Comments on: Whirlpool No Frost freezer fails to maintain temperature

By: Imcg

Imcg — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 17:37:00 +0000

Im having the same problem. Did you find a dsolution?
Irene

By: Rob

Rob — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 20:54:00 +0000

Or could the problem with the Whirlpool AEG8271NF freezer be due to failure of a non-return valve which slips over the end of the defrost tube located above the compressor at the rear of the freezer?The valve takes the form of a rubber cap with a flap which I assume is supposed to open with the weight of defrost water and then close to prevent entry of moist air.My valve seemed to be permanently open so I inserted a piece of plastic between the flap and the tube – a slot was cut in the plastic to pass the flap through and enable the plastic to be held in place because it passed behind the rubber post to which the flap attached. The plastic was cut from a replacement diaphragm for a toilet syphon unit.
My freezer failed after 2 years when I was told I needed to defrost twice a year. I did two complete defrost cycles giving me 10 months operation each time but then decided this was not what I wanted to do. I had a closer look at the freezer with the following results:
-You can get the freezer to go through a defrost cycle by switching off for a minute and then back on. Start up cycle includes defrost but this will not defrost the fan which is the real problem.
-Recently I have only been defrosting the top of the freezer (fan and defrost water exit) using a hair dryer(bad idea I know) to see what happened. Initially I only got 3-4 weeks of operation before failure.
-I found that after this partial defrost an ice plug formed in the defrost water exit tube within 3-4 days and this prevented defrost water leaving the freezer. This probably accounted for the large amount of ice I had forming in the freezer during periods after the 24 hour complete defrost.
-I fitted a small heater (0.5Watts) in the defrost tube and this prevented formation of the ice plug but I still found the fan iced up after 2-3 weeks.
-I then spotted what I believe to be the problem with what I believe to be the non-return valve at the end of the defrost tube – having carried out the above fix the freezer has been working for 11 weeks without the formation of ice in the freezer (apart from the time we accidently didn’t close the door properly).
I cannot see why the freezer failed originally as it had been working for 2 years so I believe there has to be a real failure not just a need to defrost the freezer regularly. Failure of this valve at least makes some sense as damp air would enter the defrost tube, water would then condense and freeze where the damp air meets the cold freezer air forming the ice plug which prevents any further defrost water leaving the freezer – the defrost element ends part way down the defrost tube in the back of the freezer. As the circulation fan is located at the back of the defrost unit it is then liable to icing from the water unable to escape the freezer. Must admit though I am still running my small heater in the defrost tube but will switch it off in a couple of months if all continues to go well.

By: Wilfredhunter5

Wilfredhunter5 — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 18:52:00 +0000

I bought a Whirlpool no frost Freezer about 4 years ago and a matching tall upright fridge. The freezer started making rattling noises just out of makers warranty which was the circulating fan catching on the build up of ice.I had taken out extended 8 year cover through Iceland and they sent someone from Comet who looked at it and said ”I have not seen one of these before” and told me to switch off and defrost it for 24 hours. not satisfied with this result I rang Whirlpool and they sent out a technician who changed the drain tube and I still had to defrost the no frost freezer.I had to claim for the food I lost about £80 or more and Whirlpool had the cheek to send me a hefty callout bill which I refused to pay as their product was not frost free as sold. I am again having trouble with the freezer, about the 4th time since I bought it.I would never ever recomend this Whirlpool freezer to anyone

By: Karen742010

Karen742010 — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 23:57:00 +0000

hi, i am wondering if anyone can help please, i have a whirlpool, frost free, fridge freezer,it is a 60cm wide one,and it worked fine up until a week ago, everything is working as it should but the freezer,temp on the front gauge setting will not let me set a temperature it skips, to the symbols,causing the freezer to defrost,well i think this is why, what could be the problem, could it be the circuit board behing the front gauge,were it states,a button for menu,a button for ok,and then displays symbols and temp on a front screen, if it is the circuit behind this does anyone know how much they are please as i cannot find any many thanks

By: Meadesusan6

Meadesusan6 — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 10:51:00 +0000

Thank you for posting this my freezer did the very same thing yesterday and have done what you said so hopefully it will work. Thank you.

