Safe to splice evaporator motor wire?

[MatB]

I have a six-year old Hoover HNMF 2805A-80 frost-free fridge freezer. I recently noticed that the freezer was not freezing food properly, although it remains reasonably cold. The fridge portion appears to be cooling fine although I have not confirmed this with a thermometer.

Prior to junking it and starting afresh, I thought I'd have one last stab at fixing it. Through a process of elimination and Google searching today, I've found that the culprit appears to be the evaporator fan. This does not appear to be spinning when the compressor is running, unlike an identical fridge owned by my parents.

It does not make economic sense to pay upwards of £120 to get a service engineer in to repair the 6 year old fridge in comparison to the ~£300 it would cost me for a new one with a longer expected life. However, Hoover quote me ~£20 for a replacement fan motor (something like this), which seems like worth a shot as I'm only £20 and a bit of time worse off it fails, and about £280 up if it succeeds.

fan.jpg

However, I'm struggling to see how I could fit the replacement motor. It appears to come with a cable pre-fitted and pre-sealed. The attached picture shows that the existing fan is also a sealed unit with no connector on its cable which goes right into the gubbins of the freezer. There's a small plastic panel on the back of the freezer which might allow access, but this would involve removing the condenser first; something I'd rather not do.

cover.jpg

I'm considering whether I can splice the old and new cables instead of finding the end. Would it be okay to splice the cable in order to fit a replacement? What kind of connector/splice should I use? Do I need to seal it somehow to prevent moisture ingress? Indeed, does my suggestion of replacing the fan seem a sensible course of action given the symptoms?

Thanks.

[install monkey]

best bet is to solder the wires or thru crimp then heat shrink to seal the joint, but it has been known for people to use terminal blocks and insulation tape.

[Tayters]

Hi Mat,

If doing a that I'd use some heat shrink crimps from RS Components. Crimp it up then a waft of a flame seals it up and some glue oozes out so it's tighter than a crabs ass.

Cheers,
Andy.

[install monkey]

ah - you've opened a can of worms there andy, every man and his dog are gonna send you emails begging for crimps!

Hi Mat,

If doing a that I'd use some heat shrink crimps from RS Components. Crimp it up then a waft of a flame seals it up and some glue oozes out so it's tighter than a crabs ass.

Send your address to andy-townsend @ supanet.com and I can send some of my stash to you - unless you want a bag of 50 (about £8 last lot I got).

Cheers,
Andy.

[Tayters]

Yep, either that or all sorts of emails promising to increase my girth!

I've set an auto-destruct on that post for a few days, hope nobody is reading it when it goes off.

[MikeHolm]

Andy, may I have some crimps please? (or was that crisps)

[Tayters]

Ha, domestic post only!

Could offer you some Jimmy Savile jokes though.

Edit: Ah, think I get it now, every man and his dog. Very subtle.

[MatB]

Send your address to andy-townsend @ supanet.com and I can send some of my stash to you - unless you want a bag of 50 (about £8 last lot I got).

Thanks Andy, email sent.

[tonto33]

simple on back of motor is screw undo that disconnect wire from the motor fit new motor same way 2 min job

[Goober]

simple on back of motor is screw undo that disconnect wire from the motor fit new motor same way 2 min job

Re website...only a million spare parts? I had that in my van alone....mainly spilled nuts, washers and screws from the way I used to drive the old Hiace round in the day...Aaaahh back in the day, I miss them so.

[MatB]

Turned out I could just about get to the panel behind the fridge, whip it off and free the connector. Fan replaced and job appears to be a good-un.

[Tayters]

Good work.

Sorry, only got the crimps sent off this morning but maybe for the best anyhow.
Save them for when the probe goes open circuit.