The top shelf in my upright freezer ices up badly; but the rest of the freezer is great - no ice! What causes this and is there something I can put on that shelf to keep the ice from building up.

The door gasket is leaking around the top of the door. Air getting in past the gasket condenses in the freezer causing the ice build-up.

Hi,

On this unit the shelves are the cooling coils and carry the refrigerant (freon) through the system. They will attract the warm moist air by design, so if you have an air leak in the door or elsewhere it will tend to build up there first.

This being said you need to check something else first. Make sure the other shelves are cold. If they are frosted and cold like normal then you most likely have a door that is not closing all the way or a bad seal. If the lower shelves are not cold then you have a system problem, typically a refrigerant (freon) leak that is causing the top shelf to absorb most of the work and not enough refrigerant to flow to the bottom shelves.

I hope this helps

This could be because of the thermostat not sensing when the fridge reaches its set temperature and as a result of this the compressor will keep on running and build-up of ice will occur.Second cause of the ice might be the door rubber seal not sealing propperly.

Hope this helped.

Regards

Andre Nagel jnr
AQS Industries cc

Hello, get a short piece of electrical wire and strip the insulation off. put a bend in one end and then hang it over the heater directly above the drain making sure the wire runs into the drain about an inch. the heat from the heater will make sure the drain stays clear. Hope this helps. Mike

Sounds like you have a seal system leak.If you have got work done not long ago to the system it my be over charged or under charged.If no work ever done to it you may need a new freezer.

You have a loss of freon.

The door seal is at fault. Regardless of the small tear it is not sealing well.
Take a dollar bill and close it in the door. Then pull on the bill to feel resistance.
You will find it pulls easily in some place. That is where your air leak is that is causing the condensation.
Do this about every 6 inches all the way around the seal.

That is normal. The refrigerant runs through those shelves. They are the evaporator side of the unit.That is where the freezing effect comes from.
Check door seals for leaking air.
Keep door openings to a minimum.
Get in there and get out.
Those things will help prolong frost/ice buildup.

You said you checked the seal but one thing you can try to be double sure the seal is tight put a thin layer of vaseline along the entire seal it will fill in any gaps and you can be sure it is sealing completely.

Sounds like a defrost system problem. Could be related to defrost timer, heaters or defrost thermostat. Have it serviced.