Frost is forming in the freezer Hotpoint ctx21ga

There could be a large list of things that cause the freezer to warm up from the temperature it was before. The most likely reason is you probably have a defrost problem. Defrost heater, defrost thermostat and the defrost control are all things that may have failed. If your model is not a frost free let me know. Look inside freezer for a layer of frost building on the rear wall. If your refrigerator is not defrosting it will be a short time before the fresh food compartment begins to warm. To extend the time your refrigerator and freezer can keep food safe defrost by placing a bucket of hot water inside the freezer and close the door. Please place food from freezer and fresh food compartment into another refrigerator or cold storage area. By keeping doors shut as much as possible the refrigerator and freezer will last up to a week this way before defrosting again, Sea Breeze

Merv -

Most manufacturer's fridges are designed for 34 degrees F in the fresh food compartment and 0 degrees F in the freezer compartment. Setting the fresh food compartment to a value lower than 32 degrees will freeze any moisture in foods, fruits and vegetables and freeze water in juices and other beverages resulting in broken containers, exploding cans, etc.

What you need is another freezer. Trying to convert a refrigerator into a freezer is going to be very difficult - especially without ruining it.

Good luck!

Iced-over evaporator coils, accompanied by a non-chilled fresh food compartment, happened in my GE side-by-side (model GSS20IEMDWW). For me,the problem was caused by a faulty temp sensor in the fresh food side. That sensor never signaled the computer that the temp in the fresh food side was cool enough, so the compressor ran constantly.

Since the compressor was running constantly, the evaporator coils (back wall of the freezer compartment) eventually iced over (took about a week).Since the fan that draws air over the evaporator coils could no longer move any air (due to the icing), the temperature in the fresh food side got warmer as well.

The fresh food side is chilled through a hole with a motorized door at the top of the dividing wall between compartments which opens when the fresh food side needs cooling. If no air is moving in the freezer compartment, temps in the fresh food compartment climb.

I replaced the temp sensor in the fresh food side and solved the problem for a while.

I bought a pair of thermometers at a kitchen store and put one in the freezer compartment and one in the fresh food compartment so that I could occasionally check to see if it made sense for the compressor to be running (ie, was it really necessary to be trying to cool either compartment, or were they already cold enough).

About six months later I had the coil icing problem again. This time the fresh food side seemed cool enough (according to the thermometer as well as the fact that the flapper door would close, indicating that the computer knew to not try to additionally cool the fresh food side).

The thermometer indicated that the temp in the freezer compartment was cold enough, but the system computer continued to run the compressor. So I replaced both temp sensors in the freezer compartment - which solved the problem again. (My fridge is about seven years old.)

If you are going to replace any of the temp sensors, replace them all under the principle of "if one failed, the rest will soon fail too".

Use a website like www.partselect.com to look up a parts diagram for your fridge and see if you can order just the temp sensors. Other websites (www.repairclinic.com and www.appliancepartsworldwide.com) may also be helpful. I have no affiliation with any of the sites I just mentioned - I'm just posting them as resources.

On my GE side by side (model GSS20IEMDWW), a warm fresh food side, as well as iced-over evaporator coils in the freezer, was caused by the temp sensor in the fresh food side sending faulty data to the computer.

The temp in the fresh food side would climb because air could no longer pass over the iced-up coils in the freezer side.

For me, the faulty fresh food side sensor made the computer always thing the fresh food side was too warm, making it constantly run the compressor (thus icing up the coils).

If you do not have a coil icing problem in the freezer, then your fresh food side temp sensor may be telling the computer that the fresh food side is already cold enough.

If the temperature fluctuations occur (at least the ones to 20-30 degrees) at intervals of 6 hours or so then you are catching it in it's defrost mode which occurs on a timer. The timer shuts off everything except lights every 6 hours for an average of 20 minutes. This usually isn't enough to thaw things but I have seen it cause some crystale. Look closely at the back inside wall of the freezer for an accumulation of frost. If you see it there then you may have a defrost problem. Usually this is accompanied by steadily rising temperature in the freezer and fresh food secions both. The temps you listed (0to10) are fine. Good luck, AJ

Things to check.......Is the evaporator (freezer) fan motor running? If not you could have a bad motor
Do you see a build up of frost on the interior rear wall of the freezer? Problem in the defrost system. This includes the heater, terminator or control.

In addition a bad fresh food damper control or blocked return air duct could be restricting airflow into the fresh food compartment.

Ideal temps should be 0 to 10 above in the freezer and 36 to 42 in the fresh food compartment. This can be measured by submerging a thermometer in a cup of vegetable oil that has been in the freezer for 24 hours. The same can be done in the fresh food compartment where a cup of water will do the trick. Higher freezer temps could indicate a more serious problem in the sealed system.

check yours calotron,and reduce temp. on it.

Remove back panel of freezer (where you see the frost) and melt the frost with a hair blower. The frost blocked evaporator coils are not allowing air to pass over the cold coils, so no cold air is able to get to the fresh foods section. You will most likely need to replace the defrost heater at the bottom of the evap coils to prevent this from reoccurring in two weeks time.

If you have frost on the back wall of the freezer compartment you have a defrost problem. When the freezer coil does not defrost the refrigerator does not get air for cooling.

check freezer for frost build up and if fan blowing, check condenser make sure clean, and fan blowing, check vents in refrig. make sure no blockage, freezer control should be in the middle setting, you can try turning that to Warmer freezer allowing MORE air to refrigertor side.