Fridge And Freezer Forum

Type ST13 into the repairs@ module and you might get a result. Failing that, check Directories for a UKW repairer in your area.

Regards,
Penguin45.

Penguin45 wrote:The whole point of the bypass is that the sensors are foamed into the fridge or freezer insulation and are not replaceable. This is why there is no part number listing.

Regards,
Penguin45.

Fair enough. I was picking up on the post from "Demolition Dave" who claims that they can be "dug out of the foam" and replaced for approx £15. However, a week on and my fridge freezer seems to be maintaining both units at a sensible temperature, so I'll live with it for now. Thanks again for the forum, your time and support is appreciated.

Demolition Daves repair did cause some puzzlement, as it is certainly not an approved repair. We can only assume that he improvised something with "proprietary" thermistors - they are definitely not available from Bosch. However, he didn't choose to enlighten us on that score.

Glad yours is working,
Regards,
Penguin45.

Thanks Penguin but no repairmen locally. After reading other posts, I've taken off the inside back panel and defrosted the area with a hairdryer and allowed the unit to thaw naturally.

The freezer has gone back down to -18 but at least once a day it rises again, sometimes to about -5, I can hear the compressor kicking in but it stops with a judder and this can repeat for quite some time.

Do you think it's likely to be a faulty compressor or something controlling it?

Grateful for any advice as it seems a shame to throw away something that otherwise works and looks fine.

Regards

Ade

Sounds like the compressor to me.

If it is rising to only -5 you can't reliably store food in it safely.

K.

I was hoping you weren't going to say that!! Is it a costly repair (assuming I can find someone to assist)?!!

Cheers

Ade

Must be something about 6 year old bosch fridge freezers.

My KGV3104, bought on 1/5/1999 has just started displaying the same symptoms - freezing fine for a while and then letting everything thaw. Fiddling with the thermostat or turning it off and on starts it up again, and it'll go to -30, stay cold for a day or so, then drop back to +3 in the freezer.

The compressor is hot, and I've cleaned a lot of stucky dusty gunk off the black grid at the back, but it sounds like I might have the same sensor problem.

Anyone in the Sheffield area able to help? I am completely useless at DIY, btw.

Type your postcode into repairs@ukwhitegoods.co.uk to see if there are any repairers covering your area. I can think of at least one........

Regards,
Penguin45.

Thanks - I noticed your general location!

I have found the short-circuit info on <http://www.reviewcentre.com/vt100228_start0_orderasc.html> and even with my general cackhandedness have managed to get the fascia off the top of the fridge, strip two wires a little and wrap them tightly in insulating tape. If this hasn't fixed it I will be onto one or other of the two names who came up in the repair@ list.

I'm still alive and the fridge has started up...

Well done, good luck with it. Hope you had the power off whilst you did the wiring mod......

Regards,
Penguin45.

Oh yes, plug definitely well out of the wall.

My first attempt didn't work, but stripping 5mm of insulation from each wire and twisting them tightly around each other before binding them with insulating tape seems to have worked - the freezer has maintained itself in the -24 to -30 range for 48 hrs now. I recommnd this fix to anyone with a
Bosch KGV freezer problem (text here again for Google to find!)

Thanks to all at UKW and RepairCentre for this tip. Hopefully, my freezer will now work until the other thermistor fails, when it can join the great fridge mountain. I wonder if Bosch have changed the design in the last 6 years, or do their current freezers still have a failure prone unrelaceable partt?

Good effort jonmay!

Wish I'd found that link - my old Bosch is now well and truly in that fridge mountain. However, being a glutton for punishment I've since bought another one so I'll keep the link as it'll probably come in handy in about 6 years time!!!!!

Ade

Abbreviated copy of my mail to nearest "Whitegoods" engineer:
"Is it repairable? terminal? expensive? waste of money?
This thread seems to be discussing problems similar to mine:
I have an 8 year old ENR: KGV 2604 GB/04 FD: 7709/17032 Bosch fridge freezer. The functioning/cooling of both the fridge and freezer is currently intermittent. Initially it appeared that the freezer thermometer remained (just) below freezing, when I checked it, but food was found defrosted. Currently both the fridge and freezer appear to rise to room temperature..... though (for a short period... couple of hours??) both function at good temperatures. And it seems I have to switch it off and on again to achieve this. For about a year prior to this it was noisy."

Reply from "Whitegoods" engineer:
"This certainly has all the hallmarks of a faulty sensor.
It would be certainly well worth the doing the mod
which is suggested in the UKW forum.
My own experience on Bosch F/F is not as extensive
as many of the engineers on the forum so I would
advise first of all that you post there. We are always
encouraging people to do this as the cross section of
experience is so vast.
If there were faulty valves in the compressor I would
expect the symptoms to be less intermittent.Thanks for your enquiry."

Reply from Bosch Product Advice:
"It would appear that it could be a thermometer or compressor problem you are experiencing. It would require an engineer to identify the full problem but there is an initial cost of £59.50 for the first 30 minute call out plus parts. It could prove slightly expensive and it may be worthwhile
considering purchasing a new appliance as we tend to expect the appliance to last between 8-10 years."

Sorry that this is a lengthy post. I wouldn't feel confident to do the mod myself ... so would require an engineer. Would be grateful for any advice.

Just in case anyone reads this or my post above, I'll give an update:

jonmay gave me some helpful advice - thank you, but I've now mailed him as follows: "I'm having a "blonde" moment here!! Yes, you're right; removing the fascia was a struggle, till I realised it needed a really hard yank.
The trouble I'm having now is deciding which is the "business end" of the two wires (trusting I have the correct two). I have cut the black wire and the thinner of the two brown wires (nearest the fridge) very close to the white plug. I've stripped about a centimetre from the ends of the wires coming out of the fridge and twisted them together. So when I put the white plug back into the PCB, only the thicker brown wire will be connected. Do I need to twist the wires together on BOTH cut ends? or have I twisted the wrong ends? I'm not sure if I need to do anything with the few millimetre stumps of wire sticking out of the little white plug. The fridge IS UNPLUGGED and WILL REMAIN SO.
Hope you can advise. Sorry to be a pain."
 

Oh dear - you should not have cut the two wires, just stripped the insulation off them and shorted them by making a connection between them (i.e., winding them around each other and covering with tape).

I imagine that now you will have a freezer with NO information coming from the two sensors into the control panel. It will probably not come on at all (but more knowledgeable people than me can comment on that).

You will need to a) reconnect the two wires into the white plug
b) short them by making a contact between their exposed sections
c) for safety, insulate them again with tape.

You say 'a few millimetres' of wire is left in the plug, so that sounds to little to use anything to rejoin your cut wires (e.g., a connection block - one of those semitransparent plastic things with two holes and screws to secure each wire).
Does the plug have any screws that hold the wires in place or does it come apart in any way?