Electrolux fridge freezer ice build up problem. Help, advice and problem solutions on all aspects of home appliances from washing machines to TV's

[j0n35y]

Hi guys, bit of a problem with our Electrolux american style fridge freezer. Model no. ERL6296KK10

We noticed that both the fridge and freezer were getting warm and after making adjustments on the control panel there was no difference so we called out an engineer. He took the back panel off from the inside of the freezer and there was a lot of ice build up which he cleared and replaced the temp control sensor. This lasted a week before we had the same problem again, called the same guy who came out and cleared the ice and said there was a loose connection on the part he changed the week before, luckily he didnt charge again.

Now a week later, same problem again. Im not gonna bothere ringing him as he will probably charge so I've decided to repair myself and from reading online have narrowed it down to the thermostat. But I cant find the part online and don't know how universal they are. Just need some help sourcing one, looks fairly easy to install. Here's some pics attached of the ice build up and the wires.




I'm so fed up having paid out £250 for the engineer and have lost 2 weeks worth of food. Living out of a mini beer fridge at the moment, its not ideal...

Thanks.

Allan

[DIYDoctor1]

That's a really frustrating story.

Try this site for part, as they might be able to help you:

https://www.ransomspares.co.uk/parts/br ... 2501018000)/

Failing that the very least your ineffective engineer could do is let you know where you could get the part, but I totally understand if you never want to speak to him ever again!

Let's us know how you get on.

[TheDoctor4]

Just a quick note to say - if anyone needs information on moving and transporting fridges or freezers we now have a project on doing so:
https://www.diydoctor.org.uk/projects/mo ... reezer.htm

[ericmark]

I was about to make a post of my own but yours seems so close to my own experance.

It started many years ago my daughter bought an Energy Meter which I borrowed then bought my own and what it clearly shows is the run watts and kWh used with the time under test.

That all seemed good but once measured finding out what results should be expected was another thing. After much research I found what I was looking for.

A standard 600 mm wide 5 foot high A+ rated fridge freezer uses around 250 kWh/annum. And again a standard fridge freezer runs for around a third of the time. Using these two bits of information we realised our chest freezer was past it as it was running around ¾ of the time and clearly had a thermal insulation break down. We also found the small freezer to be the same.

As time progressed we would measure the fridge freezer every couple of years but then gave up results were the same every year. However this was an error on our part as lucky we had insurance and the Hotpoint engineer identified where we had ice build up signalled a thermal break down and when we used meter this confirmed what he said.

As we looked for a replacement we realised although the EEC may say all fridge freezers should be A+ or better there are exceptions peltier effect and absorption fridges used in caravans can use a massive 3285 kWh/annum and if you include interest rates and length of time a fridge freezer is likely to last even at 4 times the normal power usage it does not really warrant a replacement just because of the power it uses. Plus with inverter control and separate fridge and freezer temperature control as a result the simple ⅓ run time is not true with all units.

However using both the ⅓ run time and the 250 kWh/annum energy use are very good pointers to when the problem is not control circuits but thermal insulation.

OK it sounds you have a rather large unit so may be 350 kWh/annum is more near the mark.

There are basic two types of freezer standard and frost free. Clearly frost free does not mean it never gets ice just that the design is such that at regular times it switches on a heater which melts any ice built up and allows it normally to run onto a tray on top of the compressor and is evaporated. The frost free system also relies on a fan to circulate the air and in the main means the guts of the freezer are hidden behind a panel so when the heater is activated it does not heat food only the bits behind the panel.

With non frost free the active components are placed between the draws so with a frost free when storing a turkey you can remove a draw and use double height but you can’t do this with non frost free.

I would expect an American style freezer would be frost free so for the ice to build up like you show means either a break down in thermal insulation, or the heater is not activating, or some other feature of the frost free system has failed. In our case it was simply the drain hole which got blocked and a simple bit of copper wire down the drain hole cured the problem.

However likely the heater for frost free system only activates one in 24 hours, so if the timer fails it would be rather hard to find the fault.

In Algeria I had a container size freezer go wrong where the timer failed in the on position OK 1980 so manual not electronic but it resulted in a 20 foot by 8 foot container of cooked food a little too much for a 8 man crew to eat.

Today the PIC is king the programmable integrated circuit runs everything from the washing machine to fridge freezer to car engine management and it is unlikely any refrigeration engineer has a reader and even if he did fault finding would be near impossible.

Our fridge/freezer was condemned by the engineer and a new inverter controlled replacement was bought. The old unit was moved into garage I had considered using it to brew beer with. Three weeks later our freezer failed and as an emergency measure I moved all the food to the old fridge/freezer and turned it back on.

So options are:-
1) Get it repaired and your story does not make me want to do that.
2) Replace with another 160 litre frost free at around £250.
3) Replace with non frost free 160 litres at around £150.
4) Replace with smaller 80 litre non frost free at £140.
I want to replace with non frost free 80 litre unit as it is our second freezer so between the two still have 160 litres and the 80 litre is under counter size so takes up less room. My wife wants to get the 160 litre frost free at 450 mm wide rather than the 600 mm wide of the under counter unit. The non frost free of the 450 mm wide holds 180 litres rather than 160 litres so at the moment we are at loggerheads.

The 600 mm wide and taller than door way fridge / freezer cost me £500 and as a prime unit I was happy to spend that money, but as a back-up secondary unit I think £140 is enough.

So can you help me decide what I should do and does my report help you at all. The calculator I made is in java script to work out kWh/annum and percentage run time as yet I have not uploaded to web but if it is any help to you I can.

[proptech]

I'm going to gloss over all the details on energy use etc, and come to a point that's often missed in choosing a fridge/freezer. That is the noise level, we all want a fridge to be silent, but with fans etc that can be avoided, so much the better.
The only problem being, how to determine the sound level before purchase. The only way I know of is to pay more !