Fridge-freezer might be dying! :( HELP!

[Suddengeekgirl]

Our fridge freezer had a odd couple of hours on friday night. the bulb went and it appeared to be dead - no noises and warming up slightly. i went and got a replacement bulb and it seemed fine after that.

I bought a thermometer for it today and it seems to stuck be at 8 degrees - which is too hot isn't it?

I'm going to fiddle with the temperature dial a bit to see if i can get it to cool down some more.

its a bosch classixx which is 8 years old. :(

can anyone help - either how to fix it or which new one to buy!

is it a frost free freezer?

is the freezer also too warm?

Thanks for asking! :)

I've managed to twiddle the knobs and get the temperature down to 3 degrees in the fridge. So it's ok for now - although I did have to turn the dial to almost one extreme so not sure that's a good sign.
The freezer was then at -22. I think that's a bit too cold (?) but I'd rather that than it being too warm.

I think it was a frost free one - certainly the fridge does an auto defrost thing. I do the freezer manually every now and then - once the drawers stop sliding smoothly because of the ice.

frost-free freezers are prone to eventually choking the internal ducts with ice. As these are out of sight behind the lining, it takes about 24 hours to melt the ice out until it stops dripping.

Sorry - I know what the words mean but that didn't make a lot of sense to me! :)

'mmmm

If you have a frost-free freezer, it blows air over the refrigerated parts, and circulates it round the cabinet in ducts hidden behind the back panel. it is meant to automatically defrost these ducts, but if the door is left open, or if the defrost mechanism breaks down with age, you have to manually defrost and they can become blocked with ice, so there is insufficient flow of cold air being blown round, so it gets too warm.

Because the ducts are out of sight, you have to defrost for a long time, until water stops dripping into the cabinet, or out of the drain round the back. it often takes 24 hours to get rid of it all, which is much more than you would expect. it is almost impossible to remove and clear the ducts when they are encased in ice.

it's quite common wih frost-free freezers, and knowing it can save you a lot of money on replacements. if it happens with a machine under guarantee, you can probably get the defrost heaters repaired or replaced, but it would be too expensive with an old appliance.