Mitsubishi Electric 635L L4 Glass French Door MR-LA635 Series

Buyer beware - Mouldy drip tray less then 9 months – This Mitsubishi Electric 635L French Door Fridge MR-LA635ER-GSL-A we bought less than 9 months ago from Harvey Norman in a remote country town. A few weeks ago we first noticed a smell around the right rear side of the fridge that got worse over a couple of days. To be honest it smelled like vinegar or cat crap and got so bad that it made my… Read more

wife feel ill (dizzy, headache, lightheaded) while she was cooking in the kitchen one evening. I also was overcome by the smell and I've smelt some nasty things as a mechanic.

I thought it might have been a refrigerant gas leak so I removed the extremely heavy and bulky fridge freezer outside to our patio. After all it does have warning stickers all over it saying the refrigerant gas is Highly Flammable. I didn't want to risk it.

I contacted Harvey Norman to start the warranty process. We used our 55lt camping fridge to make do and put the freezer food into our spare freezer. The next day I had some time to further investigate. I looked into the rear vent panel of the Mitsubishi fridge and saw mould inside on the drip tray. I was done waiting over a week for an answer as to what was going to happen with warranty. We needed our fridge for our family and I couldn't wait any longer.

I turned the fridge on while it was still under our patio and the smell was overwhelming but the fridge freezer was working well and getting cold. If it was a gas leak the fridge would have stopped working by now as they hold less gas then a deodorant can. 90 grams to be exact.

I'm a mechanic of 20 yrs and know my way around aircon systems. So I removed the vent panel and cleaned the mouldy drip tray and put it back together and what do you know, no smell !!! See attached pictures

I put the fridge back in the house and used it while we waited another week for the warranty agent to come and check the fridge. I had sent them all of this info beforehand. All they did was check to see if we had spilt anything in the fridge so Mitsubishi could get out of warranty.

In the end Mitsubishi contacted me and said the fridge works fine and there is no smell. I said "no kidding, did the agent pass on the pictures I sent to them and to Harvey Norman". ( You can see pictures attached here now for everyone to see). I told him about the mould in the drip tray to which his reply was "it's an environmental issue, there may have been high humidity in the air" meaning I would more than likely be receiving a bill as they use the term "charges may occur if the fault is not manufactured related". I am waiting and will let you know. Gees I would hate to live in Queensland and deal with their humidity, I live in dry outback WA.

Understand this, there should not be standing water in the drip tray as moisture is what causes mould to grow. No water.... No Mould simple. Other fridges and freezers use the compressor hot side pipe to heat the drip trays more effectively. This one does not adequately do that as you can see the one small pipe running over the large drip tray. The small fan that turns on with the compressor operation, sucks the air through the panel and over the drip tray then around the compressor. To me it would have made more sense to have the air flow over the hot compressor first then blow over the drip tray to help evaporate the water.

So I have looked over the past few days and there is always water in the tray. You might be wondering if there is enough air flow, well I can tell you that we have followed mitsubishi operators manual about leaving enough space around the fridge during installation, just like the attached picture. Never had problems with previous fridges in the same location.

So buyers beware of the potential mould in the back of the fridge behind the vent panel.... We do love everything about this fridge freezer combo. It really is awesome having the ice maker drop ice into a freezer tray. However if this was someone else with no mechanical background this would have been more than a nightmare seeing as we have paid top dollar for it to go mouldy in less then a year.

UPDATE 08/24 In the end I didn't have to pay for a technician coming out to look at the fridge.

Best Fridge – Couldn't be happier with this fridge. spacious, well-built and quiet. The best bit is the ice maker which works well, always have ice on hand, just need to fill the tank occasionally. The glass finish looks good, and it is also more practical than expected, being able to write with whiteboard markers, reminders, weekly menu, etc... Show details

Awesome fridge and excellent service – Brought this fridge from appliances online with the price $3136 to replace my 13 years old Bosch fridge, got delivered next day excellent service from this company, forgot to tick the box to remove my old fridge and ring up a lady on the phone so helpful to solve the problem. When the fridge arrived two delivery guys so helpful to take my old… Read more

fridge away and set up the new fridge very quick and professional. First time opened the fridge so spacey love the layout of freezer and chill area. Highly recommended friends and relatives.