Carrier 50vt heat pump freezing 2 inches around inner perimeter almost hitting fan. Is this normal?

Could be the capacitor or the heating element (or igniter if it's a gas unit). Unless you're a qualified HVAC repairman, call your local HVAC company to come take a look at it.

All Carrier has on this is installation instructions & field wiring. If your heat pump is freezing up, then check your defrost board to see if the timing jumper for checking the freezestat is set to 30,60, or 90 minutes. If it is set to 90, then set it either to 30 or 60 for the board to check the freezestat more often to go into defrost. Then again, the system could be a little low on refrigerant.

No, it is a GREAT System

Yes it is normal especially with high humidity. The moisture freezes on the coils just like on the evaporator coils in a freezer. The heat pump will defrost itself by shutting off the fan outside and reverse the flow of refrigerant to melt the ice when it build up then switch back to normal heat. That's why at times you may feel cold air coming out of the vents in the house. The outside coils are defrosting.

open the oven door and there are screws around the perimeter of the inner door cover remove these the seal then replace the glass and reverse the procedure make sure the heat seal gets put back right for the heat shield

You post is not clear as to where the freeze-up is occurring. I'm going to assume the outdoor unit is frozen up.
Heat Pumps don't generally freeze up at 60 degrees. If the ice around the unit has an uneven pattern (for example a thick spot around the center or at the very bottom) could indicate a low refrigerant charge. If the ice is even throughout, it may be one of the following:
*Sticking Contactor*.....turn the system off at your thermostat and check to make sure the unit outside shut off. If it doesn't turn off, it is likely to be the contactor.
*Failed Defrost Thermostat*.....if the defrost thermostat fails "open", the system will never go into defrost.
*Failed Defrost Control Board*......this could also prevent the system from going into defrost
*Failed Reversing Valve*........put your system in COOL mode and check to see if it will blow cold air inside approx 16 - 22 degF lower than room temperature.
*Failed/Failing Condensor Fan Motor*.......ensure the condenser fan motor is running during heat and cool modes. The condensor fan motor will not run in OFF/Satisfied Mode or in Defrost Mode.
I hope this helps. Good Luck! :-)

The outside fan may run if the unit is in defrost mode this is normal for most heat pumps it is there way of trying to keep the outside unit from staying iced over so the next time the unit runs it will have air flow through the coil and the ice will not be there to prevent air flow.

check your defrost board in the condenser.

You must be having some very cold weather. Heat pumps shut the fan off when the temp. of the coils on the outside hit a certain temperature. That is to increase the pressure inside the unit to get more heat out of it. Your unit also goes into a defrost when ever it gets that cold also. But the compressor turns off also.

Now if your fan never comes on need to check the motor with a ohm meter. And check the capacitor it is a dual one meaning fan and compressor. One side can be out so need to check that also. Turn power off to the outside unit just pull the safety disconnect on the side of the house. Take the capacitor out ohm out the C side and the fan side. You will notice the Herm side meaning compressor. My guess is motor is bad. But I'm not there so concentrate your efforts there. Let me know how it goes okay. Ken