JL American Fridge Frost Free Freezer

LMSC

10 years old. In hot weather, the fresh food freezes. I have increased the fresh food to max 8C and freezer from default -18C to -16C. I switched off the power and opened the back side to find something has melted. Not sure, what it is.

Not sure, what causes the fresh food to freeze and what this melted stuff is!

Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thx

Elcarajillo

Possibly refrigerant has leaked out losing freezer effect and allowing mechanism to overheat– melted sealant ?

LMSC

Elcarajillo Refridgrant in the tank isn’t leaking. The black stuff around the tank outside is. Will call someone tmrw to check. Think, it’s time for a new unit.

DavecUK

LMSC Refridgrant in the tank isn’t leaking. The black stuff around the tank outside is. Will call someone tmrw to check. Think, it’s time for a new unit.

here is what’s probably happening

Thermostat in fridge section is faulty
fresh food freezes
Increases load on compressor
fresh food door opened much more often than freezer
increases load on compressor
compressor gets very hot
black stuff melts

Get a new thermostat for the fridge section, problem should go away.

Uncletits

The black stuff is just some insulation sometimes used to stop vibration but also sometimes used on the suction line to prevent condensation. More likely that the system is working hard in the warmer weather and creates more ice so maybe needs some gauges connecting to check the system performance.

dfk41

@LMSC I think in this day and age, 10 years is a reasonable time (though not brilliant) to expect something to live. The way I do things with electrics is this: my tv is now just a shade over 6 years old. I bought it from Richer Sounds with their own 6 year warranty. It has not been mended. When it breaks down, I will simply bin it. I cannot recover the cost of an engineer to visit to establish the fault.If they diagnose it, then I have to consider what might go wrong next. Not everyone will agree with my thinking but it works for me

A few years ago I replaced our fridge freezer with this make

https://www.haier-europe.com/en_GB/10-year-warranty-for-added-peace-of-mind/

It is ideal for our needs as the fridge part has 2 doors with great access and the freezer has 2 pull out drawers…….all with a 10 year warranty

LMSC

Thx every one.

Spoke to an Appliance Engineer, shared some photos as he had asked. He thinks the “backdoor “ between fridge and freezer is broken / jammed.

I doubled checked last night and this morning, if something is leaking from the compressor tank (liquid, right?). That may be trouble. That’s ok. As Dave and others said the black sealant has melted / is melting in the process.

I was thinking if the thermostat is faulty. He doesn’t think it is the cause. The freezing of food happens from top to bottom shelf of the fridge. Cold air comes thru’ the vent via the freezer.

@dfk41 - Trying to milk it as much as possible. Would replace if the attempt to fix fails. Haha.

DavecUK

LMSC Spoke to an Appliance Engineer, shared some photos as he had asked. He thinks the “backdoor “ between fridge and freezer is broken / jammed.

Since you say vent is in the top of fridge and that it freezes from top down (not bottom up), none of which you mentioned, then the engineer is possibly correct, that route is perhaps always open or any circulation fan if there isn’t a “door”, is always on.

Which would still cause the compressor to overheat badly because of the other reasons I mentioned.

P.S. It might also be the thermostat is the cause of this “door” being always open…the engineer cannot know unless he has some way of reading diagnostic codes for the unit. If it’s cheaper to replace the thermostat first perhaps try that?

LMSC

The back door was the culprit. It was not working at all. It is all good after the replacement. Paid £50 for parts and £40 for labour. 😊