For the modern-day family, the freezer is the source of all solutions. Whether you are into your ready meals or fancy yourself as a top chef – it’s arguably one of the most important appliances in the house. In fact, the argument could be that its importance increases in correlation with the size of your family.
Unfortunately, it also happens to be one of those appliances which can stop suddenly – without warning. At times, this can result in countless food being thrown away, while in other cases you might need to buy a completely new appliance altogether.
Most of the time, these occasions can’t be prevented. However, there are some common freezer problems that seem to blight the nation and ones that can at least be explained and hopefully resolved quickly. Let’s take a look at some of the most common.
Excessive frost build-up
At first, this might seem to be one of those not-so-severe problems. Unfortunately, excessive frost build-up in the freezer can result in all sorts of issues – mainly because too much of this can cover the coils, prevent air from flowing, and make it very hard for the appliance to cool.
It’s for this reason why it’s so important to know how to defrost a freezer. One solution is to do it manually; turn it off for up to 48 hours before then turning back on again. On some occasions, this can reset everything and make your freezer work like new again.
On other occasions, a more thorough inspection might be needed. You might need to look around some of the heaters to see if anything is broken, while another source of problems can be the defrost thermostat which might be set incorrectly.
Freezer burn
It almost sounds ridiculous that food could burn in something as cold as a freezer – but it’s more common than you think. Fortunately, this isn’t related to the appliance itself. Instead, it’s all because the food in question hasn’t been wrapped adequately.
The knock-on effect of this is that the food becomes dehydrated, due to all of the moisture evaporating, and the burn occurs.
It’s worth mentioning that food in this condition is still perfectly fine to eat for you and the family – but it just might not taste like it should.
The freezer doesn’t turn on
If your freezer doesn’t turn on or switches off suddenly, it doesn’t have to be game-over. Sure, there are plenty of big reasons why this might have occurred, but don’t head out to Best Buy just yet.
Instead, you need to perform a few spot checks. Firstly, test the power outlet where the freezer is plugged into to see if it is working properly. The easiest way to do this is to try a smaller appliance to see if it works. This might lead you to find that the fuse and circuit breaker is faulty. If you do have power, it’s time to inspect whether parts like the internal light and fan are working inside. As you can see, it’s something of a trial-and-error approach that can lead you down the garden path, but if you are looking to avoid professional help it’s the easiest way to diagnose the problem and see what part is faulty.
