Brandt CFA361 XU "Frost-free" NOT!!! (& R600a).

[acsl]

Ignoramus Mark 1!!!
Have owned above fridge-freezer for 3-4yrs and to be fair it was cheap,,,,
We have been having problems with it for quite some time; specifically freezer not freezing but now over past few months ice is building up over the back and bottom of freezer compartment.
Have been reading posts elsewhere on this site and noted interesting stuff above Brandt Apollo which suggested modifying the frost-free drain hole. Looked at the back of my fridge and found a pool of disgusting water. Cleaned this out and in the absence of any copper wire used a length of (plumbing) brazing wire. I've wrapped this around the (hot) compressor crimped off tube and pushed the end up the drain hole maybe 1-2cm in the hope that the wire will transfer the heat and help the defrosting process.

Also noticed a lot of comment elsewhere about R600a as a coolant. Funnily enough, this is what is in our fridge -maybe this is why it was cheap?
Is this why it is not running well? Can the coolant be changed, is it worth it?
Be grateful for any thoughts on the above
Andrew

[karl957]

I do not believe that the problem is the refrigerant R600a as many refrigerators are functioning perfectly with it. Did you find water at the back after manual defrost or after switching unit off for some time? I ask this because you also say that there is ice build up inside and this on a frost free could mean one of two things either the defrost cycle has a fault in which case you would not find water in drip tray at the back of the fridge under normal circumstances or the doors are not sealing correctly. The gaskets might be leaking causing high amount of compresor operation and frost build up. The refrigerator could also be overloaded and foodstuff could be preventing the door from closing correctly)

[acsl]

The water was discovered in the drip tray and I had not yet tried to manually defrost the fridge-freezer.
However my wife has now switched it off and so it is now defrosting. Will also give the seals a clean and wipe down, just in case.
I understand it needs to be stood for 24 hrs post defrosting and cleaning before starting up again??
Thanks for your interest.
ACSL

[acsl]

Update:
Defrosted with hairdryer, including taking off the inner back wall from inside the freezer. LOADS of ice which was pushing off and had split the polysterene insulation.
After a couple of hours spent chipping off the bigger bits and hairdrying off the smaller ones, re-assembled and 3+/52 later all still seems good.
Thanks for your help
A