This is a bit off topic for what is normally a blog devoted to life with computers and the internet but I thought it might be useful to somebody.
We have a Whirlpool No Frost freezer which we bought a little over 1 year ago, so just out of warranty of course. We have been pretty happy with it so far but a few days ago it began to warm up. Normally it maintains the set temperature of -18°C quite well, but lately the temperature has started to slowly drift upwards, even with the Fast Freeze function on it wouldn’t go below -14°C and then -12°C.
Now this is obviously a pretty serious problem for a freezer, a freezer that doesn’t freeze is not a good thing. So I rang our local refrigeration engineer. John Mazur in Moreton in Marsh has been very helpful in the past and proved to be very helpful this time too. He was able to solve the problem over the phone.
It seems that there is a known problem with Whirlpool No Frost Freezers (or at least with some models). Although they are supposedly frost free and so should not require defrosting, they do clog up over a period (in our case about 14 months). The solution is simple, empty the freezer, leave the door open and then switch it off for a minimum of 24 hours. During this period it will defrost a little so leave a towel or drip tray under the spout at the bottom of the door.
Whirlpool No Frost Freezer temperature display
After about 30 hours I switched the freezer back on and it came back down to the required temperature in another couple of hours, result! Thanks John!
I hope that this information enables somebody else to save the call out charge for a refrigeration engineer too. But it does raise the question, if you have to defrost your Whirlpool No Frost freezer every year is it really a No Frost freezer? There isn’t a lot of ice to get rid of but you still have to go through the defrosting process. We paid a premium for a frost free freezer but now it seems we have to defrost it anyway, I think Whirlpool need to do a little work on this product range.
Tags: domestic appliances, freezer, frost free, Hardware, no frost, refrigeration, whirlpool
Hi,
I found your comments interesting. I found them while trying to find information on exactly how no-frost systems work.I live in Spain and bought a Teka fridge/freezer three weeks ago. Almost immediately the freezer temperature would increase to about -12º daily, then return to -18º and on one occasion the fridge increased to 15º (almost room temperature!) The engineer is calling on Tuesday, and no doubt will tell me it is normal! The freezer isn’t so bad, as the temperature is still well below freezing, but what about the fridge and items which ought to be kept at 5º? I think I might give your engineer a call -I hope he won’t mind. It is dificult to find any kind of knowledgable professionals over here – of any nationality!
Best regards,
Brenda
Hi Brenda,
I am no expert but it sounds like a faulty refrigerator to me, hopefully your engineer will agree and you will be able to get it fixed under warranty.
Mark
we purchased an american style Whirlpool fridge freezer four years ago, V expensive, stupidly I did not take up the offer of a “parts” warranty as I had Whirlpool appliances in the middle east (freezers/washing machines/fridges) and in 20 years found them totally reliable. This appliance failed after 18 months (just out of warranty) has now cost me over £350.00 on parts and labour, new “mother board” etc and the ice maker is still not working. I wrote a letter to the customer centre in August, no reply. It seems that they have lost their reputation for reliability prehaps as they now are not made in america for the european market (Italy??)
THANK YOU FOR THIS TOPIC.
MY freezer IS ALSO GAVE ME LAST NIGHT SOMETHINK TO THINK ABOUT (SAME SIMPTOMS AS YOURS), SO INFORMATION FROM THIS PAGE WAS useful TO ME.
P.S. SORRY FOR MY ENGLISH – IM FROM EASTERN EUROPE, AND I DONT HAVE MACH possibility TO practice IT.
I have the same problem and even worse with a Siemens freezer no frost type gs36na30. I bought it november 2006. In july 2009 temperature increased to minus 6 degree. I had to remove all food and unplug the machine for a day with open door. A couple of weeks later Siemens came to change a part that makes the freezer gets unfroozen, because it was not sollid enough.
Februari 2010 again temperatures increased to minus 6 degree. I had to much food in it to be able to put it in freezers of friends. After 3 days leaving the freezer closed, temperature was minus 18 degrees again. But we heard the freezer was ‘freezing’ all the time. So today 19march I unplugged the freezer and saw that the upper part where the non frost techniques are located are completely froozen. Even after 6 hours no water is yet in the unfreeze reservoir.
I cannot unplug my freezer every 6 months, this is so much worse than unfreezing your frezer once a year (at a time chosen by me)
Thank you so much. Came accross this while trying to find a reason on the internet as to why our Whirlpool had decided to stop freezing any lower than -14. Like yours, ours is also only 14 months old.
I had already phoned Whirlpool and was quoted £80 for a call out alone & in addition would be any parts or extra labour.
Found your blog and promptly started the process of defrosting. First thing that struck me was that there was a definate coating of ice on the upper compartments.. so much for frost free. The towel we placed down to soak up melt water was soaking by the following morning! Upshot is that our freezer is now working away again… Thankyou !!
The thing that annoys me is that I assume the freezer has to be defrosted and empty for the engineers call. … therefore one is paying for his time etc etc and the problem has already solved itself… sneaky eh.
Hello To All . . . . I Am An Experienced Engineer With Over 32 Years In The Trade (12 Years Marine Engineer Middle East) I Could Write A Detailed Topic About Frost Free Refrigerator Cabinets Etc,So Here Is A Small Simple Paragraph On How It Really Works,
Normally The Problems On Most Frost Free Cabinets Will Be The Auto Defrost System,Or Ambient Air,
1)Frost/Ice Has To Be Produced To Achieve : 1 Degree Celsius & Below
2)If The Auto Defrost Is Not On Long Enough It Will Leave A Small Amount Of Frost/Ice, So Next Time The Auto Defrost Heater Comes On(Approx Every 6 Hours) The Same Happens ICE/FROST BUILD UP (Sometimes Just by Relocating The Thermistor Cures This Fault),
3)Defrost Heater Not On Long Enough To Defrost System Quickly & Efficiently
Regards :John mazur (Refrigeration) Moreton-In-Marsh
Thanks for your input John.
Is there anything I as a customer can do to make the Auto-defrost work properly on a freezer that is susceptible to this problem?
Mark