By: cotsweb

cotsweb — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 10:07:46 +0000

It sounds to me like you should be turning in the direction of the arrow, that is towards A. I suppose after 25 years there isn't much chance that you have the manual, but there is a slim chance that it will be on the Whirlpool website.

By: Francine

Francine — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 16:44:10 +0000

My Whirlpool fridge/freezer is about 25 years old. For many years I haven’t had to move the settings. Now suddenly the freezer isn’t freezing.
So I have a ridiculous questions: The settings are A, B, and C, and are on the dial in that order. It’s hard to determine which is coldest. The indicator says: cooler -> , but I don’t know if that means move the dial in that direction, which would give me A, or the rightmost is the coldest, which would be C.

Thanks.

By: andrew murphy

andrew murphy — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 19:33:29 +0000

hi, I am having problems with a whirlpool american fridge / freezer. the freezer side keeps alarming and reverts to flashing (–) cursors. I have just noticed that the front of the dividing wall betwen fridge / freezer is very hot to the touch. ANY HELP PLEASE. SATURDAY EVENING AND NOWHERE TO CONTACT. THANK YOU. ANDREW MURPHY

By: Leon T

Leon T — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 13:51:54 +0000

I have same problem with my Whirlpool upright freezer. To think I specifically didn’t buy the AEG 2 years ago because of this exact problem being reported for it. The repair man (just out of warranty) took one look at the model name and said it’s a known bug, the cure is a new motherboard. all the new motherboard does is kick in the defrost cycle twice as often (evey four hours instead of 8). That’ll be the equivalent of about $200 here in SA.

Here are my thoughts:

1) Frost only builds up when you open the door and new “wet” air comes in. That air cools down and the relative humidity gets too high, and ice forms on the evaporator (same way that it rains when the air high up cools down). So if you try to open not too often/long it can help. Leaving it closed might even solve the problem if the freezer gets a chance to “catch up”. I didn’t really try this however, and it might not work because when you notice the problem it is so packed up that the normal defrost cycle is too short to do anything but melt & refreeze the bit of ice near the defrost heater.

2) In my case the drains were not clogged, that was my first hope.

3) My whirlpool does not know when you open the door. (My old Defy (local brand)) did know, and stopped the circulation fan when you open the door. That could help a bit to prevent icing up by not circulating too much “outside wet” air over the evaporators.
This also implies that the freezer doesn’t know how much ice is packed up, because it has no idea of how much fresh air came in, and it obviously has no sensor to reliably tell it how much ice is frosted. Really dumb design – I think it only has at most a temp sensor to tell it the little bit of ice closest to the heater/sensor did melt, or at least a timer.
That implies it’s also doing the defrosting cycle when no one opened the door in weeks, which is a waste of energy.
So much for the “6th sense” technology.

4) Faulty door seals can cause the problem by virtue of allowing continuous outside air to enter.

5) I was playing with the idea of opening up to get to the motherboard. If you can figure out the wiring you could connect your own switch that will stop the compressor & fan, and kick in the defrost heating element. That way you could “manually assisted auto” defrost the freezer when it’s clogged up by flipping this switch for an hour or so – without having to remove the food and store elsewhere. The heater will make it go faster than 24 hours.

It seems to me that many different brands of “Frost free” freezer share this problem, and a manual override defrost button for such emergencies will make it bare-able. Else they really need to make the defrost logic a bit cleverer with more sensors telling the motherboard what’s going on with the ice situation.

Regards
Leon

By: Korana

Korana — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 18:50:22 +0000

hello! I have a Whirlpool fridge arc 4178 and also have a problem with it. He is no frost freezer but was too icy. He signals any attempt equalization temperature but fails to run. He works as he wants, even after we change one of the electronic card. The problem lies elsewhere. Service man wants to take the test. That we do not like because I think he will make some chemistry.
But before that I will try to turn it off for awhile to see whether or not he there to help as some of you. Thanks for the advice everyone. Korana from Croatia!