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I received a Kenmore upright freezer from a family member. As far as I know, it was working fine for several years. That family member moved and no longer has the space for it, so now we have it!

It has been plugged in for a month. The first three weeks seemed fine, but about a day ago, I opened it up to find quite a bit of frost: Imgur Album of Frost in Freezer

It is one of those freezers that vacuum seals itself when you close it. Yesterday I noticed ice build up around the latch that you engage when you want to lock it. This to me was interrupting the seal so I cleaned that out. I checked it this morning and it seemed to be the same amount of frost...if not more! Do I need to clean the frost out and see if it re-appears? Might there be other problems? I haven't done the dollar bill test yet.

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Once frost builds up on the coils it will need to be defrosted. If the door did not seal well just 1 time for a few days frost will build up and has no way to dissipate in an open coil system like you have. I have seen this happen quite a few times on a freezer that was fine but the door was not fully closed or something was stuck across the seal causing a leak.

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  • Yeah, one imperfect closing is all that it takes. The fact it ran ok for 3 weeks and then showed excessive buildup in one even corroborates this explanation.
    – Agent_L
    Commented Oct 7, 2016 at 13:09
  • Ok. I have a serial and model number so I can look up how to defrost. I should have enough room in my fridge/freezer to store this stuff. Thanks!
    – Robb
    Commented Oct 7, 2016 at 13:11
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    If you turn it off or unplug since you have room for the other stuff the frost will melt make sure to wipe the coils and bottom pan dry before turning it back on for best results.
    – Ed Beal
    Commented Oct 7, 2016 at 13:13
  • Ok, thats pretty easy. I noticed at the bottom there was a plug so I'm guessing that drains into the bottom pan when everything unfreezes. How long does a defrost cycle take?
    – Robb
    Commented Oct 7, 2016 at 13:27
  • Some times 2-3 hours depending on how warm the room is.
    – Ed Beal
    Commented Oct 7, 2016 at 17:05

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