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Topic: Warm fridge

DaveCoaches

30/7/2011 at 2:54pm
Location: None Entered
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Please help. Our fridge has packed up. It was supposedly running on mains electricity on our drive last week but wasn't, although it was still cold when plugged in as it had been running on gas for the weekend. When I checked mid week, it had stopped working, but found the gas was still lit despite being switched onto electric.

Now it will not run on gas either. Having done some research I have tried turning it upside down but to no avail and cleaned the burner. It is lighting on gas just not cooling. I was thinking it was the thermostat, but was just advised that a faulty thermostat usually causes freezing. At almost £200 for it, I loath to change it to find nothing wrong with it.

Has anyone any idea what the fault is?

wizard9956

30/7/2011 at 6:39pm
Location: Bristol
Outfit: Lunar Conquest 544 a

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Was the fridge perfectly level ? , they don't work properly if they aren't .
What is the fridge model .
How did you see the gas was lit when it was switched to electric .

atb

Wizard

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NSA66

30/7/2011 at 9:51pm
Location: Manchester
Outfit: Swift Charisma 555 - Ford Galaxy Tdci

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3-way fridges are cooled by absorption units which use a mixture of gases (usually hydrogen and ammonia) and water to cool the fridge. The system is powered by a heater with 12v & 240v electric elements as well as a gas burner. As long as heat is put into the system and all three substances are present in the correct proportions, then the fridge WILL cool. If you know that the heat is there (i.e. you can see the flame or feel the heat from the electric element) then there must be something wrong.

Barring mechanical damage such as crushed tubing (which doesn't seem to be the case here) by far the most likely problem is loss of refrigerant - did you notice a smell of ammonia at all - perhaps inside the fridge even? Although it is possible to re-gas a fridge, the gas would not simply disappear without some sort of breach of the system. I suspect that in this case the combination of gas and electric heat was too much for the generator section which houses the heater, leading to a crack, or the opening up of a joint in the pipework. In either case it's highly unlikely that this would reseal itself and would require professional attention. Re-gassing would, at best, be a temporary solution in the great majority of cases. Incidentally, it is this localised overheating which causes the majority of failures when fridges are not installed in a level manner. Unlevelness causes the heat to be distributed incorrectly within the generator leading to structural stresses and failure.

Sorry to be a merchant of gloom. I hope you do manage to find a more palatable explanation - please share the info if you do.

DaveCoaches

31/7/2011 at 9:11am
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Firstly, I could see the gas alight through the spy hole at the back of the fridge. Having now pulled the fridge out, I can see the switch has been bypassed. As for the second question, no, there was no sign of a smell except for the smell of my food going off prematurely in the warm fridge.

DaveCoaches

31/7/2011 at 9:12am
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It's an Electrolux RM 6270

Pickled Onion

31/7/2011 at 10:49am
Location: Near Alton Towers
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Nice explanation there NSA66. I will have to be more careful how level I keep my little beer fridge them.

Dave, when you turned the fridge upside down did you hear any gurgling or sounds of liquid moving? With heat and no cooling it does sound a lot like no refridgerant to me.

Dave

wizard9956

31/7/2011 at 10:52am
Location: Bristol
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I've got the manual for that model , if you'd like it send me a email ( link below ) .
I'm guessing here , but i wonder if the reason the gas was still running when switched to electric is because the 230 volt mains element has blown and the previous owner has bypassed the switch to make it stay running on gas when electric is selected .
Also check the door seal is sealing well .

atb

Wizard

steveiem

31/7/2011 at 11:10am
Location: Clacton on Sea . Sunshine Coast
Outfit: Compass Navigator 1200 TDi swb

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Just use one power source , when I used gas and electric on mine , it overheated ,

-------------

There's a place for all gods creatures ,,

Right next to the potatoes and veg ,,,

DaveCoaches

31/7/2011 at 5:18pm
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I think the reason the switch for the gas had been bypassed is because there is a fault on the switch. I tried reconnecting the switch and couldn't get it to light so this seems to back that thought up.

Interestingly though, now we have got back home it seems to have chilled a bit whilst connected to the car running on 12 volts, so that seems to be blowing the refrigerant theory out of the window.

Thanks for the offer of the manual Wizard, but I already have a manual but there is not much in there about fixing it.

I now have it plugged into the mains hookup again and the gas turned off, so I will see if it is cool tomorrow. If it is then I guess most likely cause is a partially blocked gas jet, other wise I am still stumped.

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