[nheather]

Hi,

My LG American style Fridge\Freezer suddenly stopped cooling on both sides.

The failure was accompanied by a strong odour, not burning, not food, but more chemical\oily.

The control board is on the top - looks like all the relays and start capacitor are in there - nothing looks burnt or mis-shapen.

At the bottom is the fan, compressor and evaporator grid.

There is a catch tray under the evaporator and this has a fair amount of water but on touching it, it is quite oily.

The failure was sudden. Was working perfectly one minute and then making a terrible smeel with temperature dropping the next.

Any idea what it could be?

Cheers,

Nigel

[jerryq7777]

I had a similar problem just this week after 5 years of use our Hotpoint stopped cooling.
I just googled the model number and found the problem straight away.
The heat exchanger behind the plastic panels had a lump of ice attached to it which blocked the cooling fan.
After using a hairdryer to get it off the fridge is working again.

[Cliff]

Originally Posted by nheather

Hi,

At the bottom is the fan, compressor and evaporator grid.

There is a catch tray under the evaporator and this has a fair amount of water but on touching it, it is quite oily.
Any idea what it could be?

Cheers,

Nigel

Sounds to me like you have a leak. The evaporator or connecting pipes could have a break which would allow the refridgerant (Freon) to escape. That will have evaporated but circulating with the freon is an oil which is used to lubricate the compressor. That is probably what is in the little water tray.

If this is the case, the bad news is that you will have to get the evaporator/ pipes re soldered, then the system will have to be evacuated with a vacuum pump and recharged with new freon. Just make sure you get the right type as there are quite a variety of R- s these days!