Repair of refrigerators

[Meatball]

Hi
I am totally impractical and have absolutely no technical skills. So here's my question
I can not control the temperature in my refrigerator, which is almost as cold as the freezer compartment. it may be that the thermostat is faulty and if so, is it worth repairing or just as good to buy new? Does anyone know of a refrigerator repairman?
Refrigerator is about six years old.

[Nereus]

Hi
I am totally impractical and have absolutely no technical skills. So here's my question
I can not control the temperature in my refrigerator, which is almost as cold as the freezer compartment. it may be that the thermostat is faulty and if so, is it worth repairing or just as good to buy new? Does anyone know of a refrigerator repairman?
Refrigerator is about six years old.

Can`t help you with a repairman, but a 6 year old refrigerator should be worth repairing. To replace a thermostat is not a big, or expensive job.
There is a shop on the left of Petchkasem Rd going towards Cha Am that has repaired refrigerators out the front, may be worth checking.

[Lung Per]

A refrigerator that is six years old? Much has happened with refrigators during the past six years. You will probably find, aside from your thermostat problem, that your fridge has a develish power consumption. Today's modern refrigerators are better insulated and use much less electricity than those six years ago. You may find it worthwhile to scrap the old one and by a new. Tesco-Lotus and Big Kiang often have good deals. Look for the power economy label.

[pharvey]

IMHO the drainage is blocked - hence ice appearing in the fridge section. Yes, believe it or not there is a drainage!!

In this day and age, 6 year old appliances are not going to fail as they did years ago, they may simply be out of date or not be quite as efficient.... BUT if you don't want to change it - go on take your food and drink out and DEFROST the bugger!! You should clear the drainage line, but make sure 24hrs plus with doors open, power off etc.

Good Luck!!

[poosmate]

The drain being blocked will not cause the fridge temperature to decrease. Ice forming around the condenser in a fan assisted fridge will in fact cause the temperature to rise due to insufficient air flow.
In the last six years fridges have not changed significantly.
Depending on whether the unit has one or two compressors, if one the fault is more than likely to be an electronic sensor in the fridge or more likely in the freezer. The freezer could be overrunning and this can cause the fridge to be too cold. Unfortunately the days of simple thermostats in fridge freezers is now limited to cheaper small and single door units.
I have used a repairer on pk road going north just before Somtawin school- sorry do not know the name but he usually has fridges outside his small shophouse.
I have always had to take the appliance to him.

[margaretcarnes]

I had this happen with a 4 year old Hoover fridge/freezer this January. The drain wasn't blocked. The man came out and fitted a new control panel (£150 quids worth) and the problem persisted. The man came out again and fitted another 150 quids worth of control panel - the problem persisted. He came out again and ripped the back off the fridge freezer before declaring that he was beaten. The problem was in wiring which simply couldn't be accessed. It was a very rare fault - and he didn't charge for the unecessary replacement parts. But an otherwise perfectly good and quite large bit of kit ended up going to landfill.

[Lung Per]

The drain being blocked will not cause the fridge temperature to decrease. Ice forming around the condenser in a fan assisted fridge will in fact cause the temperature to rise due to insufficient air flow.
In the last six years fridges have not changed significantly.
Depending on whether the unit has one or two compressors, if one the fault is more than likely to be an electronic sensor in the fridge or more likely in the freezer. The freezer could be overrunning and this can cause the fridge to be too cold. Unfortunately the days of simple thermostats in fridge freezers is now limited to cheaper small and single door units.
I have used a repairer on pk road going north just before Somtawin school- sorry do not know the name but he usually has fridges outside his small shophouse.
I have always had to take the appliance to him.

As I stated above: Today's modern refrigerators are better insulated and use much less electricity than those six years ago.

[Meatball]

Thanks for all the advice and answers.

[poosmate]

As I stated above: Today's modern refrigerators are better insulated and use much less electricity than those six years ago.

And as I said Not much has altered in domestic refrigeration in the last 6 years. Maybe I was wrong I should have said 15 years Apart from some newer produced models that have significantly less insulation and poorer quality compressors and general build quality.In fact the best and most efficiently insulated units were probably 30+ years ago and were manufactured with steel frames and rear panels encasing the very heavy insulation material . Today's need for lightness, larger interior storage, cheaper production and transport costs have reduced insulation efficiency.
Older units without extra lights, heaters, fans, solenoids and other defrost electronics in my opinion used less electricity but needed to be larger to store the same as newer models so not as suitable to the modern kitchen. Although I will admit the ability to accurately control temperature has improved possibly balancing some factors.

[poosmate]

Oh and Margaret..........I for many years was involved with Candy ( the owners of Hoover UK)
All wiring was fitted externally after the cabinet was manufactured in all models and can be removed easily. And to rub salt in the wiring was never a fault in my experience unless it was incorrectly fitted in the factory, and then faulty from new. The most common mistake with today's repairer is replacing the "control Panel" with a similar type that has been programmed differently to maybe rectify a known fault. Although the panel looks the same it acts differently. I was able to "programme " blank control panels to suit them to different models sometimes just to rectify faults discovered after "field trials" ( read sell them first and then fix them it was cheaper than the test laboratories and engineers that were made redundant) .This facility was not available to the average repair company and was even sometimes beyond the capability of Hoovers own service agents.

[margaretcarnes]

Thanks poosmate but sadly far too late now for my state of the art (as I was led to believe) bit of basically essential kit these days which yes - shouldn't go wrong. The repair guy was phoning for help to Hoover and it didn't work. Mai pen rai...

[Lung Per]

Read the label and check the power consumption data. You'll see the difference.
Over and out!

[poosmate]

Read the label and check the power consumption data. You'll see the difference.

No......... the effectiveness of the insulation and how quickly the compressor exchanges heat is the main factor in efficiency. Power consumption figures are fine for gullible consumers but running time determines actual costs.

[chopsticks]

Does this mean that the older models, which have all the pipes visible at the back and the compressor open at the bottom, are more efficient / economical than the all enclosed flush -back newer models

[Lung Per]

"Power consumption figures are fine for gullible consumers ". Interesting statement. I still recommend reading the labels, both the eco label and the mfgr's label. This is not rocket science.