I've got a Fisher and Paykel fridge freezer (fridge on top. The freezer appears to be fine (although have had problems with build up of ice in the past). However the fridge is too warm- it takes it being closed overnight to get down to the right temperature. I've thoroughly defrosted the freezer. I think it is the fridge fan that isn't circulating the air properly. Does this sound right or any other ideas? I've checked both the fans and they are intact and moving freely and I've checked all obvious connections so I'm running out of ideas- help!

Have they cleaned the drain tube that runs down the back of the fridge? If not and the tube is clogged water will back up and give you the problem that you are having. The only other thing that I can think of, is that the defrost cycle may not be set to a minimum amount of time to where this can be increased to allow the freezer not to let the ice build up.

Do you see any ice buildup on the back wall of the freezer or behind it?

We experienced a smilar problem with your Fisher & Paykle fridge/freezer.
The fan that sends cold air to the Fridge section of the appliance didnt appear to be working leaving the Fridge poorly cooled.
I suggest the first step is to turn the fridge off and leave it to totally defrost.
Build up in ice in the freezer section seemed to have an impact on the proper operation of the fan which seems to relie on a thermostat for its operation.
Having defrosted and cleaned the fridge the problem was solved.
The fans have a delay before switching on after the door is closed. Place a magnet over the door sensor switch and wait to see if the fan works.
The problem could be that the unit has iced over itself over a period of time and defrosting it could solve the problem.

try to clean the drain of your unit maybe it is clog up declog it to avoid drip. u said that ther is a build up of ice this means auto defrost not activate try to chek the defrost heater or defrost timer if have the unit this. or try to allign the door gasket possible theres a gap entry of outside air cause of build up of ice. bec it is came from moisture of air out side or avoid to much door opening.goodluck.

I dont work on that brand, however you describe a typical defrost problem, could be the heater t-stat or defrost control.

Try the video on checking the F&P icemaker.
www.appliancehelponline.com/servicemanual.html

Very possible the door was accidently left open for a period of time. When that happens, moisture latches on to different areas which inturn creates ice build up. In short, do a good defrost and then restart freezer again.

if not humming at all then i would say a new thermostat should fix the problem

using a hairdryer is ok. don't let water drip on it and don't point too close to plastics
ice build up on fridge wall can be due to:
short of gas
partial blockage in sealed system
compressor starting to fail
stat switchback temp wrong
insulation failure

I have a Fisher and Paykel E442B upside down, which is a very similar model, and I just fixed the same problem (temperature was around -4C even though I set the fridge temperature as warm as possible).

The cause of my problem was excessive ice build up on the side of the evaporator coil (which is in the back of the freezer compartment behind the rear plastic panel). I had the same problem around a year or so ago, so I expect it to be a regular occurence. To defrost the coil, I removed all the drawers in the freezer, and the plastic insert by pulling out the bottom of the panel out and rotating it upwards until it released at the top. There are a couple of snap-in tabs holding the panel in, so with a bit of pulling they released. The tabs are either side of the slot at the bottom of the panel.


I then supported the panel horizontally on the top shelf so that I didn't have to disconnect the thermostat wire and the circulating fan wire.
With a small fan heater set on low, aimed roughly at the ice buildup on the left hand side of the evaporator coil, I defrosted the ice built up. This took around 2 hours or so. Then put it all back together and it worked fine.

I'm not sure why the ice build up on the side caused the problem, but presumably it interferes with the proper flow of cold air to the fridge compartment.

If you don't seem to have ice build up like I did, then it could be a thermostat problem, or a fan problem (a symptom of which would be fridge being colder at the bottom than at the top).