September 29, 2024 
Hi. I’ve got a fault with my Kenwood KIFF5017 integrated fridge freezer is not defrosting itsself. If I manually defrost it works fine but over a few weeks the freezer gets warmer and warmer. The condenser gets solid with ice. I understand that this is due to the heater element not coming on but I’m struggling to find any good information on the best way to fault find. I guess the fault could be with the heating element. The control board or the sensor or timer that determines when to defrost. I did try to find an appropriate service manual but drew a blank on that. I have found that it looks to be identical to the Hisense RIB291F4AWF. Thanks for any help you can offer. CheersDave
Dave
I will try and help with this problem about Kenwood KIFF5017 Fridge Freezer,
Hi Dave,
Sorry to hear about your Kenwood fridge freezer problem. You mentioned that the defrost function isn’t working automatically and ice is building up. First, check the heating element. I don’t know the wattage of this element due to limited information. However, if you can find the wattage, you can do an Ohms reading to ensure it’s working.
If the element is fine, there are usually one or two sensors inside the freezer and also a control board. The control board typically triggers a defrost every 16 to 36 hours based on programming and temperatures. This causes a 5 to 10-minute defrost where the element heats up. If the sensor, circuit board, or heating element is faulty, this won’t happen. Over 5 to 10 days, ice builds up, restricting airflow and causing freezer issues. In some models, this can also affect fridge temperatures.
Without an exploded diagram, I can’t assist much further. However, I have videos below showing how the defrost works on a Samsung fridge freezer. Years ago, I built a graphing unit to monitor fridge freezer temperatures and when the defrost element activates. This helps me understand if a fridge freezer is working correctly.
I hope these videos help you understand your fridge freezer better. You’ll need to contact the manufacturer for parts since I can’t access data on this machine.
Hope this helps!
If you want to support the site please mark us to your favourites, also I would be grateful if you would subscribe to our social media channels as this really helps my site and keeps us going.
YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/user/howtorepair
Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/how.to.repair.appliances
And if we really helped you save money you can always click on the Buy Paul a Beer page
Kenwood KIFF5017 Fridge Freezer Spares
If you need any further assistance please feel free to contact me. all the best Paul.
Paul Charmbury
Appliances Engineer
