UPDATE - I think I fixed it: comment link
Hi
After a thermostat / potentiometer replacement, my fridge produces ice / snow at the back even on the minimum (“min” setting, the one next to OFF).
The thermostat was replaced because the fridge just never turned on anymore.
The cooling plate is INSIDE the fridge because the one in the back wall of the fridge no longer worked. The same person did this too and worked for years with no ice, and we were really happy with it.
I thought this was caused by a clogged drain pipe so I found it, chopped it off completely because it was a botch job (or seemed like it) and replaced it with a catcher so the water still falls in the evaporator tray
Before:
Cleaned it with a long cable and by pouring water with dish detergent down the hole…
After:
But the ice formed back to the same amount within 1-2 weeks :-/
I took apart the old thermostat and found that it has these 2 screws in it.
I destroyed the whole thing to take out the screws completely from inside it, but I could turn them from outside too. What is the use of these? Can I adjust the cooling by turning them somehow?
I suspect that the fridge is now cooling more, therefore is creating more ice. What else could be the issue?
This ice did not use to form before the thermostat replacement.
The fridge / freezer is about 20 years old I think. It’s labeled Arctic but according to the guy that fixed it for us, it’s actually a rebadge, but I don’t remember exactly what brand he said it was. May have been Gorenje or Beko. It has 2 compressors for the fridge and freezer and they’re completely separate from each other.
Ideas?
From my perspective, if there’s way more ice than before, chances are high that it’s no longer air tight. If warm air with high humidity leaks into the fridge, it condensates on the cool walls of the fridge and freezes there. Maybe the spare part doesn’t seal the opening 100% and that’s where the air is coming in.
Regarding the temperature: Did you put a thermometre inside to see if it’s significantly cooler than expected?
Actually… You may be right. The hole where the coolong plate connects to the thermostat may not be air tight anymore since he put in the new thermostat. Maybe he bunged up the seal somehow.
Thanks for the idea. I’ll check that myself soon.
About temps: no idea. The thing is, I never measured the temperature inside it BEFORE it was fixed, so even if I measure it now I have no point of comparison :-/
Though… I just turned the temp from “min” to right in the middle and now it seems the ice is melting??? I’ll give it a few more days and see what happens.
I guess it may be that this thermostat is backwards???
To be clear: i have to pass by “min” to go to off, so in my head it makes sense that “min” means “lowest cooling” / “highest temperature”. From max I can’t go to “off”. These are all one dial with no separate on/off.
About temps: no idea. The thing is, I never measured the temperature inside it BEFORE it was fixed, so even if I measure it now I have no point of comparison :-/
You could still validate against the general recommendations. If it’s 2 °C instead of 6, then it’s probably too cold.
But still, my bets are on humitidy getting in somewhere. Even if it’s super cold, there won’t be ice without humidity.
So here’s what I found.
Top is the internal device temp.
Middle is the temperature at the end of a long wire that I have wrapped around itself at the back of the thermometer device, just behind that screen basically.
I think the real temperature is right between these 2 numbers. That’s what my central heating unit thermostat reads anyway, the exact middle of these.
Bottom is humidity %.
Fridge set to “min”: 8.25 C - this was the initial setting it was always on, before and after the repair
Set to “max”: 1.5 C
Set just past the middle point towards max: 5.6 C
I have it set to 5.6 C basically, and now the ice looks like it’s melting! Though not quickly.
The humidity seems crazy high for some reason. I don’t think it’s that humid in my apartment. In my room it never goes above 60% at worst though I guess around the fridge it may be higher…
This seems to have fixed it for now so I’ll leave it alone but if it ever produces ice again I think I’ll take off the plate and check what the repair man did back there.
Cheers, thanks for the advice!
I’m not even going to try to understand why the ice is melting when I just set it to a lower temperature lol
The humidity seems crazy high for some reason. I don’t think it’s that humid in my apartment. In my room it never goes above 60% at worst though I guess around the fridge it may be higher…
The relative humidity changes with temperature. If you have humidity of 60% in your room and you cool it down, the humidity will rise as cold air can hold less water vapor than warm air. So especially in a scenario where you regularly check the temperature and humidity by opening the fridge, I would definitely expect a high humidity. Over time when the door is closed, humidity should go down as it condensates and then either freezes at the back (bad) or as a liquid through the little opening that you cleaned (good).
oh alright, makes sense
Are all your door seals ok? I’ve had a cooler ice up before because one of the seals was letting air through, so when the fans inside would run it basically drew fresh damp air in and froze it to everything.
UPDATE - I think I fixed it: comment link
Cool Congrats! Hopefully after all this it gives you many more years of service. Thanks for the update.
Thanks, I’ll check, but I doubt they’re damaged. They looked mint last time I checked. I actually have to pull pretty hard to open the fridge.
I’m not quite sure I follow. You had someone replace the thermostat and now it ices over? Maybe they just put the in the wrong part?
UPDATE - I think I fixed it: comment link
yes
Maybe? but how could it be wrong? Still works fine and it does still stop sometimes but it just creates ice.
This fridge isn’t one of those Ice-free ones, it never heats the plate to de-ice. But it didn’t use to create ice before.
