Why is my fridge freezing food on the lower sheves?

[mart]

I have a basic fridge with the small freeze compartment at the top, 7" high. The freezer compartment works fine.

Even though I keep the settings on the lowest setting (No 1), food that is on the shelves is freezing up. Half a tin of beans in a dish ends up with ice on top. Some surplus roast potatoes that I put in another dish became frozen solid. These items were on a shelf that was not near to the freezer compartment.

The freezer compartment seems fine, in that it is not excessively frozen. Even though the fridge is quite a few years old, I have owned it from new, so I know that it has not been messed around with.

My thoughts are a thermostat issue, if thermostat is the right term. There is a wire that is located in the freezer compartment that I'm guessing works like a thermocouple/sender unit? I would guess that the "thermostat" that controls the fridge temperature is behind the knob with the numbers on?

 

[Nick67GT]

There should be an internal drain point on the back wall of the fridge somewhere.

If this gets blocked, it can sometimes cause the syptoms you are describing.

Get a piece of wire or stiff plastic about 2mm diameter and stick it down the drain as far as you can, moving it in / out as you go.

Hopefully, this will dislodge any old food debris which has taken up residence and preventing the drain doing it's job.

Could be a cheap fix......

 

[mart]

I`ve just looked for a drain hole but there does not appear to be one my fridge. I think I can recall seeing that type of thing on other fridge or freezer appliances. They may be only on the self defrosting type.

 

[cumbriasteve]

Got to agree with the drain hole, not seen a fridge without it.

We had the same problem, stuff was frozen solid and when emptied and inspected there was a trough at the bottom back that looked ok, closer inspection revealed it was a full to the top and had frozen, must have lifted out a KG block of ice.

Ten mins with a hair dryer and the hole appeared..all well again.

 

[rikrobson]

Turn the termostat up. It should be about 4°C inside.

 

[rtbcomp]

Mine does the same but it's the thermostat that's stuck "on". As you say the thin tube in the freezer compartment connects to the thermostat.

The way I got round it was to plug the fridge into a 24 hour mechanical timer, so it switches on and off during the day. You have to mess around with the settings to compensate for the weather conditions, but it's cheaper than a new fridge.

Turn the termostat up. It should be about 4°C inside.

The thermostat's already on its warmest setting.

 

[the snooper]

There will only be a drain hole if it's auto defrost the water sits in a tray on top.of the compressor and the heat from it evaporates the water, check to see if the compressor is constantly on if it is thermostat will be at fault

 

[eil]

Does the little freezer compartment freeze up all the way around, right up to the "little wire" as you call it. Its a capillary tube by the way which does connect up to the thermostat, thermocouple. In some of that type of fridge there used to be a flap in the tray underneath, which holds the defrost water when you defrost the fridge, you close that flap in winter and have it open in warmer weather.

 

[the snooper]

And is the capillary tube still firmly clipped to the freezer compartment and not just hanging in the air

 

[rikrobson]

I keep the settings on the lowest setting

The thermostat's already on its warmest setting.

I assumed that lowest was coldest

 

[piman]

Hello Rik,

my thought also, 1 is low, no harm in turning it the other way and see the result?

Alec

 

[eil]

Setting No1 is definitely the warmest setting, higher the setting the colder it gets.

 

[Mee]

If its a Samsung they had issues with them and engineers called and did a free modification.

 

[mart]

I'll address some of the points/questions raised.

The fridge thermostat is set at No 1. This means the compressor is off for more time than it is running. To make the fridge run cooler the stat would be set to higher number ,for example 2 or 3.

The capillary tube is firmly clipped to the freezer compartment and not hanging in the air.Pics of internal & external.

Still no drain hole(s) located. Pics of internal & external.

Fridge make is frigidaire. I have taken pics of any numbers that I could see.

 

[rtbcomp]

Does the motor run all the time?

 

[zx9]

Check the door seals, our twenty year old integrated Bosch fridge used to ice up all the veg even when set to one. When I replaced it I took off the decor panel and could see that the door seal had a two inch plus long gap, must have been letting in warm air which fooled the thermostat into over cooling the fridge.

 

[mart]

Does the motor run all the time?

No. It`s off more than on.

 

[eil]

Where`s the tray that slides under the ice box mart.

 

[mart]

I temporarily took that tray out just while I was taking a photo of the underside of the freezer box.I put it back in straight afterwards.

 

[jenki]

I think it is the thermostat can you follow the copper capiliary tube back to the adjustment knob and find out the type of thermostat it may be hidden behind 'clip on' plastic panels. I seem to remember 'Ranco' was the manufacture on my old Electrolux fridge obtained a replacement (Ace electrical in Swansea long gone now) replaced and it all worked until I got rid of it. I would add that a modern fridge does seem cheaper to run.