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Yup, at least one definite failed solder joint on one of the relay coils. A few others that looked ‘on their way’ so I reflowed most of the joints for the taller/heavier bits. See https://www.dropbox.com/s/t76xqtb8m9…84304.jpg?dl=0

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Thanks for posting about your success with this [USER=”46083″]frank66[/USER]. I have a strong suspicion your info, together with similar in another thread on here may be about to fix mine.
Second fix in a relatively short time, first was a non-rotating fault which I initially mis-diagnosed as a slipping belt (failed to look before ordering/replacing). It turned out to be just the start capacitor, which would have been a far easier fix if I’d tried that first! 🙂

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Re: Challenge for historians

Cheers Alex 😀 .

And thanks for the warning about meddling with it. I shall get a ‘good’ thermometer and see what the (real) average temps are at different heights in the fridge and freezer sections, and optimise if really really reqd (carefully!). It would be a simple bi-metallic thermostat I guess?

Thanks to all who have helped in this long-drawn out process of sorting out my FFs. I shall be sufficiently honest to post back up on here if the thing packs in any time soon, for the amusement of all those that said “Why the heck are you bothering” or words to that effect!

Had a moment’s panic after reconditioning the freezer door/seal, when it went back on it looked to be a really bad fit; at my girlfriend’s suggestion I taped it closed overnight to ‘teach’ the seal what shape it should take up- worked a treat :).

Pete

P.S. Can’t be bothered to edit my sig. but it should now say “Really Old Zanussis Rock” or words to that effect…

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Re: Challenge for historians

Apologies for ‘keeping on’ 😆 , but I have one more question…

Consigned the troublesome 12-year-old Bosch to the Council facilities.

Disassembled and thoroughly dried out and re-sealed the freezer door on my dinosaur Zanussi. (Happily a neighbour was simultaneously chucking out a Carlton branded identical FF, so I’ve robbed that of lots of internal bits to make mine nicer).

(The Zanussi is) Working fine in just about every way, except the freezer seems to be rather colder than reaally necessary, reading -25C on a cheap and cheerful fridge thermometer.

I think this may be adjustable? There’s something at the bottom of the FF, behind the panel where the power switches are, that looks like it might adjust something. Would this be freezer temperature?

Many thanks in anticipation,

Pete

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Re: Schreiber problem

Nice work trukkie. 🙂

Now we just need to hear that the newer boards do indeed have a 12V relay fitted at the same position, and you’ve proved your point 100{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d}.

The circuit sounds quite ‘economical’ shall we say. Please tell me there are some smoothing capacitors somewhere on the d.c. side of the bridge rectifier ? Can you post a piccie of the board?

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Re: Schreiber problem

trukkie wrote:…The problem is that the relay can no longer trip, the cause is a PCB design flaw .

Don’t suppose anyone’s got a ‘latest revision’ circuitboard they could look at, and see whether this relay has changed to a 12V coil type? If that’s the only visible difference, then it would lend a lot of support to your hypothesis trukkie!

Pete

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Re: Schreiber problem

trukkie wrote:… But the relay is rated 24V for the contact voltage….

I’m guessing that we’re talking about an old traditional electromechanical relay?

Presumably you mean the coil rating of the relay is 24V?

It’s not unheard of to supply such a relay with 24V very briefly, to energise the coil fully and make a positive changeover of the contacts, but then to back the voltage off to a holding level (which could easily be as little as half the rated voltage) in order to save power and reduce self-heating.

As I don’t know the circuit schematic, I can’t say for sure that your interpretation isn’t the correct one, but mine is certainly an alternative explanation that might be true…

Pete

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Re: Samsung RS21DGRS Ice Build Up problem

I thought I’d add my tuppence worth…

I myself had doubts about how helpful this site was, but only initially. The fundamental problem seems to be that when you post a query, there are a reasonably small ‘core’ of folk who answer. These are generally the time-served engineers, who will often know at a glance what the problem is, and the likelihood of the problem being a DIY fixable one or not.

Frustratingly for the FF owner, the way this news is delivered (if in the ‘not to be tried yourself category’) is sometimes not overly ‘tactful’ or explained in detail such that the poster can understand the futility of further DIY efforts. To the first time user with a potentially expensive problem, an answer that is posted in haste, of the type ‘time to call an engineer’, if not explained sufficiently, will tend to sound a shade unhelpful.

This may sound like a criticism of the ‘core’ folk, but isn’t really. It’s just that their perspective is so different, because they’ve been round the block so many times.

Often the fix is DIYable, and the advice given is excellent.

Being used to Forums where it’s ‘Joe Amateur’ helping ‘Jim Amateur’, with no constraint on Joe and Jim’s time and effort, this one is different, but understandably so. I’d imagine there just aren’t sufficient people for whom mending FFs is a ‘hobby’.

