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Symptom guide / freezer
The freezer runs constantly and nothing in it stays frozen
One repair on this page decides what the whole machine is worth: everything else that fails in a freezer costs about the same, and the compressor costs more than a chest freezer did when it was new. The sources behind this page go further than most price lists and say outright that on an older or cheaply bought freezer the honest answer is replacement. The visit is what the money goes on here: $99 [S1] covers the diagnostic alone, and every one of the 6 causes on this page needs a part. The complaint is the freezer runs constantly and nothing in it stays frozen, described as the freezer runs constantly and nothing freezes, the ice cream is soft and the meat is still cold, everything is covered in frost and the food is thawing, the freezer is cold but not cold enough or it started after the door was left open. Defrost system fault, and the ice it leaves behind is where to start — $342–$442 installed, about 120 minutes [S1].
What the fault looks like
Fig. FREEZER - NOT FREEZING
What a technician actually does
defrost system fault, and the ice it leaves behind [S1]
high likelihoodadvanced$342–$442 installedabout 120 minn=15 completed jobs[S1]
everything is covered in frost and the food is thawingthe freezer runs constantly and nothing freezes
The source's own answer to why a freezer stops holding temperature, and the reason the diagnosis is not obvious from outside: a defrost fault and a failed fan present identically to a dying compressor, because the unit runs constantly and the contents soften. What separates them is the frost. A defrost cycle that no longer runs leaves ice on the evaporator coil, the ice blocks the air path, and the cabinet gets warm while the compressor works harder than ever. S1's symptom table carries the pattern with the counts: frosting up is 280 of its repairs at a $369 median, a number that sits beside not freezing rather than behind it.
S1 publishes medians of completed jobs rather than part-only prices for this fault: a defrost heater comes to $374 with the middle half at $342-442 across 15 repairs, and a heating element $400 ($364-512) across 21
high likelihoodadvanced$335–$450 installedabout 90 minn=43 completed jobs[S1]
the freezer runs constantly and nothing freezesthe freezer is cold but not cold enough
The other half of the source's pairing, and the cheaper of the two to be wrong about: the fan moves cold air from the evaporator into the cabinet, so when it stops the coil still gets cold and the food does not. The tell is that the machine is quiet where it used to hum, or that the noise changed before the temperature did - S1's symptom table gives making noise a $396 median across 138 repairs, and notes that its widest spread means several different faults produce that one symptom.
S1 prices a completed evaporator fan replacement at a $381 median with the middle half at $335-450 across 43 repairs; S2's refrigerator panel prices its evaporator-or-condenser fan row at a $422 median across 130 jobs
medium likelihoodmoderate$312–$588 installedabout 60 minn=78 completed jobs[S1]
it started after the door was left openeverything is covered in frost and the food is thawing
The cause with a free test attached, and the source gives the test: a tired seal makes a healthy freezer run continuously and frost up, and if the gasket slides out freely when you pull at it, it has gone. Warm, humid air entering the cabinet becomes the frost that then blocks the air path, so a gasket failure and a defrost failure end in the same symptom by two different routes. This is the one cause on the page that a household can confirm in a minute without tools.
S1 prices a completed door gasket replacement at a $393 median with the middle half at $312-588 across 78 repairs; no part-only figure is published
medium likelihoodadvanced$348–$460 installedabout 75 minn=56 completed jobs[S1]
the freezer is cold but not cold enoughthe freezer runs constantly and nothing freezes
The control side of the same problem: a thermostat or sensor reading the cabinet as colder than it is tells the compressor to stop early, and everything in the freezer thins out while the machine looks like it is working normally. The source's two medians for the same job differ by five dollars, which is the useful part - a thermostat and a sensor are priced as one repair across both of its panels, so a quote for either should land in the same band.
S1 prices a completed thermostat replacement at a $381 median with the middle half at $348-460 across 56 repairs; S2 prices a refrigerator sensor at a $386 median across 65 jobs
The dearest of the repairs that are still worth doing, and the one that gets bought by mistake: a board that stops calling for a defrost cycle produces the frost of a defrost fault, and a board that misreads a sensor produces the behaviour of a bad thermostat. It is priced above every other non-compressor repair on the page, which is why the diagnosis has to come before the board does. S2's figure is the higher of the two and it is printed beside S1's rather than averaged.
S1 prices a completed control board replacement at a $494 median with the middle half at $408-604 across 51 repairs, the second dearest item in its table; S2 prices a refrigerator board at a $564 median across 78 jobs
medium likelihoodpro$328–$1,226 installedabout 240 minn=108 completed jobs[S1]
the freezer runs constantly and nothing freezesthe freezer is cold but not cold enough
The repair that decides the whole page, in the source's own words: any fault that is not the compressor is worth fixing on almost any machine, and a compressor on an older freezer - especially a chest freezer bought cheaply years ago - is the repair where replacement usually wins. The good news it adds is that the compressor is rarely the answer, and the honest number is the spread rather than the median: $328 to $1,226 across 108 jobs, which is a genuine sealed-system repair on one job and a compressor plus the labour around it on another. Nothing here is a DIY job: it needs refrigerant handling and a vacuum pump.
the sources disagree and both are shown: S1's completed compressor repairs median $750 with the middle half at $328-1,226 across 108 jobs, S2's refrigerator compressor median is $956 across 80 jobs, and S3 prices an installed compressor at $700-1,200
Repair or replace?
