Fridge question

[Mrs Ava]

I have a bog standard Daewoo fridge with a freezer at the bottom.  It is newish, about 4 years old.  Can someone explain to me why the veggie compartment at the bottom insists on freezing up?  I end up with frozen lettuce!!  I have to ensure I put thawed out food high in the fridge as I cannot risk them refreezing, even slightly!  The fridge isn't on a high setting.  Just wondered if this is normal, common, or is there something I should or could do????

[Mrs Ava]

[tim]

It happens to us all!! No idea - breakdown of insulation? But how?

At least you're not on your third (very expensive) machine in as many months. But at least we've got it sorted now. And each time they were taken back, we got a spare set of all internal bibs & bobs, 'cos they just bin the lot!!

[Mrs Ava]

Oh, okay, well that is good to know.  My mum said it was my fridge, as it never happens to her, but her fridge doesn't have the freezer beneath it.  Oh well, I shall just keep removing the ice build up and enjoy icy lettuce!  Thanks Tim.

[johnslottie]

We have the same problem, but ours is donkeys years old.  Looking at replacing it in the near future.  It's helped deicing the fridge  ??? and the freezer, and putting it on the minimum setting.

One consolation, at that temperature, there's little chance of food going off quickly!

[Mrs Ava]

Exactly John, I have lettuce last for weeks and weeks!  :D

[johnslottie]

I have resorted to hiding it in soup  ;)

[Hot_Potato]

Can't tell you how relieved I am to read these posts!!...my fridge/freezer is about 5 years old - a 'Service' and has always behaved in the same way!!...
I line my salad drawers with kitchen paper (sometimes even newspaper) to try to stop the 'frozen carrots'  but it still happens especially if I'm away for a day or two!

Found that if I lay small bottles of lemonade/beers/wine (the 25cl size)....at the bottom of salad box also then put veggies/salad items on top then it's not so likely to happen....the bottles can be either plastic or glass (which doesn't seem to freeze up thank goodness)

My 'fridge' frosts/freezes up very quickly at the back so I regularly 'turn off' for about 45 minutes at a time til most of it's 'run into the channel' and sometimes.....I suddenly hear an almight crash and the great block of ice has slipped down the back to the bottom of fridge - scaring the life out of me & forcing me to empty lower contents, sort it out and clean up....but I'm alway glad when it's done cos then the whole thing looks great and I can stop worrying about it for a little while ;)...I always keep 'fridge on lowest setting.

[Hyacinth]

EJ, as this seems quite common amongst you lot with combi fridge/freezers - how about complaining? At least they might alter their design  :-\  Badly frosted lettuce is fit only for the compost heap (or whichever lettuce eating pets you happen to have). And having to keep it on the min.temp. doesn't seem too smart, either...

I've a side-by-side larder-fridge & freezer.......both abt 10-12yrs old - both work perfectly or, rather, both doing exactly what they should be doing. 8)

[tim]

I'm surprised that anyone should suffer such a problem without an immediate complaint.

Ours was the opposite - on full cold it would not get below 12C! And it sounded like a diesel truck on tick-over. No questions asked, either time.  But each time we have had to touch up our paintwork - it's not shaped like your average door!! But the design is so good, I just had to have it.

And we also got a extended 5 year guarantee on the last one.

Speaking of cold, our 'pantry shelf' is meant to run at 0C - so no lettuce in there!

[sallylockhart]

my fridge freezer has been freezing all my veg recently - carrots you could batter someone over the head with and lettuce with added icicles   :o

but this morning our shiny new fridge and freezer arrived  ;D ;D ;D

they are bigger than me and have plenty of room for the anticipated gluts later in the year (gardening confidence growing - can you tell?)  ;D

unfortunately we didn't read the bit in the manual that says you can't use them for 24 hours - so all the shopping we skipped gleefully out to buy is now crammed into the old (mini) fridgefreezer, or piled into coolbags - pah!

[Hyacinth]

My family in the US have one of those fridge/freezer type things that makes ice cubes as you want them. With glee I sent him a card showing just how these were made......it involved the rear-end of a penguin which was inside the freezer, as I recall  :o ;D

[sarah]

We had the same problem with our deawoo combo frost free fridge/freezer. Under the five year guarantee they came out and looked at it and said "oh yes its the ...thingy wotsit that regulates the doodah to keep it frost free" , every twenty four hours or so it ...um... kind of defrosts itself or something ... and that regulates the frost free facility.  something like that anyway( :-[ ::) ???). so he sent off for a new bit and fitted it no probs. Are you still under guarantee EJ?  Sorry I cant remember the details, but hope it of some help.

[littlegem]

sounds like the thermostat is faulty, when they are mass produced they only test one in about one hundred. have you checked the freezer temperature? is it too cold aswell? they generally only have one compressor. generally fridges and freezers switch off at a certain temp. fridges dont normally have defrost cos they don't get that cold.

A good tip - Do not put a frozen turkey in the fridge of a fridge/freezer the temp in fridge will go low and the compressor will shut out (for both) and defrost the freezer!!!

[Curryandchips]

In addition to what Littlegem has said, there is the possibility that the machine is low on coolant or has a related circulation problem, hence it gets cold at the bottom, but not the top, as the temperature should be reasonably even throughout. I know this to be the case because my dad's freezer was playing up, only the bottom half was cooling, hence blocks of ice at the bottom, but warm at the top.