Hotpoint Future Fridge Cooling Problem

[Stoksey]

Hi,

I am new to this site and am looking for some advice on how to fix my Hotpoint Future FF175B Fridge Freezer.

It is only 18 months old and I had to get an engineer in a month ago to repair it because the fridge and freezer stopped working. This turned out to be a faulty circuit board behind the temperature control.

I refuse to pay another £90 to fix the new problem which is basically that the fridge is not cooling enough. The freezer is fine but the fridge temperature is not cold enough, even though I have turned the temperature up to maximum.

The fan in the freezer section seems to be going continuosly, except when I open the fridge door, is this right?

Any ideas welcome.

Thanks in advance.

Jamie.

[nike123]

Does that second problem started immediately after first service or after some time?

[Stoksey]

This problem has started about a month after the first problem was fixed.

Cheers

Jamie.

[nike123]

This problem has started about a month after the first problem was fixed.

Cheers

Jamie.

That indicates that they are probably not related to each other.
Now, it is possible that is something wrong with refrigerant circuit and not with control circuit.

[Stoksey]

OK, I have some further developments for you. I switched the appliance off, unscrewed the plastic back panel in the freezer and noticed the element was surrounded by ice and one of the holes that takes the cold air up into the fridge.

I have defrosted this, with a little help from a hairdryer, put it all back together and both fridge and freezer is working fine...for now.

The question I have is why did the freezer ice up in the first place and is it likely to happen again? Bearing in mind it fully defrosted a month ago when it was repaired and it is a frost free model.

Your thoughts appreciated.

Thanks

Jamie.

[taz24]

OK, I have some further developments for you. I switched the appliance off, unscrewed the plastic back panel in the freezer and noticed the element was surrounded by ice and one of the holes that takes the cold air up into the fridge.

I have defrosted this, with a little help from a hairdryer, put it all back together and both fridge and freezer is working fine...for now.

The question I have is why did the freezer ice up in the first place and is it likely to happen again? Bearing in mind it fully defrosted a month ago when it was repaired and it is a frost free model.

Your thoughts appreciated.

Thanks

Jamie.

Seems to me that both the problems are linked.
If it failed because there was a controler problem and now it is icing up, that again is a control problem.
Phone the engineer and get him to explain what exactly had happend for him to replace the controler.
It could have a defrost issue, the auto defrost could be at fault.
You need to speak to the engineer.

Cheers taz.

[nike123]

Could be that invalid defrost heater caused electronic circuit failure which service guy exchanged, but not checked defrost heater, so after 1 month ice has accumulated because invalid heater.
Read this, maybe then you could give us more informations.
http://tinyurl.com/f5ak7

[daveflower]

Hi
I am a senior refrigeration engineer with hotpoint and the cause of your problem is that the main defrost heater on the freezer evaporator needs to be moved one rung down on the evaporator. The reason for this is because the heater is too close to the sensor and is not low enough to facilitate a full defrost cycle each time.
By moving the heater away from the sensor it will facilitate a longer defrost, and by having the bottom row of the heater just under the evaporator it will stop re-freezing issues on the underside of the evaporator. if you need more help on moving the heater e-mail me at daveflower72@hotmail.com

[Stoksey]

I have another update for you on this one. The freezer evaporator has iced up again within a month of defrosting the last time, affecting the fridge temperature again. I have taken Dave's advice and moved the defrost heater one rung down, defrosted the freezer and hey presto the fridge is working again.

I left it overnight and checked the freezer in the morning and already the evaporator has started to frost up.

I think the defrost heater is not working but how do I ascertain whether this is at fault or another one of the defrost system components? From reading the defrost system article posted by nike123, it seems the freezer fan stops spinning when the defrost heater starts. On my freezer the fan does stop spinning occasionaly so I am right in thinking the defrost heater is supposed to be coming on at this point?

Does the information give anyone any more clues as to where the problem lies?

Thanks for all your help so far.

Jamie.

[fredalfred]

I have had exactly the same problem with the FF 200 E Hotpoint fridge freezer, my fault was corrected today by the service engineer with the modification that the service engineer has posted on your problem, simply moved the heater element down a notch. I found out Hotpoint were well aware of the problem and should in fact compensate you even though you are out of guarantee. Engineer who corrected my fridge freezer is confident the modification solves the problem, however it's quite possible the continual icing up had a knock on effect on the heating element, push Hotpoint for compensation and let them know several people have had problems with the frost free products, service engineer who visited me had been correcting 2 appliances a day at it's peak before Hotpoint introduced the corrective action.

[ARNL]

On the older hotpoint mistrals we simply replace the thermistors (both the green and yellow ones) found behind the evaporator cover and then defrost the system thoroughly and it nearly always cures the problem you have but we have been told we aren't able to do this on your model (the Hotpoint future) since the design change, hope this helps.