OK home handymen, help me out on this.

My fridge has been in storage for 6 months. We've just moved into a new place and plugged it all in and it appears to be freezing up constantly (we've fully defrosted it once since moving in, cleaned the s*** out of it, and it's still doing it).

We've got the thermostat on the lowest setting and we're still seeing stuff in there freeze and the back of the fridge just gets all covered in frost, so I'm not sure if something got damaged when we're moving it or if its some newb fridge thing we can fix ourselves.

Also, we have this weird metal/foil thing hanging down - it's always been there. Apparently sometimes it gets hot. It looks like so:

http://trog.qgl.org/up/fridge-wtf1.jpg

http://trog.qgl.org/up/fridge-wtf2.jpg

I've done some Googling but like everything all the suggestions are utterly stupid ("fridge too cold? try turning up the thermostat!", thanks genius)

Looks like it is time for a new fridge!

Looks like it is time for a new fridge!

are your seals ok? maybe the seals arent sealing and the fridge is trying to compensate by working harder:

I had problems once with my fridge freezing up. I put it down to air movement through out the fridge. People were putting too many bulky things on the top shelf and anything at the back would freeze, and anything in the door would not be cold enough.. Frustrating.

Don't know if that will help for you though.

Did you let it sit before turning it on after transporting?

I had problems once with my fridge freezing up. I put it down to air movement through out the fridge. People were putting too many bulky things on the top shelf and anything at the back would freeze, and anything in the door would not be cold enough.. Frustrating.

Don't know if that will help for you though.

Did you let it sit before turning it on after transporting?

yeh for at least a couple hours IIRC

are your seals ok? maybe the seals arent sealing and the fridge is trying to compensate by working harder:

I'm pretty sure they are but I'll double check them

are your seals ok? maybe the seals arent sealing and the fridge is trying to compensate by working harder:

How obvious is it when seals aren't working properly? The fridge seems to be in fairly good condition, although the freezer seals look like they have seen better days (but this shouldn't affect the fridge part, right?).

People were putting too many bulky things on the top shelf and anything at the back would freeze, and anything in the door would not be cold enough.. Frustrating.

We have tried having the fridge empty and the fridge full of stuff, and it freezes in both cases.

Did you let it sit before turning it on after transporting?

Pretty sure it was only unplugged when it got moved :/

I think we need to crack open the box with the temperature dial and see if it's just something that's come loose... The fridge is acting like someone was playing silly buggers and turned the temp to the coldest position, which I guess manifests itself in the same way as a broken thermostat :/

Doods, that fridge is so old. Buy a new one.

try turning the thermostat all the way up to cold and see what happens?

yeah buy another fridge srsly

you need to get an AMD running on the bottom shelf or something

Dude spend your Ruddbux on a new fridge.... seriously that thing's probably older than Mantra.

having a weird foil thing hanging in the back of the fridge that apparently maybe sometimes gets hot probably isn't going to help :P if it was me i'd take the whole thing apart & see where that foil thing is supposed to go & re-attach it properly first thing... then see how it behaves after that... that's me though. ;p

new fridge, not because im too lazy to suggest anything or because i like to jump on bandwagons but because new fridges save on electricity and are better at cooling and maintaining your food.

+1 new fridge

Thermostat broken.

new fridges are like forfty thousand dollars :(

Yep, weird metal things hanging down aint good, be a man, pull it apart, break it, then say you needed a new one anyway.

You might get lucky like I do sometimes and actually fix it, worked with my dryer, humming along beautifully with new bearings for $20.

Yeah, new fridge.

It's now going back a while, but when we got rid of our old one and bought a brand new one, I was surprised at the difference.

Cheaper to run, food lasts longer, doesn't freeze up etc.

Although white goods rate at the bottom of the 'Exciting things to buy' list, they are a pretty important part of your life and get used alot so getting decent gear is good.

I get excited about white goods.

Has the same feeling as cleaning a dirty window... Never think its going to make too much difference, but it does!

I heard KleenMaid are a good brand.

decent new fridge is your stimulus plus a bit;

seriously that thing's probably older than Mantra.

Not possible. Mantra pre-dates the invention of artificial refrigeration.

We pulled one apart at work to see if we could get it running again. We couldn't and were left with a bunch of random parts we didn't know where to put back in. Be a real man and do the same thing.