Mac: 2{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} of a very large number is itself a very large number, 2 in every hundred, to be exact, not a happy percentage at all for a mass-market appliance. Edit: Judging from Mr Watt’s response below, I have been guilty of a gross underestimate of the failure-rates of mass market appliances! That’s shocking 😮 .

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Re: What FF do you recomend ?

mikeyman76 wrote:… as moisture tracks up the inside of the wiring insulation via capilary action, then shorts out the thermistor, causing the various faults.
….Mike Burton

Hi Mike,

Good to see someone actually trying to understand the root cause of a problem. I’ve never actually looked at fridge thermistors in detail, but I wonder if the real prob might be water tracking up the leads and causing physical/chemical degradation of the ntc material itself?

I’d have thought that the condensed water would be sufficiently pure as to be very high impedance, and not be able to ‘short’ the sensor as such. I know that high-quality hermetically-sealed ntc thermistors are far from cheap, and seems like Hotpoint may have tried to cut some corners here that shouldn’t have been cut. Hard to look at the top ‘sticky’ thread and not think they’ve got something wrong…

Could also be excess economies in the circuit design/components associated with processing the thermistor signal, but replacement sensor curing fault would seem to rule this out, if that’s the general pattern. (Unless of course the circuit was overstressing the thermistor?)

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Re: Indesit C1300 dead in the water

murphaph wrote:Thanks for the upbeat reply optimist! …

You are very welcome.

I got very lucky yesterday, finding an American site which made reference to the compressor relay, which I hadn’t found/suspected up ’til then. My luck increased when, to my slight astonishment, Bosch’s website had a 3-page exploded diagram of my very FF, including part numbers and an English-language listing of part-numbers/names/prices.
I’m used to electronics websites where if the thing went out of production more than 5 minutes ago, the site denies all knowledge of it’s existence, v. frustrating. :tup: to Bosch.

It got even better when I e-mailed the US ( or Canadian?) site asking if they knew of anywhere that I could look at the internals of a FF compressor. Fella came straight back with a link which led to a super picture-dominated ‘I took it apart, here’s how it all works’ thing someone had done. Links via PM, if you want. Unless I can put them up on here?

Pete

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Re: Zanussi ZI9454X Freezer is dead but fridge OK

scotta: I applaud your ‘can do’ attitude.

Bear in mind though that the diode that seems cooked (or is it the PCB track/solder joint that it’s going to?), may be ‘consequential damage’ from a fault further into the circuit. Look especially for electrolytic capacitors (like the one just to the right of your highlighted area, but that one looks OK) with bulging, convex tops, or evidence of leakage from their bases. These (if found) can be replaced, but it’s critical to get exactly the correct types.
Even these, if found, may not be the ‘real’ problem, but worth a go if you’re competent with a soldering iron, and can source suitable parts.

Could just be the diode, pennies to buy…

Emphasis required that this should all be attempted with circuit board totally unattached to the appliance. Also, clearly, a potential risk that you may further damage your appliance by this fix, if you don’t get it right. It’s unlikely to be a danger to you or anyone else though, ‘cos of fuse protection elsewhere in the appliance.

Mods: If you consider this advice unacceptable, I won’t be upset, nor dispute the point, just delete it.

Pete

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Re: Indesit C1300 dead in the water

Hello Sir,

If the temperature switch was a bimetallic strip type it would exhibit the behaviour you measure, wouldn’t it?

As for the compressor, I’ve been looking at this side of things (a lot) myself lately, and there’s a (local) relay, on many models I believe, that is used to start/run the comressor. As you’ll know, relays are susceptible to contact degradation, especially in a high temperature/big current surge environment. Cheap to replace if it’s that. Lots of other possibilities though as I’m sure others will be kind enough to suggest.

I’m very ‘optimistic’ that this is what’s wrong with my (newer) old FF. £24 for a new relay from Bosch….

Best of luck,

Pete

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Re: Challenge for historians

Wow, that is old!

Thanks; to kwatt for the realistic appraisal of what’s worth doing, and Alex for the encouraging news about the seals.

Anyone with the skills/time/spare compressor want an old Bosch FF as a ‘project’? 😆

Pete

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Re: Challenge for historians

Thanks kwatt, I think that age is very likely. We acquired it from the garage of a previous rented house that the landlord sold from under us. Least we got a working FF out of it!

I wouldn’t spend more than about £50 on it, but if the door-seal of the freezer could be improved for that sort of cash, I’d do it.

I’m guessing you/anyone would think it unwise to spend the necessary cash on compressor replacement for the Bosch 12-year-old? I mean in terms of the probability of it lasting long enough into the future to ‘pay back’?

Cheers,

Pete

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Re: Cleaning Stainless Steel Fridge doors

Martin’s link takes you to some stuff that looks effective and affordable, but;

I’d be inclined to get a small child to draw an appropriate number/size of pictures and apply to the marked areas with fridge-magnets (if your stainless is a grade that a magnet’ll stick to) or some self-adhesive velcro (for easy substitution of topical pictures).

Happy child/parent, marks gone, 😀

Pete

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