The verdict
Find out whether the compressor is involved before anything else, because that single question decides the page: every other repair here is worth doing on almost any machine, at $374-494, while a compressor at a $750 median with a $328-1,226 spread on an older freezer is where replacement usually wins. The cheap checks come first - the gasket slide test and the frost pattern - and both of them distinguish a fault that costs $374 from one that costs $750. [S1]
Two datasets published by the same company stand behind this page and each figure names its own: the symptom band above is the freezer cost page's own not-freezing row, 830 jobs at a $385 median with the middle half at $310-498, and the component band beside it is the same company's 46-component parts page, which prices the defrost heater on a freezer separately at 24 jobs. Neither is a slice of the other - the parts page reports only components with at least fifteen replacements behind them and its own freezer table covers 264 completed jobs against the cost page's 2,272 - so the two are never averaged and never added, and no total of the cause counts is printed.
The comparison is not the repair against the freezer, it is the compressor against everything else: $374-494 for a defrost heater, a fan, a thermostat or a gasket, against a compressor at $750 with a middle half reaching $1,226. On a machine that was inexpensive when it was new, that spread is what makes replacement the honest recommendation rather than a sales line - and the sources say so in their own words rather than quoting the job and leaving.
S3's replacement prices are the ones published for the machines these faults live in ($700-1,100 for a top-freezer refrigerator, $1,600-3,200 for a French door), and S2's refrigerator replacement lines sit at eight and twelve years; a standalone chest freezer costs less than either, which is exactly why the sources' shared advice on the compressor is that replacement wins there first
Have a quote?
Put your quote and the age of the unit into the calculator — the same half-of-new-price rule, with your own numbers.
[S1]Bozmanfix (medians from 2,272 completed freezer repairs; page published September 2026) (2026-09). the $385 median with the middle half at $302-500 across 2,272 jobs, the symptom-level table (not freezing $385 $310-498 n=830, leaking water $370 $295-456 n=284, frosting up $369 $300-456 n=280, making noise $396 $311-504 n=138), the part table with job counts (compressor $750 $328-1,226 n=108, door gasket $393 $312-588 n=78, thermostat $381 $348-460 n=56, control board $494 $408-604 n=51, evaporator fan $381 $335-450 n=43, heating element $400 $364-512 n=21, defrost heater $374 $342-442 n=15), the $99 applied diagnostic, the finding that a defrost fault or a failed fan presents identically to a dying compressor, the gasket slide test, the $376 distance between the cheapest and dearest routine repair, and the repair-or-replace judgement about compressors on older and cheap chest freezers
[S3]FlexFul Appliance Repair (Chicagoland) (2026). 2026 installed prices for the sealed-system end (compressor $700-1,200), new unit prices ($700-1,100 top-freezer, $1,600-3,200 French door), the $80-140 diagnostic band, and the half-of-new-price replacement rule past eight years
[S4]Bozmanfix (46 components priced across 29,315 completed repairs, every row published with its own job count; page published August 2026) (2026-08). the freezer component band quoted beside the decision figures: a defrost heater or timer at a $331 median with the middle half at $285-462 across 24 completed replacements, and the freezer table's own all-repairs row at a $375 median with the middle half at $295-492 across 264 completed jobs (which is the 264 behind this source's own denominator); the page publishes 46 component rows across 29,315 completed repairs, its method reports a component only where at least fifteen replacements support it, it states that every figure is the full ticket - component, labour and the service call together - rather than a part price, and it states that the component counts come from technician job notes and are therefore the jobs the publisher can confidently attribute rather than a complete inventory of what was fitted. Its freezer table carries one component row only, and it reports no defrost-drain, door-gap or fan-bearing row on a freezer
Last verified: 2026-09-17. Prices are US market figures from the sources above; your quote may differ.
Built from a fact record, not from a template: every number above is tied to one of the sources and the record is re-checked against them. Editorial choices (which symptom leads, which cause is the single tell) are kept in a separate block so the facts stay auditable.
Quick answers
How much does it cost to fix a freezer with this problem?
Completed repairs run $302–$500 according to the sources cited on this page, after a diagnostic fee of $99.
How long does a freezer last?
The decision rule used on this page works from a planning life of 12 years.
Repair or replace?
Find out whether the compressor is involved before anything else, because that single question decides the page: every other repair here is worth doing on almost any machine, at $374-494, while a compressor at a $750 median with a $328-1,226 spread on an older freezer is where replacement usually wins. The cheap checks come first - the gasket slide test and the frost pattern - and both of them distinguish a fault that costs $374 from one that costs $750.
