I have a Hotpoint FF200E which has started to freeze at the bottom drawer. In fact when this happens I can't remove the drawer. I have eventually got it out and there is a large amount of ice at the back and underneath where the drawer was. The fridge is now out of warranty. What can I do. It is supposed to be frost free after all!

Please call a local repair service that can test the system.

it could be that your fridge,freezer setting is not turned up high enough to keep the freezer cold enough.turn it up to setting number 5 at least and if that dont do it u could have a faulty thermostat.have it checked by a engineer.

Unplug the unit and take out all the drawers and remove the back (behind the drawers) panel carefully. (This back panel has foamy thermal insulation behind it and this will be probably be enmeshed with ice - you may have to wait awhile for this ice to melt before you can remove the panel, even after you have unscrewed it.
When you have got the back panel off, you will see a large solid block of ice, probably halfway up the cooling coils, right down to the bottom of the exposed space. You have to melt all this ice (I used a hair dryer to blow warm air onto the ice (have towels and a bucket ready to mop up the melted water, otherwise it will run over the floor. When you have melted all this ice, you will see a drain hole at the bottom of the exposed space. This will have ice in it and it must be cleared.
Then replace the back panel and all should be OK.
The panel bulges because ice/water is accumulating behind the panel, water, when it freezes, expands, forcing the panel forwards.
I reckon it's a Hotpoint Design fault. What is supposed to happen is that during the heating cycle, melted ice drops down from the cooling coils and down the drain hole onto a plate over the compressor unit, where it evaporates. BUT, during the cooling cycle, a fan circulates cold air from the cooling coils, through the entire unit, which includes the chamber behind the panel that is below the coils. Thus this chamber gets cold (-18 deg.C) so that water dripping down during the heating cycle is frozen before it has a chance to fall down the drain hole.
I now defrost in this manner every six months or so. Sadly, very sadly, Hotpoint, like other white goods manufacturers (Baxi Potterton boilers for instance) do not reply to my enquiries.
Hope this helps.

sounds like you have a leaking door seal. try running a hair dryer around the seal while the door is shut. this can sometimes work or help atleast. also inspect your seal for any cracks especially down the bottom. these cracks can be fixed with silicon although it is not ideal. :)

I turned the fridge and freezer off using the circular dials, I then turned the unit off at the mains. Left it for a few minutes and then turned the power back on. I then turned the circular dials to "max" and then depressed the super cool and super freeze buttons to turn this facility on. This time they came on normally (not flashing) and no alarm sounded. The fridge and freezer then started to get cold. Once the unit had been running for several hours I then turned the dials to the 3/4 mark and depressed the super cool and super freeze buttons again to turn them off. Over night the fridge and the freezer appear to be working properly so I hope that my problem is solved. Maybe the unit just needed to "settle" before being switched on?

My FZA 84 regularly has to be defrosted as it overheats.We do this by taking off the back panel - as shown by the Hotpoint service man here in Dublin. We use lukewarm water or a hairdryer to defrost the buildup of ice. Why its building up is anyones guess.The repairman suggested we might be leaving the door open but we certainly aren't. I'm very disappointed with the product and I wouldn't be purchasing Hotpoint again.

There is a duct between the freezer and refrigerator. Sometimes this duct blocks off with ice and won't allow airflow. Open your refrigerator door and check for air flow if there is none the duct needs to be defrosted. turn off freezer/ refrigerator and defrost.

Hi,
Check out these tips...they can help you figure out whats going wrong...

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heatman101

hi thanks for the question the drain hose leading from the freezer is clogged up remove the ice from the bottom pull fridge from wall find small drain tube clean the tube now it will drain into tray vacuum out while your there thanks the appliance doc

If this is not a frost free unit , it probably has a freon leak. This is usually not worth fixing in a deep freeze. If it is a frost free unit the fan could be bad. This is an easy repair.