Why is part of my freezer frosting up?

January 18, 2021 3:09 PM

One side of my freezer is frosting up. Is air getting in? Is something mechanically wrong? Who should I call to fix it? Pictures inside.

Pictures: https://imgur.com/a/zx6c1ge

A few weeks ago we noticed that a portion of our bottom drawer pull-out freezer was building up frost. It is primarily occurring on the upper right size, with the entire left side pretty much completely untouched by the issue.

We keep the temperature at -1 Fahrenheit, and bumping it down to -2 made the issue worse. The fridge is a little over five years old and just out of warranty.

Is the issue most likely a seal broken and exposure to air creating this frost? Something with a coil needing to be replaced? Should I call LG first or an appliance repair? I’m located in Atlanta fwiw. Thanks!

posted by indyjones to Home & Garden (4 answers total)

This happened to us. We had taken out the ice bucket and had switched the arm up to turn it off. Somehow, something in the drawer knocked the ice arm down and water was coming out, into the freezer and frosting over one side. It took a while before we realized what was going on. Be sure that any ice machine mechanism isn’t dripping/leaking water and shut it off.
posted by pearlybob at 3:59 PM on January 18, 2021

I've seen similar things in non-frost-free (ie., non-autodefrost) freezers; it's almost always the gasket.

Some gaskets can be removed and reseated, and sometimes that helps. Otherwise, a new gasket.

The other time I've seen something like that was a new stand up -20'C freezer; turns out the foam insulation on the door wasn't evenly distributed. If the freezer is 5 yo, that's likely not the case.
posted by porpoise at 4:51 PM on January 18, 2021

My bottom slider drawer freezer has looked exactly like that. The first time the door wasn't closed all the way - the inner sliding/rolling drawer bit was catching a box and then preventing the door from completely closing. Just a crack. That's why the frost is all over the front of the sliding drawer. Once I figured it out it required defrosting the ice bits because then the frost build up prevented the door from closing.

The second time a bag was breaking the door seal, and it was like 100% humidity so the frost was just crazy. Like a snow machine.
posted by zenon at 7:55 PM on January 18, 2021

Find the make and model number and do Google and youtube searches with a short description of the problem. My side by side was leaking water on the floor and it turned out to be a known issue that I could fix myself with a hair dryer. It won't be from the manufacturers site, luckily, there are lots of diy/right to repair forums out there. Worth a try.
posted by BoscosMom at 8:03 PM on January 18, 2021