4 weeks ago I broke the bottom drawer as it was caked in built-up ice. Meant to be a frost-free freezer but whatever.
Yesterday night I couldn’t get the bottom drawer free again so something is wrong.
The freezer manual says that taking the panel off to expose the pipes/fan on the inside of the freezer requires an engineer visit. Screw that.
3 screws and the panel came off, the fan is attached to the panel so I unclipped the electric connection.
Immediately saw the problem. From the bottom of the panel to about 4 inches up, it was caked in ice in the shape of the inside of the panel.
Hot water spray and a fan, with a bit of poking with the handle of a spoon got all the ice off. Used the spoon to straighten all the fins.
Poured some hot water down the drain hole that was previously clogged with ice. Cleaned it a little with a straw cleaner. Poured a little more water down and it drained away quickly. Hopefully fixed now.
Gave it a thorough clean. Misses commented on how clean it looked. Chuffed.
I have a little over 12 months left on the warranty.
Interestingly the freezer is now at -30C but is only set to -18C which is a bit odd
I would use that warranty. That fridge ain’t right in the head.
You should call to have a technician out under the warranty ASAP. A frost-free freezer should not have that level of ice build up, and it definitely shouldn’t be out running the set temperature by that much.
FYI - some warranties have a clause that problems must be reported “in a timely manner” (usually 30 days) or they won’t be covered because ignoring a problem can make bigger (more expensive to fix) problems. It’s difficult to enforce outside of a person saying “well it’s been doing this for weeks!” thinking that will get sympathy and a faster repair - spoiler alert it won’t.