Gladiator Model No. XXRK- Freezer door was left ajar overnight a little while ago - Now I cannot get the temperature back to zero. I cleaned a blanket of dust off condensor coil- no change... Not Always- but, when garage temperatures are right, a small stream of water rolls onto floor- I believe it is coming off a tube connected to the compressor. Drain tube appears clear- All other mechanical components look good to me.. Any Suggestions for how to get the temp back down? Thank you in Advance. Greg

Hello Deena;

My name is Peter. I am a retired field service refrigeration technician.

There is no reset for the alarm. The alarm goes off when you are not maintaining temperature.

During the time the door was ajar, warm air got into the freezer either icing up and locking the cooling fan or forming a block of ice on the cooling coils (Restricting cooling air flow.)

The best thing you can do, unless you want a $300.00 plus service call to defrost everything, is to turn power off to the freezer. Open the freezer door. Have plenty of old towels to soak up the water in the bottom of the freezer as it defrost.

You did not provide a model number which is located on the inside wall of the freezer. Every 8-10 hours your freezer will completely shout down for 20-30 minutes where only the light works and the defrost heater turns on. The ice build up is too much for the defrost heater to handle.

In some freezers the defrost mode is in the control board, in others it is a separate component that you can repeat trip using a flat head screw drive.

Does the freezer get cold? To what temperature? Is the lid closed tight? What do you have the temperature set at? Is it set to zero or below? Is it an automatic defrost freezer? If so, have you set the auto defrost to off? If you turn thee temperature all the way to the lowest setting, does the beeping stop after awhile? Usually beeping means a lid/door ajar or a temperature problem.

Richard, what you are doing is ok for afew month. Your system is not broken yet. There could a variety of reasons. Wait until it breaks.

Cut off the circuit. Everything runs on the system together so you may need to contact someone that knows what they are dong.

PLease set your thermostat at middle point. Clean your freezer regularly. Don't leave the door ajar for long time.

You will need to turn the unit off and let it completely unthaw. There is frost that builds up in the ducts and behind the panels when the door is left open that will cause the unit to not cool or circulate where needed.

Place a glass of lukewarm water on one of the freezer shelves. Leave the freezer door closed overnight. Check the water in the morning to see if the freezer has brought the temperature down. It takes quite awhile for refrigeration units to recover from heat loads such as door open for extended periods of time.

The alarm should go off when it reaches 0 degrees if not post back

If the door was left ajar for any extended period frost has built up on the cooling coils. A complete defrost of the freezer should take care of the problem. Normally a frost free system will clear the ice from the cooling coil when the defrost time cycle happens. However frost may have built up in areas where the heaters can not readily remove it in a normal defrost cycle and shutting the unit down with the door open for about 24 hours should clear it out.

Our manual says it can take our freezer up to 48 hours to get back to the correct temperature. I found that to be the case when we loaded it fully for the first time.