Having a chest freezer in your basement or garage is a super-convenient way to ensure you’ll always have plenty of space for food storage. However, when your chest freezer is not freezing food all the way and isn’t getting cold enough in general, then all of that convenience goes right out the door. Ugh!
Thankfully, if you’re scrambling to find out why your chest freezer isn’t doing its one and only job, All Brands Appliance Repair has some guidance for you. Keep reading for the full scoop below!
Possible Reasons Why Your Chest Freezer Won’t Freeze
First things first: These tips are only for chest freezers that are definitely running and simply aren’t getting cold enough. If your unit won’t even turn on, that’s a whole separate issue!
So, with that being said, here are some potential culprits in your chest freezer’s freezing problem:
- Frost buildup on coils is preventing cold air from circulating. This means the freezer’s self-defrosting system could be the issue. If it doesn’t defrost effectively, ice crystals will continue to accumulate until the evaporator fan is no longer able to move cold air across the coils. This reduces your freezer’s cooling ability to nearly zero.
- How to check: Empty out your freezer, turn off the thermostat, leave it open, and let it fully defrost for 48 hours. Then, turn on the thermostat to its normal setting and wait for it to start cooling properly. If it does achieve the desired coldness, then you’ll know the issue was the frost buildup and thus your defrosting system.
- Faulty gasket is forming a poor seal on the door. If your door or lid gasket isn’t creating an airtight seal, then you’re bound to have a cooling problem. After all, if cold air is constantly leaking out, then the inside of the freezer is never going to reach the desired temperature.
- How to check: Visually inspect the gasket and determine whether it’s loose. Also check for deterioration, dirt, debris, or anything else that would get in the way of a proper seal.
- Dirty condenser coils are blocking airflow. Over time, dirt, dust, hair, and other gunk will coat your freezer’s condenser coils, which prevents them from cooling efficiently.
- How to check: Take a look at the coils and see what kind of state they’re in. Most likely they’ll need to be cleaned with a condenser brush and/or vacuum attachment.
If it’s not any of these, then it is likely a problem with low refrigerant levels or a compressor malfunction, both of which require professional equipment to diagnose.
Lucky for you, All Brands Appliance Repair happens to have the skilled technicians you need for an accurate diagnosis! Give us a call to set up an appointment today!
