Roper--ice buildup on one freezer shelf

Just had this issue. Freezer is packed usually & suspected airflow. Emptied bottom 2 shelves & vent strip was solid frost. Bottom 2 shelves were filled w/ solid roasts & other solid large items. Used blowdryer & currently waiting to see if it begins freezing top shelf.

Adjust the thermostat switch to different positions and see.

Good day,
I assume this is a conventional freezer, not a frost free model.
That condition is caused either by a loss of refrigerant or an internal restriction in the sealed system.
Both are, I'm afraid terminal, unless the machine is under 5 years of age, in which case it would be covered by factory warranty.

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

Hi,

The symptoms you are describing are typically from a refrigerant (freon) leak. Unfortunately it will be as simple as adding new refrigerant as it will just leak out. The leak will need to be repaired. From my experience with this unit my best guess is that the evaporator coils would need replaced. An average repair cost for this type of repair would be around $400.00.

I hope this helps.

it may be that the door is open a lot witch lets in warm air that go's to the top of your freezer and turns into ice so there maybe nothing wrong with your freezer, in winter we heat the house up and close all the windows this holds in the damp air,, in the summer it should be ok, but to test it place a thermometer in the freezer is should be about -21*f or there abouts for a 4 star freezer

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.

You have a loss of freon.

That is normal. The refrigerant runs through those shelves. They are the evaporator side of the unit.That is where the freezing effect comes from.
Check door seals for leaking air.
Keep door openings to a minimum.
Get in there and get out.
Those things will help prolong frost/ice buildup.

An upright freezer that is not frost free will have the coils in the shelves (shelves are non-removeable) and that is where the frost will buildup.  If your model is like this then it will have to be defrosted periodically.  If your not sure then give me the entire model # from the sticker inside the freezer and I will look it up for you.