I purchased a brand new largish (forget how many L) fridge from Myer for about $800. You could easily get a smaller and crapper one for less

your thermostats cactus i'd say, any fridgy could replace it for you
or even an electrician probably - its got nothing to do with the actual refrigeration compressor

just call someone out of the yellow pages if you dont wanna get a totally new fridge

and get a frost free one!! seriously makes life a lot easier.

That metal thing?

That's to stop the back of the frige from freezing up! I had that heater plate die on my fridge, and it would freeze up behind the cooling element, and then stop the air from circulating around the fridge. Had a fridge guy come out and he replaced the heater element on the spot...for like 100~ bucks.

Perhaps that plate has some form of temperature gague in it, which tells the fridge it's too cold/hot. Get a fridge man out before spending wads of cash on a new one....that said, it looks pretty old, it might cost you more than what the fridge is worth - might be cheaper/easier to get a 2nd hand fridge from trading post and using it when friends come over for beers.

^the only time I have used it for beers, my beers felt so icey cold it was awesome. Unfortunately, when I opened a beer, it froze in the bottle!!! Very cool science experiment, but was sad to lose such a cold beer :(

*clears throat* fridgy here

that shiny metal thing is the defrost heater, and it should be right alongside the evaporator coil. its fallen down so you need to attach it back up. unscrew those screws and hopefully it'll be pretty obvious where its supposed to go.

it getting hot is the fridge on its defrost cycle which is how it keeps the ice under control

also the thermostat bulb location might need looking at especially seeing as theres stuff falling out everywhere! you should see it behind there. long thin aluminum tube. the tip needs to be touching the evaporator coil


last edited by scooby at 16:24:10 14/May/09

*clears throat* fridgy here

that shiny metal thing is the defrost heater, and it should be right alongside the evaporator coil. its fallen down so you need to attach it back up. unscrew those screws and hopefully it'll be pretty obvious where its supposed to go.

it getting hot is the fridge on its defrost cycle which is how it keeps the ice under control

also the thermostat bulb location might need looking at especially seeing as theres stuff falling out everywhere! you should see it behind there. long thin aluminum tube. the tip needs to be touching the evaporator coil
last edited by scooby at 16:24:10 14/May/09

awesome dude thanks heaps. Is there anything we need to worry about (like getting electrocuted or sucked into a black hole) by opening that s*** up? We'll obvy have to defrost it again to get to that back panel.

Damnit someone beat me to it :(

Fix your tin foil looking thing or it can't defrost for you.

unplug it and youre fine to do as you please
good idea to have it plugged into a power point with a safety switch because fridges can be dodgy when it comes to earth leakage !

Why scooby why... you should've just let trog thinks it's unfixable so he'll replace that thing...

i'm not going to bother reading this thread. but my suggestion is to buy a fridge controller. heaps cheaper than a new fridge.

basically it switches power on and off based on a thermistor placed somewhere in your fridge. i think they go for like $50 from the internets. if your fridge is getting too cold at least its working, why sell it and buy a new one imo.

i would put a power meter on that fridge to check how much power it is sucking down. old fridges are pretty notorious for churning through the power.

buying a new fridge could pay for itself in a year.

not sure if it was mentioned, but it's new fridge time mate

OK question - a mate has offered me a new fridge. I suspect it is less than 5 years old.

Can I transport this lying down? I have heard that they need to be moved vertical but that might only be older ones.

Supposed to be moved standing for sure but I've had to lay one down before. I left it stand for a full two days before plugging it in and it seemed fine. I could've just lucked out though?

that will be fine:
just leave it settle for a bit before turning it on; (when upright)

what the f***, its 2009, why can't I just move a fridge and plug it in and expect it to work!@#

I agree.

Same with TV's and whatnot. Was a bitch moving my LCD last time I moved (the guy said to never lay it down)

If it's reasonably new and it's not going to be on its side for a long time it *should* be OK. I remember something about the compressor springs wearing out and something mixing but if it's all new and tight and you're careful and you give it a bit of time before turning it on should be OK.

its best to move them vertically because if tipped on its side the oil may run out of the compressor into the pipework, and when you go to switch it on there'll be no lubrication for the comp's internals ... (rattle rattle, comp dead).

so its fine to lay it down as long as you give it a couple of hours for gravity to return all the oil to the sump.