Freezer not freezing
Urgent Frozen food that has thawed above 4 °C for more than a couple of hours may not be safe to refreeze, so protecting the food comes before troubleshooting.
What this symptom might mean
A freezer that runs but won't hold −18 °C is usually struggling with one of three things: not enough cold being made, cold escaping, or cold not reaching the food. Soft ice cream and slushy juice with a compressor that hums constantly often point to a heat-shedding problem (dusty condenser coils, a stopped condenser fan) or a sealed-system fault. A freezer that is cold at the back but warm at the front, or that has a thick rime of frost on the rear wall, may have a defrost fault or a stalled evaporator fan. A chest or upright freezer in an unheated garage can also stop running properly in a cold snap; Frigidaire notes its freezers shouldn't operate where the room drops below about 13 °C (55 °F).
In a fridge-freezer, the same symptom can come from the fridge side: if the fridge is also warm, read refrigerator not cooling as well. None of this is a diagnosis from the symptom alone. The checks below cover what you can safely rule out yourself.
Safe checks you can do first
- Deal with the food first. If the contents are soft or thawing, move what you can to another freezer or a cooler with ice. Keep the lid or door shut while you check; a full freezer holds cold much longer than an empty one.
- Setting and settling time. Confirm the control is at the recommended setting, usually −18 °C (0 °F). Whirlpool, Frigidaire and LG all say to allow up to 24 hours to stabilise after a change, a power cut or a large load of unfrozen food.
- Power and the outlet. Check the breaker, and test the outlet with a lamp. A garage or basement freezer on a GFCI outlet can trip silently. Freezers should be on their own grounded outlet, not an extension cord.
- Door or lid seal. Close the door on a sheet of paper. If it slides out with no resistance at several points around the door, the gasket may not be sealing. Wipe it with warm soapy water and check that nothing inside is holding the door open. Chest freezer lids can be held open by a frost ridge along the rim.
- Frost and airflow. Heavy frost on the walls or over the vents blocks cold air. Don't chip at it with anything sharp. If it's a manual-defrost freezer, defrost it as the manual describes; if it's frost-free and still frosting heavily, that is a finding for the technician.
- Coils and clearance. If the condenser coils are accessible at the back or behind the kick plate, unplug the unit and vacuum the dust off. Leave a few centimetres of clearance and check that nothing is stacked against the vents of a chest freezer.
Nothing above involves gas, wiring, refrigerant or removing panels. Those are technician-only: Removing the interior back panel to reach the evaporator coil or defrost heater; Any test on the compressor, relay or wiring; Refrigerant recovery, leak repair or recharge (restricted to certified technicians).
Repairs a technician may recommend
After inspection, not from the symptom alone.
- Defrost heater, defrost thermostat or control replacement. When a frost-free freezer has iced up over the evaporator and the airflow has stopped. A common finding and usually worth doing.
- Evaporator or condenser fan motor replacement. When a fan has seized, runs intermittently or is noisy. Moderate cost regardless of the unit's age.
- Start relay or overload replacement. When the compressor clicks and doesn't stay running. The technician confirms the compressor is sound before recommending it.
- Gasket replacement or lid/door realignment. When the paper test fails or the door has dropped on its hinges.
- Thermostat, thermistor or control board replacement. When the freezer cycles wrongly or reads the wrong temperature.
- Sealed-system repair. Only when everything else is ruled out and only by a certified technician; on an older freezer this is often the point where replacement makes more sense, and the written finding shows both numbers.
When to book
Book if the freezer is still above −15 °C after 24 hours with the setting confirmed and the door sealing, if the rear wall is iced over on a frost-free model, if the compressor clicks on and off without running, or if it is a stand-alone freezer holding a large stock of food you don't want to lose. Tell us whether it's a chest, upright or fridge-freezer, where it sits (garage freezers behave differently in winter) and the model number. The diagnostic visit is $89, waived if you proceed with the repair. Freezer repair explains what we cover.
Questions
My freezer is cold but the food isn't frozen solid. Is that a fault?
Often it means the freezer is running but not reaching −18 °C. Check the setting and the seal first and give it a day. If it stays between −10 °C and −15 °C, book a visit; that range keeps food safe short term but shortens its storage life and usually signals something is wearing out.
Can I refreeze food that has thawed?
The usual food-safety rule is that food still fridge-cold (4 °C or below) with ice crystals can be refrozen with some loss of quality, while food that has been warm for hours should not be; check Health Canada's guidance on food safety in an emergency (in Quebec, Gouvernement du Québec) for the current advice. When in doubt, discard it.
Why did my garage freezer stop working in January?
Many freezers aren't designed for rooms below roughly 13 °C. The thermostat can decide the room is cold enough and stop running, and some models list a minimum room temperature in the manual. A technician can confirm whether it's the location or the freezer.
Is a chest freezer worth repairing?
Usually yes for a gasket, thermostat, relay or fan; those repairs are modest. A compressor or sealed-system fault on an older chest freezer is often not, and we say so in the written finding.
Related
Sources
- Whirlpool: What to do if your freezer is not freezing
- Frigidaire: Freezer not freezing or not cooling
- LG: Frost buildup, freezer only
Reviewed 2026-09-24.
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