Frostfree Freezers???

[mikje]

Not audio, but... I have a frostfree freezer that's icing up on me. Anyone know anything about these? The bottom inside of the freezer had a HUGE layer of ice I had to remove yesterday and this morning it's starting again. The door seals; I can tell when I try to open the freezer that a "vaccuum" has set, so I don't think it's leaking air. When I cleaned out the ice yesterday, I noticed that the ice appeared to be coming from the inside rear of the freezer, from under a panel, of sorts. It appeared to have a flow pattern to it, from the panel I just mentioned.
Anyone have any ideas?
Thanks,
Mike

[stellavox]

Mike,

First of all you may have had the temperature set too low to begin with. I worked in the conservation area for my electric utility and always recommended getting a little thermometer to keep track of the temp

Suggest you start by totally defrosting the freezer - there can be ice buildup that you can't see. If possible, take off the back or bottom panel and try to find the control mechanism for the defrost stuff. With refrigerators, there is a 24 hour timer somewhere that once a day turns off the compressor and turns on a heater that defrosts things. The timer may be stuck/broken or the heating coil.

Good luck

Charles

[Frank Berry]

There should be a fan which keeps the air moving inside the freezer. If the fan has stopped, frost (and ice) can build up. Another possibility is that the freezer is getting low on freon.

[Enzo]

If the unit is capable of defrosting itself, ther must be a drain somewhere so melted frost can drain away? If that drain gets plugged, meltwater will pool and then freeze.

[vinylkid58]

Originally Posted by mikje

I noticed that the ice appeared to be coming from the inside rear of the freezer, from under a panel, of sorts. It appeared to have a flow pattern to it, from the panel I just mentioned.
Anyone have any ideas?

Our old Kenmore side-by-side had a defrosting coil in the back of the freezer section. During the defrost cycle, the coil would heat up and melt the ice. You could here it dropping to the bottom. One day, the coil died and the whole thing filled up with ice, causing the fridge to gradually warm up.

Jeff

[cliffforrest]

Originally Posted by mikje

Not audio, but... I have a frostfree freezer that's icing up on me. Anyone know anything about these? The bottom inside of the freezer had a HUGE layer of ice I had to remove yesterday and this morning it's starting again. The door seals; I can tell when I try to open the freezer that a "vaccuum" has set, so I don't think it's leaking air. When I cleaned out the ice yesterday, I noticed that the ice appeared to be coming from the inside rear of the freezer, from under a panel, of sorts. It appeared to have a flow pattern to it, from the panel I just mentioned.
Anyone have any ideas?
Thanks,
Mike

I had this on a newish Bosch a year ago - basically because my wife keeps leaving the b****y door open!

I tried defrosting it twice and it didn't work. Then I called Bosch and they said that it needed a complete defrost and dryout for about 24 - 48 hours. This fixed it, no problems since.

Apparently it freezes up deep in the bowels under the floor and it takes a long time to warm this up. A fan heater on low pointing into the bottom helps.

[Steerpike]

Could be several things:
The evaporator is the 'cold' heat exchanger behind that panel in the freezer compartment.
It has a fan near it to circulate cold air. (1) the fan may have failed.
The evaporator has underneath it a heating element to auto-defrost it. (2) That heating element may be open circuit. The heating element is switched on by a (usually) mechanical timer, (3) the timer may have failed. In conjuction with the timer, their is also a defrost thermostat (Klixon) that switches off the heater once the evaporator gets warmed up enough - around 45 degrees. (4), That thermostat may have failed.

Beyond that, the main thermostat (user adjustable temperature) may have failed, making the cooling cycle stay on too long for the auto defrosting to ever compensate. But it would probably be doing things like freezing your milk and fruit if this were the case.