If it's a frost free freezer then you don't have to let the thing thaw and dry out first. Just replace the seals, which are very important for the thing to work as it should, then just close it back up, and let it run. If the new seals do the trick, then all the frost inside should be gone by the next day. A faulty freezer will effect the way the refer part works, so definitely try replacing the seals first.

I'm a road scholar, I've been down that road.

Definitely replace the door seals and while you're at it empty the fridge and turn it off for at least 24 hours or so if you can.

Turning it off for a decent time has two benefits:

There may be ice blockages deep on the air vents that turning it off for an hour or two won't defrost. I scored a 3 year old fridge a couple of years ago because the owner was too impatient to find the problem. They just wheeled it outside and bought a new one, by the time I picked it up it was good as gold

Secondly, when you replace the seals leave the inside door panels loose for the time you have it turned off. Even a tiny split or loose freezer door seal will allow small amounts of moisture laden air to be sucked into the door cavity and freeze the condensation every freeze cycle. This needs lots of time with the door panels loose and able to drain away to fix. And don't underestimate how much ice is inside the doors so put several towels down.

I'm a fridgie and agree with chris

Hi -- appreciate all the words of wisdom. Definitely going to follow up on some of that, wheeled the unused bar fridge up from he garage and that is taking care of a few essentials, plus ice and esky, so should be able to give it a real good defrost, clean out, and get a new set of seals on. Thanks for all the advice!

Happy, sailing, kiting, surfing, whatever….
Cheers
Simon

evlPanda said..

surfinbird said..
I'm a fridgie and agree with chris

Ex fridgie and I second this.

I can count up to potato and I third this.

+1 actiomax

If one bit is cold and the other isn't, it is often just a fan problem. On many, the fan moves freezer coldness to the fridge. Often a good clean out (removal of dust n hairs n fluff etc) fixes it. Fridgie mate told me that often just the act of moving it out from the wall and taking the back off is enough to get it going again as all that crap falls out.

So as you know the freezer seal is stuffed, yeah replace that but whilst u r at it defrost and clean any grey crap off fans / fins etc. Could be $60 and half an hour that saves you $1500.

I have a lot of experience with fridges

A lot of experience

I visit mine about every 7 minutes. I rigorously go through everything in it, nibble on a few things, move stuff around, wonder what that jar of stuff at the back is (the label fell off it years ago), wonder why nobody has thrown away the jar of mayonnaise with a use by date of June 2014 on it and generally just hang out and get re-acquainted with the fridge and catch up on any fridge based news or happenings.

Then every third or fourth visit I usually stay for longer and have a more substantial meal.

A few times a year I look on top of or behind the fridge. However I would warn you not to do this. It is not a pleasant sight. I do not know why somebody does not do something about it. Quite frankly it can not be hygienic.

Sometimes I discover new life forms in the crisper draw. I do not know why I open the crisper draw or what I expect to find in there that is edible. It is only ever full of vegetables, fruit and other hydro-carbon based "food stuffs". Who eats that rubbish ? Usually the life forms have evolved from some sort of vegetable over a number of generations. When I find them I seal them back in the crisper draw and remind myself not to look in there again.

So, yes I have experience and I can confirm two things :

1) The energy I expend in walking to the fridge is significantly less than that I seem to consume when I am there resulting in a net transfer of mass to myself
2) I have nothing useful to add to assist with your cooling issue

cauncy said..
I knew a girl who was fridgid

Given the fridge advice above - bang it from behind to get the cobwebs out and it comes good?

cauncy said..
I knew a girl who was fridgid

That's because her seal was unbroken.

Unhook3d said..
What model fisher and pykel is it? I have the same brand around the same age that started doing the same thing. A fridgy mate of mine diagnosed it with a part that is designed to defrost something inside the fridge to allow the cold air to flow through from the freezer section. Part was probably worth more than the fridge and we just used it for drinks so I just turned it off for 24 hours every month or so when it blocked up.

There is a timer, a heater, and a defrost termination thermostat, all designed to periodically stop the compressor, heat up the coil, melt the ice, and then go back to being a fridge.

In trying to troubleshoot my fridge, I replaced the timer with an electronic one, and fitted a new defrost termination thermostat. It was the timer though, and the cost to replace these spare parts, using generic versions, was cheaper for me than getting someone out to look at it. The annoying thing was that the timer in these things is mechanical, and the electronic generic replacement is not quite the same and requires a bit of customization.

I would have thought fridges these days would be electronic, but no, they are still for the most part mechanical/electric.

The surprising thing was that the coil would ice up, and even leaving it for ages to defrost, it would not be enough to melt the ice. You would have to attack it with a hair dryer (aka heatgun) in order to make it melt. The difference is that when running normally the ice build up is only a really small amount, yet when the defrost part doesn't work you end up with a coil solid with ice, which no longer cools the fridge, and doesn't defrost itself.