Ice Buildup in Freezer

Checks you can do safely before you call

1. Make sure the door closes and seals. Push the ice bin fully in, move packages away from the door and check that the freezer door swings shut on its own. Close the door on a strip of paper in a few places; it should hold firm when closed. No unplugging is needed.
2. Look at where the frost sits. Frost across the back wall points to the defrost system, frost at the door edge points to the seal, and ice on the floor points to the drain or the ice maker. Keep the door open only briefly while you look.
3. Defrost it fully. Unplug the refrigerator, or switch off its breaker when the plug is out of reach, move the food from both sections to a cooler and leave the freezer door open with towels on the floor. A pan of warm water set on a towel speeds the melt. Melt water also drains to the pan under the fridge, so check the floor at the base. Never chip ice with a knife or screwdriver, because a puncture can ruin the cooling system, and don't use a heat gun or a hair dryer.
4. Dry it and restart. Wipe the freezer dry, plug the refrigerator back in and keep the doors closed for several hours so it can reach temperature before you reload food. If the ice maker spilled water, turn the ice maker off and shut its supply valve until the technician checks the fill.
5. Watch for the frost to return. Check the back wall over the next week. Frost that reappears within days means the automatic defrost isn't running, and that part needs a technician.

When to call a technician

• Frost returns on the back wall within a week of a full defrost.
• The fresh-food section warms while the freezer frosts over.
• Ice builds up again on the freezer floor after you have defrosted it.
• The door gasket is torn, flattened or pulling away from the door.
• The ice maker keeps overflowing or its fill tube refreezes.

What happens at the diagnostic visit

The technician removes the evaporator cover to see how the frost has formed, tests the defrost heater for continuity, checks the defrost thermostat or sensor and the control that starts each defrost, and inspects the drain, the door gasket and the ice maker fill. Heavy frost may be melted off first so each part can be measured.

The diagnostic visit is $89 for a standard residential appliance and $129 for a built-in unit or commercial equipment; a premium brand on its own doesn't make an appliance built-in. You approve the price before any part is changed, and the refrigerator repair page has the details. For a standalone upright or chest freezer, see freezer frost buildup and freezer repair.

Brand and model notes

• LG: on LG models with a display, Er dH points to the defrost heater circuit. Write down any code before you unplug the refrigerator to defrost it. See LG.
• Samsung: the controls on many Samsung models include a forced defrost mode that a technician uses to run the heater on demand and see whether the frost melts away. Ice in the door ice compartment of French-door models is a separate issue from frost in the freezer. The Samsung page lists more.
• Whirlpool and KitchenAid: many models use an adaptive defrost control that times each defrost from compressor run time and door openings, so a control fault can stop defrosts even with a good heater. Both have pages here: KitchenAid and Whirlpool.
• Sub-Zero: frost in a built-in freezer drawer or along a door edge points to a drawer that isn't fully shut, a gasket that has flattened or a door closer that has weakened. Our Sub-Zero page covers built-in models.