.
Unscrew the fridge cold air slide vent at the rear of the fridge.
Slide the thermostat capillary out of the plastic tubing.
Unscrew the nut holding the thermostat to the front panel.
Pull off the connector plugged into the thermostat.
Pull on the thermostat/capillary and carefully remove the capillary from the hole at the top right hand side of fridge.
Slide the new thermostat capillary down the hole and push until it magically emerges in the fridge.
Make sure there is enough of the capillary in fridge to slide all the way into the plastic tube of the fridge slide vent.
Refit fridge cold air slide vent.
Connector thermostat to mating connector.
Refit nut holding the thermostat to the front panel.
Check all wiring is secure and not likely to chaff or short on anything.
Push thermostat selector onto thermostat. Slide on the top cover, and refit screws.
Turn on mains.
Turn the thermostat selector to the desired position.
The fridge should now kick into life.

Hope that helps anyone else who needs advice.

Thanks

[blogs]

hi got a problem with zanussi fridge freezer model er3165bn temp light flashing/buzzing managed to stop this. but freezer not staying frozen cleaned out vents turned off and on, put ice cubes in top tray they froze but next day all stuff in bottom of frezer had defrosted. it it a major problem or something easily/cheap to fix. fridge freezer is 6yrs old and in good condition

[DJ1980]

Re: Zanussi ZX56/4 not working

Thanks to frg009re4. Replacing the thermostat did the job for me too. Whilst waiting for delivery of the thermostat, I found wacking the top of the thermostat fired the fridge into life. It would shut off fine when the desired temperature was reached. It just wouldn’t fire it up when required.

[Author]

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