Hotpoint Mistral F/F Freezer - help needed

[dcw]

My Hotpoint Mistral F/F Freezer was icing up, so I took out the internal back panel and saw about 6" of ice from the drain chute (excuse lack of tech terms!)up to the evaporator thingie.

To melt the ice quickly, I used a hot air gun, which you may tell me was a bad idea, but I was careful to not to overheat anything apart from the ice...

...but now the freezer is apparently dead, no lights on, although I have measured 240V on the connection panel inside at the top left.

Any ideas what might be wrong? I would have thought the lights would always come on, unless there is some master fuse that has blown.

[taz24]

My Hotpoint Mistral F/F Freezer was icing up

Any ideas what might be wrong? I would have thought the lights would always come on, unless there is some master fuse that has blown.

Is there a problem with the Hotpoint or is it just a popular fridge.
We seem to have someone asking about a failure to them every month

As far a your problem goes (I'm not familar with this fridge) it sounds like you have disturbed somthing or overheated a sensor perhaps.
The defrost heaters have temp sensetive klixons fitted to stop overheating. They normally are sef reseting but Thats a starting point.

taz.

[chillin out]

In these Freezers they actually have a live and a neutral cut out inside the freezer compartment. If the evaporator gets too hot it will cut the power to the controller at the top.
It is not wired in series with the defrost heater as you would have thought, its actually in series with the mains supply coming into the case.

Chillin

[chillin out]

Is there a problem with the Hotpoint or is it just a popular fridge.

Both.

Plus the fact that nobody (domestic app engineers) will attempt a repair on one.

They are a pain in the a$$.

Chillin

[dcw]

Thanks guys.
Anything that cuts live and neutral to the whole fridge sounds like a contender to me!
So is this evaporator cutout supposed to be self-resetting (because it hasn't!) or can I reset it somehow (or get a new part)?

Would there be circuit diagrams available for this?

[taz24]

Both.

Plus the fact that nobody (domestic app engineers) will attempt a repair on one.

They are a pain in the a$$.

Chillin

They look good but are a sod to work on eh?

Cheers taz.

[taz24]

So is this evaporator cutout supposed to be self-resetting

I'll let Chilling answer that.
He seems to know what he's talking about
From the sound of it he's spent some time with his head in this type of fridge.

Cheers taz,

[chillin out]

Thanks guys.
Anything that cuts live and neutral to the whole fridge sounds like a contender to me!
So is this evaporator cutout supposed to be self-resetting (because it hasn't!) or can I reset it somehow (or get a new part)?

Would there be circuit diagrams available for this?

No they are not self resetting, they are thermal 'fuses'.

For the purpose of testing only, you could bypass the bad one. Your next question will be... "how do I know which one is bad?" heres how...

Check for a live at the pcb at the top.... if there is a live then the neutral fuse has gone, no live means the live fuse has gone.

After you test it you could try getting a new part from Hotpoint but don't hold your breath as when I used to deal with them they were about as helpful as a chocolate teapot.

Chillin