Broken Fridge

My fridge is warm, my freezer remains cold though.

Not sure what the cause might be. I don't exactly have a DIY bone in my body. Would have bought a new fridge but the fridge is attached to wooden panelling, so that makes things more awkward too.

Any idea if I get a handy-man in, what kind of realistic cost it might be for the most common causes of this problem?

The Continental Op

Start by switching it all off for a couple of hours. This might reset anything that is causing a problem. Obviously try not to use the freezer when you do this. The other thing to check is that the switch the switches the fridge light off is working. If the light stays on it can warm the fridge up. The light is often part of the defrost/no frost system which switching the whole unit off for a while might reset.

However Fridge/Freezers really aren't a DIY item so its often replace if they go wrong.

10-10-20

There is often a vent between the freezer and the fridge which is opened and closed by the fridge control system. That vent can freeze up with ice either causing the vent to be blocked or the actuator to become stuck. As The Continental said, defrost the fridge-freezer but also look for that vent and ensure that it's unblocked.

I have been known to use a hair-dryer on low to assist in defrosting mine, but that's not good advice so I won't give it. 😆

The Continental Op

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120582820#Comment_120582820

Agree defrosting is a good idea but wasn't actually suggesting that. Neighbour has a fancy built in fridge freezer and the repair guy suggested they first leave it off for a couple of hours to reset the electronics.

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120582541#Comment_120582541

However Fridge/Freezers really aren't a DIY item so its often replace if they go wrong.

we have an applicance repair place near us and on two of the three occasions i've rung them, they've been honest enough to say 'we'd just charge you 60 quid to tell you you need a new washing machine'.

anyway, could it be something as trivial as the dial setting temp in the fridge having an 'off' option? i vaguely remember seeing that once.

The Continental Op

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120582885#Comment_120582885

My mother with dementia had the opposite problem. Fridge froze solid as she kept turning the dial up to max. Milk would come out of the bottle in chunks!

hesker

Unfortunately in today’s world paying for an appliance repair is rarely going to be cost effective.

My fridge went on the blink similarly a few years back and I was lucky to find a guy who called to the house, diagnosed a defective thermostat and fitted a new one for €20, all in.

That is unlikely to be possible nowadays but for those of us willing to tackle DIY there has never been as much info available. Two years ago my dishwasher started acting up. With the aid of google I was able to conclude a pressure switch was the likely culprit and got it back and running 100% again for about €20.

10-10-20

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120583647#Comment_120583647

Exactly husker, let's focus on what we can DIY and not what we think we can't, right? I'm not on here to encourage the concept that appliances are readily disposable. Through some small effort I have managed to keep my 17 year old appliances operational to the point where I have only replaced a dishwasher in that period for the reason that somebody fainted and fell on the door (no booze involved!). All others have had repairs, nothing OTT, but I'd like to think that I have prevented some element of needless waste.

Back to the issue at hand, the device called the air damper is a common cause of the described symptom. It breaks or freezes over, that's a common issue which I recommend the OP to check.

And don't get me wrong - I value the opinions of others, but I sometimes like the challenging solution. 😅