Freezer not staying cool

Refrigerator & Freezer Repair
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1

I thought my freezer wasn’t cooling very well, so I put a thermometer in there to monitor the temps for a while. The temperature usually hovered around 0-5 degrees, but every once in a while I would notice it was somewhere in the range of 20-30 degrees. Today I noticed water all around the bottom and the temp inside was around 25 degrees. The drain inside the freezer wasn’t clogged and the drain cup under the freezer wasn’t overflowing. It seemed like it was it mostly dripping out of the door. We did have some ice buildup on top of the door. I checked out the evaporator and there seemed to be a little bit of frost on there, but I wasn’t sure if it was enough to impact the performance. Here’s a pic:

A while back I posted this topic and tried to repair the gasket. I did my best to make sure it was making a good seal. I put a thin layer of vaseline around the edges and that seemed to help some. Is there any other issue with the door I could be having besides the gasket, or do you think I still have gasket issues? The motor seemed pretty hot, but I’m guessing that’s normal if it’s been on for a while. Any ideas on what’s going on with this freezer?

Thanks for your help!

3

Next time if fails, tell us what is running/not running, you might want to temporarily remove the back panel so you can easily monitor the compressor and condensing fan.

4

Thanks for the reply richappy. Sorry I left out some important info. I’m still having the issue and when the freezer temps are warm, the compressor is running and it seems pretty warm. The condensing fan is also running at what seems like the normal speed. Is there anything I can test with a multimeter to see if certain components are bad? Do I need the cover on the condensor for the freezer to operate normally, or can I monitor things with the cover off?

5

Looks like you have a ice clog under the evaporator coils. You could have a intermittent defrost thermostat causing this. I would replace it, cheap enough.
I would leave the back of the fridg off just long enough to determine the compressor or condensing fan are not intermittent.

6

Thanks for the help richappy! I’ll replace the defrost thermostat and see how it runs after.