AAAAAAAAAARGH my freezer is now HOT. i have a HOT FREEZER. can anyone (really quickly) advise? do i call one of these 'guaranteed fix' engineer numbers?

[AitchTwoOhOneTwo]

or will they just charge me eighty quid to tell me it's fucked?

and it's the freezer that is being unseasonable, btw. i TOTALLY get away with posting on this board.

Turn freezer off. Ask friend to store frozen food. Call manufacturer for advice tomorrow.

When my fridge freezer went hot it was the compressed, but luckily I rang a really nice bloke up who diagnosed it over the phone so I didn't have to pay him £80

cheers my dear, thanks for answering but well you see... i was in process of defrosting it. have lovingly placed bowls of hot water in it for last 48 hours, so no food in it, so that's okay.

it's just when i switched it on, the freezer is like a mini-sauna. manufacturer would charge me £170 for a fix BUT might say 'it's gubbed' and charge me £80 for the call out.

from googling etc and a bit of ringing round, it sounds like the compressor. but tbh i don't even know what that means.

what i am hoping for is that a wise mner will come on and say 'oh yes we had our compressor fail, it's something they'll do for that £170, rather than condemn the thing and ask your £80'. iyswim?

did you just buy a new freezer, BB?

lolol.

(i mean that lol gratefully, of course)

Yes I had to but mine was a frost free one that started icing up and then stopped working, it was the back of it that was hot. If your good mechanically you could buy another compressor And fit it your self?

I had the same problem with the frost free stupid freezer icing up all the elements (?) and then overheating.
Sorry, that's no help is it?

Call the manufacturer, they normally have a helpline number. They might give you an idea whether it is actually fixable.

Mine was not. I was very unimpressed tbh

yup, frost-free here. although it has always needed defrosting, and if i hadn't just had a new baby when it was bought i would have sent it back...

see my worry is that if i go for one of these 'we will guarantee to fix it' guys they will say it's broken rather than fix it, and charge me a call-out. (am sure it's the compressor).

plus, the local company here who fix de dietrich are TERRIBLE, absolute bastards, so there is a part of me that would just like it to get tae fark anyway. oh i dunno... are compressors expensive?

hmm. have been looking up replacement compressors. seem to be between £200 and £260 for our model.

they'll just say it's gubbed and i have to buy a new one, won't they?

Yes, don't waste any more time. Get yourself along to J Lew, and buy an own-brand one to be delivered on Monday. They'll take the old one away too. Appliances are shoddy and not made to last these days. End the anguish - get a new one.

i like your style.

What the man told me when my compressor went was its going to cost upwards of £80 for the compressor (which I looked online and yes £80 was the cheapest) plus his time so unless it was a really decent expensive freezer then to get a new one.

This rings a loud bell. What kind is it?

My dad is a refrigeration engineer. Domestic freezers with a broken compressor = fucked. Sorry

Is it an Electrolux by any chance?

Cut your losses and get a new one. Repairs cost an arm and a leg and you're probably better off replacing it. How is the food inside? If it's ruined it may be covered under your household jnsurance (depending on the value).

Definitely go to JL. Good value and they'll cart the old one off for you ( for a fee of course!).

good to know, hazle, thanks. it's a de dietrich, so a decent brand, but tbh it's been a pita from the beginning and i wouldn't have another one. (not least becasue it is serviced by the Worst Engineers In The World).

Ah - not the issue I was thinking of then. Yep - cut your losses. And JL are extremely good - I recently bought a new four drawer additional freezer from them. It's working fine and delivery was exemplary. (With an automatic 3 year JL warranty as well.)

i've got hold of a LOVELY guy through a recommendation who can sort it all for me tomorrow. only a beko one, right enough, but i can totally live with that, i hear they're reliable and let's face it, the fancy de dietrich thing conked out after seven years anyway.

thanks for all your help, btw, most reassuring.

Beko freezers are good, reliable etc.

We have one, and a fridge.

no problems.

thanks, that's great intel.