How to tell when a fridge-freezer is nearing the end of its life

ilesmark

Hi all

I have a Candy fridge-freezer which I have had since 1998, when I bought it new.

It's got a thermostat which goes from 0 to 5 and I have it on setting 3.5.

The top shelf of this never seems to get that cold, although the lower shelves and the freezer compartment are OK.

Maybe it's just my imagination, but I have begun to notice that whenever I have walked past it over the last 6 months or a year, the motor seems more spending more and more time running and less and less time not running. At this time of year I would have thought the opposite would be happening, although apart from that it's not displaying any other signs of distress.

Is this an indication that its end is nigh?

Thanks in advance

Mark

kwatt

I would imagine from the symptoms that the compressor was on the way out.

However, at the age of the unit, it is not worth spending any money on it repair wise.

K.

phoebe1989seb

Without wishing to hijack the OP's thread, I'm also in a similar situation (but with a Smeg F/F purchased new in 1998) and had been wondering the same thing - especially as we're just nearing the completion of a new kitchen extension so have been thinking about the possibility/need to replace. Our Smeg has started making strange 'juddery' noises after 14 years of great service and like the OP's Candy, the motor seems to be in running mode more than non-running.......guess we too need to start looking for a new model

Suzy_M

Not saying age isn't a factor but do you clean the coils and condenser regularly?

We had something similar on a fridge freezer of similar age and all it was was the coils and condenser behind the bottom vent grill had a thick layer of dust and general crud over them.

Once we'd got over the embarrassment of how much muck there was the service engineer gave it a thorough clean and it was working fine. He also took extra time to explain and show us how to do it ourselves so it now gets done on a regular basis and has been working fine ever since.

Also worth checking if any of the fridge-freezer contents have been pushed against any vents.

phoebe1989seb

Suzy_M wrote: »

Not saying age isn't a factor but do you clean the coils and condenser regularly?

We had something similar on a fridge freezer of similar age and all it was was the coils and condenser behind the bottom vent grill had a thick layer of dust and general crud over them.

Once we'd got over the embarrassment of how much muck there was the service engineer gave it a thorough clean and it was working fine. He also took extra time to explain and show us how to do it ourselves so it now gets done on a regular basis and has been working fine ever since.

Also worth checking if any of the fridge-freezer contents have been pushed against any vents.

Thanks Suzy Ours is probably totally encrusted with *stuff* as it's lived through three (including the current ongoing) house restoration projects and hasn't had a through clean of coils/condenser for a looooong time Will take a look and see if cleaning this off makes a difference...........