A freezer that won’t stay cold can be a $300 fan, or a leak in a sealed system that isn’t worth opening. Sometimes the freezer isn’t the problem at all. The six jobs below are grouped by the question that settled each one, told only as far as the technician’s notes and photos go. Bills are rounded to five dollars. The Santa Monica job shows no bill, because its notes don’t account for the whole invoice. Customer names and addresses stay out.
Q1
Is it actually the freezer?
Water on the floor or a warm spot near the freezer doesn’t always start in the freezer. So the first job, before anything is priced, is finding where the problem starts.
May 2025 · Insignia upright freezer, outdoors · Highland Park
A “leaking freezer” that turned out to be the water heater
The owner booked online with a one-line note: they thought their stand-alone freezer outside had a leak. The concrete next to it was wet.
The technician’s write-up is one line too: the water was leaking from the water heater. The freezer itself was fine, and the only charge was the diagnostic.
Bill: diagnostic only
The Insignia upright freezer, standing outside against the house.The wet concrete at the freezer’s side.From the same visit: the base of the gas water heater, its outer jacket torn open.
Q2
Is the cold air reaching the food?
A freezer can make plenty of cold and still warm up if air can’t move: a fan stops, or ice packs over the coil or into the drain.
This is a freezer coil that frost has taken over. It sits behind the back panel and is meant to frost lightly, then melt clear each time the defrost cycle runs. If that cycle stops working, the frost keeps building until air can no longer get through.Whirlpool side-by-side, Thousand Oaks, October 2025: back panel removed, coil exposed.
November 2024 · GE side-by-side · Arcadia
Freezer not doing its job: the evaporator fan
The job came in as a GE freezer fan problem, and the technician confirmed it. The freezer wasn’t working properly because of the evaporator fan, the one that moves air across the freezer’s cooling coil.
He replaced the faulty fan and the freezer was working normally again. It was finished on the same day it was booked.
Bill: about $300
The GE side-by-side in Arcadia.Photographed on the repair day: the GE’s freezer side emptied out, shelves bare.
May–June 2026 · Liebherr refrigerator-freezer · Santa Monica
A block of ice under the ice maker, and dirty water in the drain
The owner’s message said only that the freezer didn’t work. Two photos saved to the file on May 5, before the quote was written, show more. Ice was packed against the back of the freezer below the ice maker, and murky water was sitting in the drain channel.
The technician’s write-up: defrost the freezer by hand, then clear and clean the drain line so air can circulate and water can drain again. It also notes that no warranty applies to this kind of service.
Work: manual defrost, drain line cleared
On file from May 5, before the quote: a mass of ice at the rear of the freezer, under the ice maker.Same day, same file: dirty water standing in the drain channel.
Not sure which question is yours?Describe what’s inside when you call: frost on the back wall, water, or nothing unusual. For $85 a technician works out which of the three it is and puts the price in writing, and that $85 is credited if the repair goes ahead.
The sealed system is the compressor, the coils and the refrigerant running between them. Repairing it means recovering the refrigerant, brazing, pulling a vacuum and recharging. At that point the real question is whether the freezer is worth it. Here are three different answers.
May 2026 · Refrigerator-freezer, model ABR1922FES · Simi Valley
Everyone blamed the open door. It was a leak.
The owner thought the freezer had stopped cooling because the door had been left open. The photo he took with the evaporator cover off shows the frost bunched at one end of the coil and the rest of it bare.
His conclusion was a refrigerant leak that would keep getting worse. Finding and repairing it meant sealed-system work that could cost more than a comparable new unit. So he recommended replacing the refrigerator, and we did no repair.
Bill: $235, no repair
The rating plate: Whirlpool Corporation, model ABR1922FES, 4.25 oz of R134a. Serial number blurred.Before the cover came off: a mound of frost on the evaporator cover.Cover off: a thick clump of frost at one end of the coil, bare tubes and fins elsewhere.
July 2025 · Samsung top-freezer, model RT21M6215WW · Burbank
One valve, two coils, and a reset that might not last
This Samsung has two evaporators and a three-way valve that decides which one gets refrigerant. The freezer had stopped cooling because no refrigerant was reaching it, through either a leak or a restriction.
The technician reset the valve, which can bring the cooling back for a while. He also wrote down plainly that it might not, and that a full repair could cost more than made sense against a new refrigerator. Our file doesn’t show how it went after that.
Bill: $85 diagnostic
The white Samsung top-freezer in its kitchen.Its Samsung rating plate, model RT21M6215WW. Serial and code blurred.
September 2026 · Sub-Zero 561 built-in side-by-side · Beverly Hills
An owner who already knew what his Sub-Zero needed
He booked online under freezer repair and brought his own diagnosis. By his account, his 1990s Sub-Zero 561 had a slow leak on the freezer side. It held its charge and froze well, then lost cooling after about a month. He had replaced the compressor about five years earlier.
He asked for one visit to replace the freezer evaporator coil (Sub-Zero part 7014600) and the filter drier. We quoted that work as he described it, with a note that the price could change once the leak was checked on site. On September 16 the technician connected gauges to the system and stripped the freezer side. He took out the old evaporator with its fan and set it on the floor beside the nitrogen tank. The job was finished and billed that day.
Bill: about $1,455
The panel-ready Sub-Zero 561, built into white cabinetry.The old freezer evaporator and fan, out of the cabinet, next to a nitrogen tank.Manifold display, later in the visit: low side 3.8, high side 170.7 psig.
Across our freezer write-ups
Freezer complaints lean toward the sealed system.
About 2 in 3freezer complaints with technician notes traced back to the sealed system: a refrigerant leak, a restriction or the compressor. That share is higher than for other refrigerator problems.
1 in 4were defrost or frost-blockage problems, like the Santa Monica Liebherr above. For other refrigerator complaints it is closer to 1 in 6.
$450is the median completed freezer repair, diagnostic included. Other refrigerator repairs land close by, at about $440, so a freezer complaint on its own doesn’t mean a bigger bill.
From our job records, July 2024 to October 2026, for calls where the freezer was the complaint. Figures based on notes use only the jobs that have a technician write-up, which are mostly from 2025 and 2026.
Google reviews after freezer calls
What two owners put on Google.
“Excellent service! They scheduled the repair of my freezer the same day as I called. They offered a full evaluation and estimate before starting on the repair. I will be using them again if something breaks in the future.”
Staci L. · Google, 5 stars · Liebherr freezer, Santa Monica · reviewed May 2026
“The technician came to fix our refrigerator just a couple of hours after I called, and this was on a Saturday afternoon! He carefully explained the problem, gave me an very reasonable estimate and fixed it in less than an hour. We’ll definitely use them again for any needed repairs. So nice to find a repair service that responds promptly, courteously, and is reasonably priced.”
Jan S. · Google, 5 stars · JennAir refrigerator not freezing properly, Sierra Madre · reviewed September 2025
The short version
Six facts before you call.
Diagnostic
$85, and all of it comes off the repair bill when you go ahead.
Estimate
Written, and in your hands before any repair work starts.
Warranty
OEM parts, under warranty for a year. Our labor, for 30 days.
License
California BEAR #49435. BBB A+ rated.
Since 2012
A&Y Appliances, 201 N. Brand Blvd, Suite 248, Glendale.
Scope
Household freezers and refrigerator-freezers, repairs only. No restaurant or commercial kitchen refrigeration.
Have the model number handy from the rating plate, and mention whether there is frost, water or nothing out of place. A written estimate reaches you before any work starts.
