What could be wrong ? the back wall of the fridge has a layer of ice in the top half ,the temperature inside is around 0 degrees, no matter what I do with the temperature control (it is currently set at number 1) there is no differrence, the door appears to fit properly although the gap at the top of the door is larger than the one on the matching freezer the bottom door hinge is not loose

Andrew Wilson, May 2008

Had the thermostat replaced on mine by Hotpoint yesterday, and today it is still reading zero inside!

He said it will be a waste of time and he was right.
The fault is caused by the breakdown of the insulation foam behind the top half of the fridge. They can no longer fix this problem due to the usual health and safety issues!
It can be tested for by switching off and letting it warm up with the door open for a few hours. If you can push in the back of the plastic liner and feel "give", then that is is the problem - and sure enough.....

Mark, April 2011

the thermostat has gone or the termostat phial tube has come away from the rear of the fridge wall and therefore possibly irrepairable without chopping out the foam and attempting to refix

Gazbo007, March 2011

Did you ever get a fix for this? Mine has exactly the same problem, and a new thermostat has not fixed it.

Dave, February 2009