Fridge/freezer problem?

textbook

Got water near the hole in the back of fridge.  Water pooling in fridge bottom and ice forming and preventing me pushing trays into the freezer (in fact one has cracked).

vacheron

The hole at the back in your second picure has just blocked. very common with these types of fridges. Just push something relatively soft (like a pipe cleaner, nylon cable tie, or a thin bristled brush) into the hole until the water drains. 

Once through the hole, the water will run down onto a tray at the bottom of the freezer which is sat on top of (and therefore warmed by) the fridge compressor and so the water just evaporates to the room. 

RipleyG

If the sensible suggestion from vacheron doesn't fix the problem, check all items in the fridge to make sure there's at least 1cm clear space between them and the back wall. Both my fridge and one at a community fridge where I volunteer absolutely flood with water if even a single item is touching the back - some of your jars look like possible contenders for this.

Clean the seals and make sure they're still forming a good seal when the door is shut, and no items are stopping the door closing properly. 

And perhaps check your temperature settings. Your thermometer is showing 0 degree at the front of the top shelf of the fridge - that's normally the warmest part and you want that to ideally be at 4-6 degrees. Fluctuating temperatures can be a sign the motor is failing. 

FrugaiMacDugal

As suggested, make sure hole in fridge is clear.

Take all frozen foods from freezer and pack tightly in a tub/box, making an ice block, place in a cool spot, should stay frozen for hours.

Switch off fridge freezer and allow to defrost, you can speed up freezer defrost by putting in bowls of hot water and knocking off ice using a blunt instrument.

Meanwhile give insides a good clean down, wash all shelves and trays.

When all ice gone, wipe down and switch back on, replace foods after about 2 hours.

Cherryfudge

All good advice above. It's always worth unplugging and pulling your fridge out once in a while. Clean the back and if there's a drainage tray, clean and disinfect it. In certain conditions these can get disgusting and block the drainage, and they don't always take out easily to clean, so you may just have to do your best. Also clean any dust off the back while it's unplugged: it's a fire hazard but it also makes the fridge work too hard to keep things cool, so it costs more to run.

As mentioned above, a fridge on zero degrees is too cold. Ideally between 1 and 5 degrees for a domestic fridge - things get cold enough to deter bacteria from breeding, but not iced up which will spoil some foods and can lead to the sort of problems you're getting. (Freezers should be around minus18 for best storage).

Good luck with it, it's worth doing!

Green_hopeful

We had trouble with our freezer last year and I defrosted it but actually there was more ice than I could see. I had to defrost it a second time before it started working properly again. The extra ice was behind a panel at the back of the freezer. 

ButterCheese

If you have set your fridge to e.g. 4 degrees but it is chilling to zero, then you might have a faulty thermostat.  If you do all of the above from other posters, and it's still too cold, then try looking for a new thermostat.  Depending on the make and model, it can be an easy replacement.  Basically if the thermostat is gone then it is on constant cooling all the time and will get too cold.

akm2018

vacheron said:

The hole at the back in your second picure has just blocked. very common with these types of fridges. Just push something relatively soft (like a pipe cleaner, nylon cable tie, or a thin bristled brush) into the hole until the water drains. 

Once through the hole, the water will run down onto a tray at the bottom of the freezer which is sat on top of (and therefore warmed by) the fridge compressor and so the water just evaporates to the room. 

And set yourself a yearly reminder to clean out that hole

Albermarle

akm2018 said:

vacheron said:

The hole at the back in your second picure has just blocked. very common with these types of fridges. Just push something relatively soft (like a pipe cleaner, nylon cable tie, or a thin bristled brush) into the hole until the water drains. 

Once through the hole, the water will run down onto a tray at the bottom of the freezer which is sat on top of (and therefore warmed by) the fridge compressor and so the water just evaporates to the room. 

And set yourself a yearly reminder to clean out that hole

I have to unblock ours at least twice a year. I use the inside of a biro ( the bit with ink in it). 

Regarding the temperature, fridges are colder on the bottom shelves than the top.
So I think about 2 degrees for the bottom and 4 degrees at the top is what is recommended.

textbook

Cherryfudge said:

All good advice above. It's always worth unplugging and pulling your fridge out once in a while. Clean the back and if there's a drainage tray, clean and disinfect it. In certain conditions these can get disgusting and block the drainage, and they don't always take out easily to clean, so you may just have to do your best. Also clean any dust off the back while it's unplugged: it's a fire hazard but it also makes the fridge work too hard to keep things cool, so it costs more to run.

As mentioned above, a fridge on zero degrees is too cold. Ideally between 1 and 5 degrees for a domestic fridge - things get cold enough to deter bacteria from breeding, but not iced up which will spoil some foods and can lead to the sort of problems you're getting. (Freezers should be around minus18 for best storage).

Good luck with it, it's worth doing!

This is the state of the freezer, cracked tray and too much ice so trays won't push back in.  Defrost and clean whole thing, unblock hole in back of fridge and pull out whole fridge freezer and clean collecting tray in back I guess





pull

Bigphil1474

Yes, that is way too much Ice and needs a full defrost. Unless you have a frost free one, it's worth doing a defrost once a year. Plan to wind the freezer contents down to coincide. Freezers tend to work better when they are fuller as well.

From a food safety point of view, perishable food should be kept at at least 8oC, so you should aim to keep the fridge at 5oC (to take into account the door being opened and closed etc). The old FF we had was about 5oC different between top and bottom which was a problem, so we just put things like jams and sauces at the top around 8oC and perishables in the middle around the right temp, and drinks near the bottom which was near to freezing. Fortunately our newer one is more balanced. Fridges can struggle if over filled, so try and avoid that, and keep stuff away from the back. As others have said, drain needs a clean out.

We had a milk bottle leak in our other fridge a few weeks ago and it all went down the drain hole - took me ages to get the drain container off so I could clean it out. They aren't really designed to be removed, as above the heat from the compressor is supposed to evaporate the small amount of normal water you might get. If it doesn't come off easily, search for that model and see if there is a video to help. I had to basically use brute force to remove mine whilst holding the compressor to stop that coming off with it.