Renting a property + expensive fridge

whowants2brich

I suppose that if the unit does use 1.35kWh then I won't mind if the whole thing doesn't get replaced! Shame I didn't think of checking all this 6 months ago... I'm at home today, so I'll do hourly readings, check that the fridge/freezer hasn't started to get to room temperature/flood the kitchen, and see how things go. I think that since turning the dial to zero, thus turning the compressor off, it seems to be a lot quieter, and yes I did then turn the dial back up to 5. The ice crystals did start to reappear, but then next time I looked they'd started to melt, so that's a good sign. I'll just see how the meter changes during the day. And yes, I will take the broadband/laptop electricity consumption into consideration when calculating things

Thanks for your advice/feedback...

Cardew

Normally if a fridge thermostat is faulty the fridge(not freezer) will ice up at the back.
See if you can locate the thermostat - it is normally a long metal tube with a small 'bulge' at the end. Make sure that is free of ice.

whowants2brich

There's quite a good thin layer of ice over most of the back of the fridge, but I can't find a long metal tube, unless it's covered by plastic... I've turned the dial down to 2, from 4, to see if the compressor stops working and the ice starts to melt a bit, but maybe it's the thermostat that's wrong, instead of the overall fridge...

Should I ask how much it may cost to fix the thermostat? (just out of curiosity)

Cardew

whowants2brich wrote: »

There's quite a good thin layer of ice over most of the back of the fridge, but I can't find a long metal tube, unless it's covered by plastic... I've turned the dial down to 2, from 4, to see if the compressor stops working and the ice starts to melt a bit, but maybe it's the thermostat that's wrong, instead of the overall fridge...

Should I ask how much it may cost to fix the thermostat? (just out of curiosity)

Well the ice is a problem.

It may be that the ice is caused by a faulty thermostat.

Or that the ice formed some while ago(door left open and/or thermostat too low) and that is causing the problem.

You need to get rid of the ice.

Unplug fridge, take out contents(not from freezer) and defrost quickly. Place a bowl of hot water in fridge and even gently get a warm air blower on the ice - DO NOT get things too hot with the blower.

When all ice is gone, restock fridge and put on a low setting say 2.

After a while the fridge compressor should switch on and off regularly.

If it keeps running(as I fear it might) then your thermostat is probably faulty. Not cheap to replace!

whowants2brich

Thanks for your advice, we'll do that tonight and let you know if we get anywhere... I've no idea if the landlord bought the fridge/freezer brand new for us, or if it was left here previously, I'll have to ask and see... it's a Zanussi ZK 56/48R for anyone who cares...

I'll update later on whether or not it fixes itself over the next few hours, on a lower setting so that the ice melts, or if we need to empty everything and clean it and start again...

Premier_2

whowants2brich wrote: »

...Yes, the rating label says 150W for the fridge/freezer, but I have a feeling that as it's an all-in-one jobby, it probably does run 24/7 at 150W. If it stopped for longer than 5 minutes, the freezer would probably start to defrost and soak the kitchen, wouldn't it? I can understand if a fridge were to go on and off, to keep the temperature, but the freezer might have a bigger issue... wouldn't it?...

With a reasonably well stocked freezer and good door seals (and you don't open the door), the contents will usually come to no harm even if the power were to be cut for 12-24 hours or more. So don't worry if you suffer a powercut for a few hours.

It sounds like you have a single compressor f/f - most modern ones are nowadays. The compressor only cuts in when the fridge needs cooling, but when it does, it provides cooling to the freezer too.
As people have found, this can cause problems with the feezer part defrosting if the f/f is stored in a very cold room (e.g. very cold kitchen or more usually an outside garage/shed) when the fridge has not required cooling often enough because the envionmental temperature is already so low.

espresso

whowants2brich wrote: »

I'll update later on whether or not it fixes itself over the next few hours, on a lower setting so that the ice melts, or if we need to empty everything and clean it and start again...

It won't fix itself just by turning down the thermostat setting, it needs defrosting. This is the advantage of frost free fridge freezers!

Seahorse1_2

My mum had one - it was awash with water inside the fridge - supposed to be frost free - so it flooded instead!

Premier_2

whowants2brich wrote: »

...Should I ask how much it may cost to fix the thermostat? (just out of curiosity)

Typical price of a thermostat is about £20 plus fitting.

They are usually very easy to replace or any refridgeration engineer should be able to identify & replace a faulty one easily within a typical minimum 1 hour call out.

whowants2brich

Morning

K, so I spent too long in the supermarket last night, didn't get home in time to empty the fridge, but I have the following update, since my playing around with the thermostat, turning the fridge on and off again a few times.

Yesterday during the day, the flatused 1.5kWh while I was out at work in the afternoon. This, considering my OH had cooked her dinner, had lights on etc, and the fridge for 9 hours, can't be too bad. I then noticed that over the 8hrs of sleeping, the meter had moved by 1.2kWh, which was unfortunate, because I left our wireless broadband router on. Calculating their rating, they should use 1kWh over 8 hours, ie the fridge would've used 0.2kWh in 8 hours, ie overnight. And this morning, there's still a very thin layer of ice at the back of the fridge, which shows that it's still cold enough for that therefore the fridge must be cold enough for the food, right? I turned it down to just under 3, seems to be going ok... It's also now quite full (not bursting though, as I know that it's not good to over-fill fridges) from my shopping spree, so that should help to keep it colder, shouldn't it?

Maybe tonight I'll empty the fridge, but I shall still keep an eye on the meter and see how things progress... Maybe due to the reset of the fridge, just like any other electrical appliances, it now seems to be working properly again - certainly sounds quieter, anyway...