[MrFrosty]

Re: Hotpoint RFA60 freezing problems, coolant leak?

Further Update:

I’ve now had the pleasure of my 2nd visit from Hotpoint Service Engineer.

He re-gassed it as he suspected it was low on coolant. Upon switching it back on it started to frost up on all the evaporator coils and the condensor started to get hot at the back, more so than it has been of late.

Things were looking promising, only for 36hrs later to find it has still not got much below -5C if that, as a few times it has been at 0C. Although the compressor is still running continually, it only seems to actually be getting cold inside the freezer for 30 minutes at a time or after it is switched back on after unplugging it.

I’ve tried to let it work without interferring too much so have twice unplugged it, left it for 30 minutes or so and then plugged it back in. Both times it started to freeze and then after a short period it stopped freezing again. I think this must be also happening at various other intervals as when I inspected it after its first 24hrs of uninterrupted operation, it was evident from the icicles hanging down inside that it had frozen, melted and then re-frozen.

Does this point to a control board error or thermister problem as suggested earlier?

I think it may well be the end of the line for it but I have my 3rd engineer scheduled for a visit in 4 days time so as its only cost me a fixed fee of £90 apart from the inconvenience of not having a freezer they can visit as much as they like.

I’ve been looking at suitable replacement in the meantime:

Either a Bosch KGV28V01GB or LG GCB369PVQ. I’m more interested in a larger freezer area and not too worried about the size of the fridge.

Bosch comes with a 2year p&l warranty so would I be better going with the Bosch or LG as I’ve heard good things about them too.

Any feedback would be helpful in my next purchase.

[MrFrosty]

Re: Hotpoint RFA60 freezing problems, coolant leak?

Update on Situation:

Just had Hotpoint Service Engineer out and he wasn’t too sure what it might be. Suspects either an electronics fault though more likely to be a partial loss of gas or partial blockage in the system as it is still managing to keep the correct temperature…although the compressor is running continually 😡

Having waited just over 7 days for him to come out I wasn’t too pleased when he said he didn’t have a spare control board so would have to send someone back out again in another 9 days time.

Will provide another update in due course.

[MrFrosty]

Re: Hotpoint RFA60 freezing problems, coolant leak?

kwatt,

Thanks for your reply. I read the article you attached and now know more than I did (not hard really!).

I’m pleased to say that after 17hrs or so of the compressor being on it has finally switched off and the high temperature light has gone out.

Despite this, I can’t say I’m 100{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} confident everything is still ok and am not convinced I should be filling it up with lots of expensive food to thaw out. It seemed to take ages to get to the correct temperature, whereas before it would achieve this in just a few hours.

I’m happy to admit I pretty much know nothing about fridges/freezers and have seen other posts that suggest gas faults are unlikely to be the cause of the issue, but could a thermistor fault cause some of the evaportor pipes to feeze, while others were clear of any ice or frost.

In the article you attached in your last post it says that a thermistor fault would typically fail either in an open or closed state, meaning either no compressor running or it running continually.

Since the compressor is now behaving itself and switched off for the time being would that suggest that it is not a thermistor fault now?

Any other ideas?

I suppose I’ll have to get hotpoint engineer out but didn’t want to pay out £80 if it was something noddy to fix. I was about to buy an Hotpoint oven but I’m starting to have doubts now if things start breaking after only 3 years 🙁

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