Freezer - WWYD?

This may sound familiar but have you RTFM? Hope its ok.

... or Google the problem.

We have had a similar problem with our fridge freezer this summer. The high temp warning light on the freezer keeps coming on though there is no defrosting taking place inside. It is in the garage which has a metal door that gets the full sun during the day, and it seems to have been warmer than usual in the garage recently. Now that the weather is cooling down a bit, it is not coming on so often. That's the theory anyway - could be entirely off the mark! Probably time for a new fridge freezer.?

We have RTFM ad nauseam, but it does not describe this particular aberration.

I will head for Google.

um, perhaps I should get a thermometer for our freezer ....

No-one poisoned as yet
Although the door hadn't shut properly the other week and everything was thick with frost.

Luckygirl ...take away his tinkering tool!

Ouch! Isn't that cutting off your nose to spite your face? ?

Sorry! I'm disgusting!!

One of our freezers (the oldest) goes into panic mode if there's a heat wave. It even went off completely once.
someone explained it to me, but I didn't understand.
It's working ok now, but still rather feeble so I think it's on its way out.

I'm not a freezer expert but I would have thought that at -14 your food will still be safely frozen (-18 is the suggested temp on mine) as it's still way below freezing. Wouldn't food stay frozen until the temperature rises above freezing?

Minus 18 degrees C is the normal operating temperature for a freezer. In your position I'd invest in a new freezer thermometer - loads on Amazon for very little - and just leave it inside overnight. Minus 14 would seem to be acceptable to me, but if it rises much from there I'd look at replacing the freezer.

Greyduster, we have had a very similar problem with our freezer which is in the garage. The alarm keeps going off and the temperature indicator rises whenever the weather is warm. It is quite old and I think the motor is struggling to keep going in hot weather. However, the temp inside is also rising and I found a tub of ice cream which was very soft, so I think it is time to replace the freezer. The only problem is that the garage is so full of junk there is no way of getting the old freezer out and a new one in without a major clear out!

-14 is still frozen, just not the optimum temperature for food safety. Either get a new thermometer, or new freezer [just joking!].

What is RTFM?

Read the f*****g manual!!!

The thermometer is fine - I tested it outside next to our outdoor thermometer and they both read the same; put it in fridge and once again it registered a sensible temp.

I have an engineer coming - next week, so we will not eat anything in there till we are happy with it.

I think -14 is safe. Just not for months and months, which is why they recommend lower temperatures. If it smells OK when thawed out, looks OK too - I really don't see why you shouldn't cook and eat it.
good luck.

Minus 14 is probably fine, but doesn't necessarily mean everything would still be frozen. 0 degrees is the freezing point of water at sea level, other things freeze at different temperatures, but as most of the food we freeze is partially water anyway it should still be ok. ( I knew my physics from school all those years ago would come in useful one day)

And innocent little me thought it was "ring the freezer man"

Ours also did this when it was hot last time. It is an American fridge freezer. The fridge was fine. It was the freezer that went loopy.

Although they are supposed to defrost themselves if they are packed too high at times lumps of ice can form which you can't see inbetween the gap behind the back of the freezer.

Having removed everything realised they were there on closer examination so had to switch off and defrost. It was fine after.

Had already booked the service man as we pay the insurance esch month on it of £4-00. Not usually into paying these but for this we do.

He advised us accordingly on various with. Heatwave can make a difference if such things as defrosting need to be done