Indesit FROST FREE Fridge Freezer - fridge not cold

[pauby]

A further update. I took a panel off that I found inside the freezer. Behind it was the fan and the coils. The bottom of the coils had a large block of ice attached (just attached to the bottom underneath the coils) so I defrosted that with a hair dryer. I then switched the fridge freezer on and the fan started spinning after about a minute so I now know that works. I've put it all back together again and have popped it back in the corner. Will wait for a couple of hours to let things settle and switch it back on again and come back here.

[nike123]

A further update. I took a panel off that I found inside the freezer. Behind it was the fan and the coils. The bottom of the coils had a large block of ice attached (just attached to the bottom underneath the coils) so I defrosted that with a hair dryer. I then switched the fridge freezer on and the fan started spinning after about a minute so I now know that works. I've put it all back together again and have popped it back in the corner. Will wait for a couple of hours to let things settle and switch it back on again and come back here.

Where water from melting ice has gone? Is drained water stayed in that enclosure or it is drained out of fridge to some pan.
Also, that ice buildup is consequence of faulty defrost circle which need to be resolved or you will have same thing in short time.
You need to find defrost heater and check if it is OK. If not, change it, if yes, than thermostat (defrost relay, control PCB) is faulty.

[pauby]

Where water from melting ice has gone? Is drained water stayed in that enclosure or it is drained out of fridge to some pan.
Also, that ice buildup is consequence of faulty defrost circle which need to be resolved or you will have same thing in short time.
You need to find defrost heater and check if it is OK. If not, change it, if yes, than thermostat (defrost relay, control PCB) is faulty.

The water did drain away into the pan at the back as the drain hole wasn't blocked. The block of ice was only about 2 inches thick, 2 inches broad but about 2 foot across (as it went from one end of the coils to the other). It was, relative to the size of the coils, pretty small. What I will do is, as suggested elsewhere, leave the doors open for a few hours every month to let it defrost manually even though this is a frost free. If it does ice up again I will do as you suggest and see if the heater is faulty, however if it is this won't affect anything in the freezer except ice buildup? So it would effectively become a non-frostfree fridge freezer that I would defrost manually but still work fine in every other way?

[nike123]

The water did drain away into the pan at the back as the drain hole wasn't blocked. The block of ice was only about 2 inches thick, 2 inches broad but about 2 foot across (as it went from one end of the coils to the other). It was, relative to the size of the coils, pretty small. What I will do is, as suggested elsewhere, leave the doors open for a few hours every month to let it defrost manually even though this is a frost free. If it does ice up again I will do as you suggest and see if the heater is faulty, however if it is this won't affect anything in the freezer except ice buildup? So it would effectively become a non-frostfree fridge freezer that I would defrost manually but still work fine in every other way?

Not exactly. Since evaporator efficiency is dependent on air flow and that air distribution is reduced when evaporator is frosted, it need constant defrosting to keep evaporator free of ice.
If excessive frosting is on evaporator, his capacity is greatly reduced and your compressor and food is endangered.
You need to adress that problem as soon as possible.