Coils frozeup and iced on top shelf of freezer---did a defrost--when shut the door don't hear the shhhh sound-nothing blocking it and seal is good--light is on but won't freeze any food--threw out alot! Pulled freezer out and noticed the coils we could see had ice accumulated on them--tried uplugging and plugging back in but it didn't help

There are a few possibilities. Freeze-ups are a result of the unit either not having sufficient airflow or the compressor running too long and too often. As you note the fan is good, chances are airflow is not the issue. There are a few quick items that you can check on:

1. Check door seals. Leaks will cause the interior to lose cooling faster and result in compressor overloading.
2. Do not overload the freezer. Too much inside the freezer will cause loss of airflow INSIDE the unit and can cause issues.
3. Avoid putting too much unfrozen material into the freezer at once. It takes a lot of work to remove all the heat from a large amount of material.
4. Avoid multiple opening and closing of the door. Upright freezers are inefficient as they lose all their cold air as soon as you open the door. Chest freezers do better if you must go into the unit often.

Lastly, undercharged refrigerant system can cause the same issue. If you don't have any of the other problems noted, have a serviceman check the refrigerant and fill the system as needed.

When you shut your top wire shelf you do a few things. First of all you activate your fan. Your fan sits in back of a large evaporator coil which is prone to defrost issues. I would imagine your fan is hitting ice due to a defrost issue. You may want to check your defrost system out. Ie your defrost timer.
or alternatively your fan could be getting old and needs replacing, it could just be making noise.
Joe B, Certified refrig.

I would suspect the door seal is not making contact or has some defect in it. And that defect is probably in the top right corner of the door. If you have a thermomiter, wait until the compressor kicks in and then slowly run it around the door seal. There should be some area that is colder than the rest. If I am right, then you will need to replace the seal.

just to be sure that your door is sealing properly, put a flashlight into the freezer and turn off all of the lights in the room to see if there are any openings in the seal. Iam suggesting you this coz sometimes a small opening may pass our eyes easily....

if the door is sealing properly......
If this is the type of freezer where the shelves are the evaporator coils, the coolant goes through the shelves(tubing) and the formation of frost is normal and has to be manually defrosted.All the shelves should be as cold asd the top one. The fact that just one has any frost may indicate that it is low on freon. If this is the case you should notice that the freezer doesn't get cold enought just like you said... so check your freon levels.

This could also be because of the thermostat not sensing when the fridge reaches its set temperature and as a result of this the compressor will keep on running and build-up of ice will occur.

Follow the advices in the order prescribed above and you should be set

Hi,

On this unit the shelves are the cooling coils and carry the refrigerant (freon) through the system. They will attract the warm moist air by design, so if you have an air leak in the door or elsewhere it will tend to build up there first.

This being said you need to check something else first. Make sure the other shelves are cold. If they are frosted and cold like normal then you most likely have a door that is not closing all the way or a bad seal. If the lower shelves are not cold then you have a system problem, typically a refrigerant (freon) leak that is causing the top shelf to absorb most of the work and not enough refrigerant to flow to the bottom shelves.

I hope this helps

its a manual defrost freezer, it is normal to ice up, if it is unusually more than you have noticed over the past 40 years, see if the door liner is cracked around the screws under the gasket, if so put some washers there to reseal the door liner

I would look at the defrost control [sometimes they are defrost clocks]Maybe that the freezer is not defrosting.

You said you checked the seal but one thing you can try to be double sure the seal is tight put a thin layer of vaseline along the entire seal it will fill in any gaps and you can be sure it is sealing completely.

The model number would help but it sounds like a sealed system leak or restriction. If thats the case I would not suggest trying this yourself. The water should freeze overnight and the frost should keep going to all the shelfs that have coils in them.

DR....let's go down the list:

First is freeze up. This happens when too much humidity gets into the unit from the air and forms ice on the coils. Defrost the unit using warm air or leave it open and off for two days.

Problems that cause this: high humidity, 'window shopping', unit not left closed or bad gasket. If the gasket looks damaged, it will need to be replaced. Gaskets that have accumulated dirt don't seal. Use a mild cleaner to fix this. If you have doubts about an area where the seal is questionable...use a sheet of paper about 2-3 inches wide, close the door and pull it through. No resistance indicates a poor seal.

Make sure you clean out the condenser...the coils where the heat is rejected by the unit.

It is possible that you have refrigerant or defrost timer issues. To check for low refrigerant, start the unit after defrosting it. Note that the larger pipe attached to the big black thing....the compressor...will start to frost. It should then start to form ice while the unit is running...about 5 minutes. If the frost stays and the pipe is not REALLY cold, you have a problem with refrigerant. Sealed units are warranted for 5 years. Defrost timer issues are best left to a tech.