Electrolux full upright freezer E32AF75JPS1 stopped freezing

[nethalan]

Model Number

E32AF75JPS1

Brand

Electrolux

Age

6-10 years

So 11 pm Friday night, my freezer unit started alarming Hi temp and the temp reading was 29. I checked to make sure nothing was blocking any vents and canceled the alarm to stop the beeping. I also noticed that water was leaking from the corners of the freezer door. I rechecked an hour later and temp had dropped to 27. Another hour passed and temp down to 25 and figured that the problem had passed or was on its way to resolving. At 6 am the next morning, the temp read 22 and 845 am reading said 0 and I thought back to normal. However, at 10 am the hi temp alarm for 29 degrees went off again and checking contents of the freezer, things like ice cream were already starting to melt. I looked online for troubleshooting tips and decided to empty my freezer and plan to open the evaporator cover to check the coils. When I did this I saw frost on the coils on the top third portion. Defrosted the freezer and checked to make sure there wasn't any blockage in the drain pan. I turned power back on the unit at noon and by 2 pm temp had dropped from 61 to 39 in two hours. I left the evaporator cover off so I could view the coils and fan. Checked the temp display throughout the day and noticed that leaving the door open for 10-15 seconds each time, the temp on the display would rise 2-4 degrees. By 11 pm the temp display did not drop below 39. During this 12 hour period, observations I made:
-the compressor feels hot to touch (i feel that the compressor is working it is hard to tell if the vibration I feel is from my full size upright fridge that is adjacent to the freezer)
-the condensor fan (at bottom of unit) seems to work as it is turning on and off intermittently during this period
-the condensor coils (at bottom of unit) feel room temp to touch
-I don't observe any cold frosty air in the freezer when I open the door
-the evaporator fan (inside freezer back panel above the evaporator coils) seems to be running continuously...by this I mean when I open the freezer door the fan is already running and the lights turn on. With the door open, when I push the door switch in, the lights go off as expected but the fan remains on. When I release the door switch, the lights go back on and the evaporator fan slows down momentarily and resumes previous speed.

Door gaskets all seemed fine but decided to re-lubricate just in case and check on the unit in the morning. This morning at 8 am the display read 38 and since the compressor still felt hot and no change from previous observations, I decided I would shut off the unit again. I turned off the power and as quickly as I was able to, checked the defrost thermostat and heater in ohms. The defrost thermostat read 2.5 and the heater read 24.5. This was while the temp in the freezer was approximately 44-50. I also notice a few small slivers of ice in the drain pan. Any advice and thoughts on how to proceed or the issue would be greatly appreciated.

 

[rickgburton]

I saw frost on the coils on the top third portion.

Sounds like a sealed system issue. Sealed system repairs are expensive and will often exceed the machines value.

I left the evaporator cover off

When the cover is left off the evaporator fan can't pull the air across the coils and you very poor cooling.

 

[nethalan]

Rick, thanks for the reply. From what someone responded regarding sealed system issues in another thread, they stated that this could be a result of: system restriction, refrigerant leak, or inefficient compressor.
Is there any way to check for any of these issues without having to pull out the freezer and access the back? What could cause a system restriction? Is there any way to check for a refrigerant leak that a lay person like myself could do? The compressor as previously mentioned was hot to touch. Was it hot because it was constantly running trying to get the unit down to temp or is it not working efficiently?

With regard to the cover being left off leading to very poor cooling, Are you saying that I should replace the cover and restart the unit? I can do this and see if it cools the unit better.

Also, just wondering if you had any thoughts regarding my initial post that the evaporator fan stayed on when I opened the door and even when I activated the door switch, the fan only slowed down momentarily and resumed normal speed regardless of if the switch was engaged (pushed in simulating a closed door) or not (open door scenario).

 

[rickgburton]

The best anyone can do, going by your description, is diagnose a "sealed system" problem. To know exactly what in the sealed system, weather it's leak, restriction, or compressor, a set of refrigeration gauges needs to be connected to the system. You can have a refrigeration tech check it but regardless of the diagnoses it's still an expensive repair that will exceed the machines value.

Are you saying that I should replace the cover and restart the unit?

No, it won't do any good with a sealed system problem. I was just saying if there wasn't a sealed system problem the machine won't cool properly if the cover is left off.

 

[nethalan]

Thanks for the input. So for the sake of clarity, if I decided to replace the cover and restart the unit tomorrow and the evaporator coils had a different frost pattern(more evenly spread out) than previous would your diagnosis change? Would it hurt for me to try? Also, if the compressor were the issue, could it be something like start relay or capacitor and not the compressor unit itself? I have seen full compressor kit going for $200-300 but the relay and capacitor for much less and what would rule out that it is not the relay or capacitor?
Also with respect to the repair exceeding the machines value, what approximate dollar amount would you be suggesting and for what repair would it entail? The unit itself is only 6 years old and at a cost of $2500 is disappointing that it would not last longer.
My questions are not meant to discredit your input. On the contrary I have very limited knowledge in this field and I am just happy to glean some knowledge from your 31 years of experience.

 

[nethalan]

I also forgot until just now that Saturday morning when the alarm started beeping again, the display showed power fail and 36 hours. I can't remember if it showed this the Friday night before. Both times the alarm went off I hit the alarm reset button to stop the beeping. We did not have any power failure during these two times. However, 2 weeks ago, there was a planned power outage in my neighbourhood that lasted 9 hours. Does this additional information change anything? Sorry I didn't recall this detail until now.