Fridge And Freezer Forum

[baffled]

Hello

I have a 7 year old Siemens fridge-freezer which has just stopped working. Siemens website has led me to service people online who say it probably needs a new compressor, dryer (filter) and gas, and by the time the call out and labour charges are added, it's not worth repairing this, likely to total around £400 all told. (They also say as models change over time, the components may have changed).

As I have said to the people advising on this, this is disappointing as, apart from the cost, it seems very wasteful to chuck away and add to the waste mountain a large fridge-freezer that is otherwise in pristine condition. I'd have expected a fridge-freezer marketted as high quality and durable, to last longer, especially as it's had one very undemanding couple using it and a cool, dry environment, with adequate air circulation, to live in, has been kept defrosted and the doors shut except for when briefly accessing the contents.

There is no visible sign of damage, inside or out, and the power lights still come on. I've tried adjusting the temperature dial from 1-5, turning the elecricity on and off and having the Super button off and on. When I first realised it wasn't cooling, there was still a VERY weak gurgling sound, but now there is no motor hum and no sound of liquid circulation.

Any advice about possibilities of fixing it and possible costs? The details I have of the item are as follow (variously from stickers on the white body, on the black cylinder underneath and on a sticker inside the fridge):

White sticker: DA110E133RBY5

Engraved on black metal cannister underneath: as above plus suffix 87017

White sticker: SXH 2426386

Bar code on body: 2937 822 330 15

Spec details on sticker: 230-240 Vols/50 Hz/1PH/R600A

EN 28187

KGV3 104

90221011

TYP SF-31/KGVA

FD 7808/11015
Thermally Protected, Matsushita Electrical Industrial Co. Ltd, Made in Singapore

Bar code: (25572)

Many thanks for any suggestions or advice.

[superfix]

Find full E-Nr on sticker inside fridge, on left hand side next to salad bin.

Just a point to check, if you turn power off and then turn back on again after a minute or so does it fire up?.

[Dave_Conway]

Plenty of numbers thanks but not one of them is the one we need

Inside the fridge, beside the salad bin is the rating plate, the number beginning Enr ????? please

Dave.

[Dave_Conway]

[baffled]

Thanks for the feedback. Ironically, with all the numbers and stickers, the key line of text on the key sticker, which I think will be the ENR number (on the sticker at the left of the salad drawer), is rubbed away by the salad drawer movement.

The EN 28187 one is as close as I can get, reading it from elsewhere on the fridge. Hum

[Dave_Conway]

Did you try Boro's suggestion ?

It may help him later when he's online

Dave.

[baffled]

Thanks, variously boro, Dave and kheath, for your suggestions.

Turning it off and on has no effect. It did when the problem first became evident, but that stopped having any effect as the fridge just made dying sighing noises (boro).

R600A does appear [on sticker: 230-240 Vols/50 Hz/1PH/R600A]. I'll see if it's still warm. No clicking sounds, I think, now: I'll check this, too and confirm tomorrow [I'm on email only at work]. (kheath)

Thanks again for your help

[baffled]

An update, after yesterday's advice about listening for clicks, seeing what happens if I turn the fridge on again, etc.

I turned the fridge on last night, for the first time since giving up on it a couple of weeks back, since when it's sat turned off with the doors open.

In the few hours before I went to bed, the fridge/freezer appeared to have started working:

- the cylinder under the fridge at the back (condenser?) became HOT to the touch;
- the network of thin tubes which covers the back of the fridge outside became warm, in the bottom third, cool midway up, and a little bit warm at the top third;
- the inside of the fridge and freezer began to cool [this morning, a chemical coolpack in the freezer had solidified/frozen, and the temperature guage read just below 0 degrees C - but by then the the fridge/freezer seemed to have stopped working again, as I'll explain below];
- for sounds, there were three distinct ones at the same time:
(a) a mechanical motor sound, with vibration felt on the white fridge body and the black cylinder underneath - this was a little loud, not the very quiet background hum one might expect from a working fridge, but not unacceptably loud; it had a laboured sound, with a rythmic pulse of less than a second per interval
(b) a sound like trickling water, at the back of the fridge, particularly at the bottom, where the black cylinder and all the other pipes that are joined to it are, as if there was water running through a semi-empty pipe, or like a gently overflowing basin in a sink if a tap's left running
(c) the sound I described previously as a gently, sighing sound; it struck me as the sound of waves lapping on a shingle beach, every 5 seconds or so (or else a slow, heavy breathing).

This morning, the lights (on and Super, which is for quick freeze, and is supposed to turn itself off once achieved) were still on, and as the doors had been shut overnight, the insides were cool; but all the sounds had stopped, and the outside parts that had become hot or warm last night are again just at room temperature.

Does this suggest anything more of a diagnosis?

Many thanks for any further thoughts.

[Dave_Conway]

I think from that I'd go along with Kevin, it sounds like the compressor is failing to be honest.

Engineer required to confirm of course, check the repairs@ link below.

Dave.

[superfix]

Yup definately sound like either failing compressor or blocked system

[baffled]

Thanks for the advice, Dave and Boro. Much appeciated, although of course not what I'd have hoped!