What a week! Washing machine broke, then today fridge breaks down...

bk1973

My washing machine broke down this week, after investigation it turns out the bearing had gone and replacing would have been costly, therefore we replaced it.

Whilst waiting for the machine to be delivered, the fridge has stopped working. It is quieter than it was before, but the light still comes on. Before i jump to replacing it, does anyone know what or where i can start looking to see if its repairable? I am ok with tinkering and DIY, i just dont know about fridge parts or what to look at.

Any help would be massively appreciated, i really could do without this month costing as much as it has done.

DevCoder

A washing (or dryer) bearing costs about £20-40 and would take a DIY'er about an hour to replace at tops. Replacement of dryer bearings would take about 20 mins.

If the fridge has stopped working then the compressor sounds like it has packed up, this would also be noticeable by it being quieter. The light has nothing to do with it as it is just powered by a low voltage transformer from the main PCB.

If the compressor has packed up then you can either look at re-gassing it or you would need to replace the compressor at which point it would be cheaper to replace the fridge.

loracan1

It could well be the thermostat - you say the light still works, I take it that it is no longer staying cold? I've replaced the one in my fridge at least twice in the time I've had it, about £20 each time...

Just a case of carefully removing and replacing with same. Replacing the unit in mine requires removing light cover, and the flexible wire thing goes to the back of the fridge.

garethgas

+1 for the thermostat.
It's cheap enough to give it a go. They can be a fiddle depending on how the phial is routed but relatively easy and you can the go drinking at an alarming rate with the money you save :beer:

bk1973

I just noticed that the fridge is no longer cool, but the freezer appears to be cool, i.e. i just emptied it to move it all to a friends house and noticed that all the items were still frozen. Reading around has also led me to believe its the thermostat. Would a thermostat keep the freezer working and the fridge not?

garethgas

In that case, its the thermostat because the compressor is obviously running to make the freezer cold.
Go for it and save yourself a fortune :beer:

bk1973

is there a way i can test to see if its the thermostat? what would happen if i removed it and turned the fridge on? would the fridge area start to cool indefinately? i can then unplug it and order the part.

bk1973

update... my fridge is a creda r335nw, which means it could be the fan from the freezer not passing cold air to the fridge, or the temp control dial not opening the inlet into the fridge or a thermistor. i can see a working fan at the bottom of the fridge. the temp control dial hasnt been touched in years so this means it can only be the thermistor. apart from the bottom rear of the fridge, everything else has a cover so i cant see coils etc. i can see the compressor which is making a noise to suggest its working, and there is a large fan next to it which is turning.

espresso

Evaporator thermistors are available e.g. here if you think that you could replace it yourself. Sometimes switching it off at the mains for a few hours can cure problems like this.

bk1973

I took the back off the freezer and noticed a build up if ice. The fan works when the fridge door is closed. In the fridge the light compartment has a flap that open/closes. This is working ok and is open. This leaves the channel that the freezer fan sends cool air through to the fridge. So I am going to defrost it for 24hrs and see if it starts working.

bk1973

I defrosted it and it worked for about 4 days, then it has stopped working again. The freezer works but the fridge is no longer cool. Any ideas as to what or why this is?