Freezer repair · Tulsa, OK
Where the frost grows tells you why. Frost near the door is air getting in; a white back wall in a frost-free freezer is a defrost part that has quit.
Before you call
Never chip ice off with a knife, screwdriver or ice pick. The cooling tubing runs just behind the walls, and one hole can end the freezer.
What usually causes it
Room air carries moisture, and inside the freezer it turns to frost on whatever it touches first. A torn seal, a door knocked out of line, or one that won’t close by itself lets in a steady stream of it.
Colby checks the seal and the door’s alignment; sometimes cleaning and conditioning the seal so it grips again is all it needs.
A frost-free freezer regularly melts the frost off its coil with a heater. When the heater burns out, the frost keeps building until it covers the back panel and the air stops moving.
He tests the heater and replaces it if it has burned out.
This part tells the heater when to switch on and off. If it fails, the heater never gets the signal, and the frost grows just as if the heater were broken.
He tests it while it’s cold, when it should let power through to the heater, and replaces it if it doesn’t.
Something has to start each defrost cycle: a timer on older freezers, the control board on newer ones. When no cycle ever starts, the frost never gets melted.
He checks whether a defrost cycle is starting, and replaces the timer or board if it isn’t.
If the melt water can’t drain away, it freezes in the bottom of the freezer, under the coil or across the floor. A sheet of ice on the freezer floor is the usual sign.
He thaws and clears the drain, and finds out why it froze.
Questions
AIn a freezer you defrost by hand, a thin layer is normal and builds slowly. In a frost-free freezer the walls should stay mostly clear, and a thick white coat means a part has failed.
AMelting it treats the symptom. In a frost-free freezer the frost returns within days or weeks, because the heater, the thermostat or the timer still isn’t doing its job.
ACrystals on food and packages come from moisture getting in, or from the freezer warming and cooling more than it should. Check the door seal first, and call if it keeps happening.
AYes. There’s a diagnostic fee for the visit, and if you have Colby do the repair, the diagnostic fee is waived.
AMost appointments are within 48 hours, many within 24, and often the same day. Call or text and Colby will give you the soonest time he has.
Rather type it out?
Tell us what's wrong and how to reach you. Colby will call or text you back.
