Nursing a fridge/freezer through these temps

[-rick-]

My fridge/freezer seems to be struggling to keep up in these temperatures, especially as it lives in the hottest room of the flat which gets a lot of afternoon sun. Does anyone have any tips on helping it cope?

 

It's an integrated unit, theres a decent amount of space behind it but a limited low level vent to let air into the air space behing the unit (it's fully open at the top). I've removed the grill and stuck a fan blowing air into the hole. Tempted to try an remove the kick plate entirely but last time I did that (elsewhere) the plastic clips broke so resisting the urge in the first instance.

 

Of course it's sods law that I only noticed as I got home with a stuff it to the gills amount of food to put in the freezer! 🫣

[Nickfromwales]

Clean the heat exchanger on the back of it with a vacuum. Any amount of dust/crud on there will make it impossible for the unit to dissipate the heat it needs to shift away to be functioning optimally.

[SteamyTea]

Can you get a fan to blow the room air across the rear.

 

Fridges usually have a temperature range that they can be operated in, but it is rare in the UK to hit the minimum and maximum temperatures.

How old is the unit?  It may just be failing, you can usually tell as the internal temperature starts to swing wildly between warm and frozen (in the fridge part) and you can hear the unit pumping.  It also pushes your electricity bill up a lot.

[-rick-]

9 hours ago, Nickfromwales said:

Clean the heat exchanger on the back of it with a vacuum. Any amount of dust/crud on there will make it impossible for the unit to dissipate the heat it needs to shift away to be functioning optimally.

 

Its an integrated unit so a right pain to get out (given its full of food). But I've put a borescope back there and it looks almost dust free.

[Nickfromwales]

Is it a cheap freezer? Sorry for the lack of touchy/feely, but mine is 24 years old and is steaming on like a demon still (Hotpoint frost free).

[-rick-]

Yep, it's a cheapie Beko, bought during COVID when availability was limited. It seemed to start working last night and its contents froze properly. This morning seemed dead again (and it was cooler here). Overnight, I was thinking maybe I was unlucky and just happened to catch the end of a defrost cycle. Waited about an hour and it's come back to life again so maybe just saw another defrost cycle.

 

4 years isn't long, but I did read at the time that Bekos at the time didn't necessarily last more than 5 years (though they now seem to offer a 10 year parts warranty)

Edited Wednesday at 09:20 by -rick-

[SteamyTea]

I suspect that the compressors of most fridges/freezers are made by the same, small, group of companies. 

Unusually get about 10 years of use out of the cheapest fridges, but at work, the expensive ones don't last any longer.

 

As the weather is getting 'fresher' (as they say on the weather forecast), you may find that the problem goes away, if not, consider buying a new one.

Also worth reminding that the sunk energy/cost of running a fridge is in cooling the stuff in it, not the air in it. So avoid putting in things like room temperature liquids if you can.

[Nickfromwales]

Also try and keep it as full as possible, as part-filled freezers perform worst. A few bags of frozen chips as ballast etc lol.

[-rick-]

6 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

I suspect that the compressors of most fridges/freezers are made by the same, small, group of companies. 

Unusually get about 10 years of use out of the cheapest fridges, but at work, the expensive ones don't last any longer.

 

As long as there wasn't grit left in the refridgerant circuit I think you are right. But with the very rough quality of the unseen bits of this Beko I wouldn't have put it past them to have not done a great job there.

 

6 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

 

As the weather is getting 'fresher' (as they say on the weather forecast), you may find that the problem goes away, if not, consider buying a new one.

 

You'd hope so, but after I posted 10 mins ago that it's back on, it now appears to be off again and on again so I'm increasingly sure it's dying.

 

6 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

Also worth reminding that the sunk energy/cost of running a fridge is in cooling the stuff in it, not the air in it. So avoid putting in things like room temperature liquids if you can.

 

Normally not a problem but with these temps I have been doing two ice cube trays a day (though with my shopping yesterday theres no longer room for that).

Edited Wednesday at 09:35 by -rick-

[-rick-]

Well it's definitely dead. Not really cooling at all at this point. Ordered a new one that's coming tomorrow.

 

Freezer compartment still maintaining some ice though a thermometer says the air is -5C so I predict a day of batch cooking tomorrow

Edited Wednesday at 16:39 by -rick-

[Nickfromwales]

5 hours ago, -rick- said:

so I predict a day of batch cooking tomorrow

Start with the prawns  

 

I'll be there at 6.

[SteamyTea]

6 hours ago, Nickfromwales said:

Start with the prawns