Hotpoint frost-free fridge freezer ice build up.

Hi,

We have a frost free hotpoint FF200E. Over the last few weeks we have noticed a ice build up in the bottom of the freezer. I did not think too much about it thinking maybe the freezer was too full.

My husband has got rid of the ice. He has also rearranged & got rid of some of the food.

Over the last few days we have noticed water on the floor so it is obviously leaking too.

Is this a problem that can be solved or is it a sign of more serious problems with it? We have had the fridge-freezer around 2 yrs.

The cooling element (evaporator) for this appliance is located behind the rear panel of the freezer. Although frost-free, frost will develop and accumulate on the evaporator. To remove this, the evaporator has a heating element attached which is automatically switched on using set parameters within the control board. Once the ice has melted, the water produced should run down a drain tube (again, behind panel) into a tray located above the compressor where it is evaporated away by the heat from the compressor. The defrost circuit and heater appear to be working, but the drain tube is likely blocked, hence water in bottom of freezer (which will freeze and stick the lower basket to it!). The drain could be: A) Blocked with crud (dust/mould,grease et.c.) or more likely:
B) blocked with ice due to either just bad luck or failure of the drain heater located where you can't see it inside the freezer liner. An after-market drain heater and modified evaporator heater are available along with an additional wiring loom to allow fitting the self-adhesive drain heater. If you are not conversant with this type of work entrust diagnosis and repair to a refrigeration specialist

Thank you for your reply. :-)

The timer that controls whether the compressor is on or the defrost heating element is on may also be stuck on compressor mode, thus never defrosting, which is very common. More often than not, it is these $30.00 timers which fail. They can also get stuck on defrost, which means the box warms up and you think the compressor is bad, which it seldom is. Compressors tend to last forever in a domestic fridge. But as stated above you will probably need a repair man. Aside, although all brands of fridges will eventually have defrost timer problems, in general try to avoid GE and Hotpoint (Hotpoint is part of GE). Hope you didn't get rid of the ice with a knife or icepick. Use a hair dryer.

FF200e is purely controlled by electronic control module, no separate defrost timer. The days of compressors running forever seem to have long gone. Even a well known brand previously made in Germaany seem to now be made in Slovenia and judging by the number we seem to be replacing within 12 months, they don't seem to be as reliable as they once were.
Don't even start me on products from China.........