Freezer
A Sheet of Ice on the Floor of a Sub-Zero Freezer
In the owner's words
A flat sheet of ice has spread across the bottom of the freezer, under the baskets. I chip it out and it grows back clear and smooth, as if water froze there.
Short answerIce lying as a smooth sheet on the freezer floor started life as water. On a Sub-Zero that water usually comes from damp air slipping past a door or drawer seal, or from defrost water that could not drain away. Sub-Zero Appliance Repair Seattle, (206) 339-4211, looks at the gasket and the drain path before anything else.
Signed
- Technician
- Dean Halvorsen
- Bench time
- 19 years in the trade
- Title
- Refrigeration technician — sealed systems and airflow
- Carries
- EPA 608 certified
- Dated
- Gasket
- Door trim strip
Pattern Ledger
Ice Sheet on the Freezer Floor: how it usually goes
- Most often Door or drawer gasket torn, cracked or binding
-
Gives itself away by Ice thickest toward the front, and frost clinging to the gasket itself
Price band Door gasket or seal replacement$290–$640
- Sometimes Drain tube frozen or drain trough heater failed
-
Gives itself away by Ice spreads forward from the back, often with frost building on the rear wall too
Price band Defrost heater, thermostat or sensor$260–$690
- Rarely Ice maker leaking water into the compartment
-
Gives itself away by The ice lines up under the ice maker or bin, and cubes come out fused together or oddly shaped
Price band Ice maker, water valve or supply line$270–$750
Telling these three apart is what the $89 visit is for. Sub-Zero Appliance Repair Seattle · (206) 339-4211
Water first, then ice
A freezer floor sits well below freezing, so water that reaches it sets hard where it lands. A worn seal lets damp air in every hour the door is shut, not only when it opens.
The drain path on the classic built-ins
On the classic Sub-Zero built-ins, frost melted off the freezer coil leaves through a heated drain trough and its tube. If the trough heater fails or the tube freezes, the next defrost has nowhere to send its water, and it spills across the floor to freeze. An ice maker that leaks leaves its ice directly beneath the bin instead; that fault has its own page in this library.
What you can check safely
- Confirm the freezer shows a 0°F setting, which is what Sub-Zero recommends for that section.
- Inspect the door or drawer gasket for rips, tears or binding, which Sub-Zero names as the ways air finds its way into a freezer.
- Lift out loose pieces of ice only; do not chip at the sheet with a knife or screwdriver, since the liner punctures easily.
Owner checks end there. Sealed tubing, wiring behind the grille and anything held by screws belongs on a service call — Sub-Zero Appliance Repair Seattle, (206) 339-4211.
Questions owners ask about this
Sub-Zero says to defrost the freezer. Will that fix the ice sheet?
Defrosting and drying the floor is the manufacturer's first step, with checking the set point, the gasket and how the door or drawer closes. It removes the ice, and if a door was simply left ajar, that may be the end of it. If the sheet grows back, the seal or drain needs attention.
Is ice on the freezer floor a sign of a refrigerant leak?
It is a common worry, but refrigerant does not collect in the compartment as ice. A sheet on the floor is water that pooled and froze, and the water comes from damp air, blocked defrost drainage or the ice maker. Sub-Zero Appliance Repair Seattle, (206) 339-4211, traces which of the three it is.
Why is the ice clear and smooth rather than white and frosty?
Frost grows out of moist air a little at a time and looks white and feathery. A clear, flat sheet means liquid water reached the floor first and then froze, which is why the drain path and the ice maker sit on the list beside the door seal.