The freezer is hot on the outside

if new and a 5 ltr

check thermostat setting

it takes some time to freeze up unit and contents

motor will run a bit longer then normal

then should kick in on and off with the thermostat

The heat that is being removed from within the unit has to be extracted towards the outside. A lot of times the condenser coils are on the surface just underneath the exterior panels.

check condesor fan motor

I had the same problem with an upright and so I bought a piercing valve and charged the compressor with 134R and has been working great since.

This is normal. The refrigerant lines run through the sides and get hot.

It has seperate cooling circuits as you describe the problem can be a leak of refrigerant in the freezer circuit.if there is no heating up in the freezer condensing coil.It has to be check for the leakage.

The door frame heater is probably damaged and grounded. Unfortunately, it is still energized causing less than the entire heater being utilized which will cause an extremely hot condition. I would look at replacing it. It is a pain to do but with some patience, it can be done.

Good luck and hope this helps.

a freezer is just a heat pump . from inside the freezer to the garage . the first law of thermodynamics says heat travels from a hotter to a colder surface . it could just be the cold how much are we talking?

ice cream is always the last to freeze and a temp of minus -10 degrees is usually required to get it to get hard. if you put the ice cream in the door it will be especially tough to freeze. a good thermometor is a good investment as you can observe the temps. usually ten degrees or 20 degrees is what they run. yes they do cycle on and off as long as they hold temps thats good. the outside of the freezer gets warm because the hot compressed refrigerant is spread through piping near its surface giving up its heat of compression . setting the stat to max will freeze the ice cream eventually but utility bill suffers . good luck

The thermostat should be a close circuit when requesting cold temps. or when asking the compressor to come on. The exterior surface on some freezers warm when asking for cold inside. Yours has a condenser coil on the back and that should warm when cooling. If compressor is runningit should be wrm if no freon has leaked from freezer somewhere.
The defrost timer should rotate clockwise during the day and give approx. 3 defrost daily or about every 8 hours. Until the thermostat is resolved and asks for a closed circuit the compressor will not come on. Unplug freezer from outlet,remove thermostat wires, then turn the thermostat to its coldest setting and check again. If no closed circuit the thermostat will need replaced first. Hope this has helped you, Sea Breeze