Costs · Kirkland
What Fixing a Frosted-Over Freezer Costs
Frost buildup is ice that collects on a freezer's walls, coil or drawer frame faster than the defrost cycle clears it. Depending on the cause, the fix costs nothing or falls in the $290–$680 band, and the cause is named before any figure is. Sub-Zero Repair Kirkland, (425) 699-2400.
- Term
- Frost buildup
- Band
- $290–$6802 bands, lowest to highest
- Tell
- White frost that returns soon after you clear it, thicker in one spot than anywhere else.
| Band | Covers | Range |
|---|---|---|
| Door gasket or seal replacement | Door seals and drawer seals, including the corner that tears first | $290–$660 |
| Defrost heater, thermostat or sensor | Heater, terminating thermostat or temperature sensor on the freezer coil | $300–$680 |
| Clearing a frozen drain tube | No configured band | Quoted after the diagnosis |
Service call The $89 visit covers coming out and diagnosing the fault in full, and all $89 comes back to you as a credit on any repair you go ahead with.
Four causes, four different bills
Sub-Zero’s own list for a freezer that frosts over covers the whole range, from free to banded.
- A door or drawer left open. No repair. Close it, then give the unit a day to clear the frost and settle back to temperature.
- A torn or flattened gasket. The Gasket band; the seal page gives the detail on gasket replacement cost.
- A frozen drain tube. Quoted after the diagnosis. The tube carries meltwater away from the coil, and the way it is cleared differs by series.
- A failed defrost heater, thermostat or sensor. The Defrost band.
Sub-Zero also lists an ice maker that is not filling properly. That belongs to the ice and water side and is priced separately.
Where the ice sits points to the cause
Frost gathered near the opening or along the seal line is room air getting in, through a door, a drawer or a seal. A sheet across the rear wall over the vent, back after every clear-out, is the defrost side not doing its work. Ice frozen flat on the floor at the back of a compartment is meltwater with nowhere to go. On Designer freezer drawers watch the full length of the seal as the drawer closes, because a drawer that stops short leaks along one edge only.
Clearing the ice is not the repair
Sub-Zero describes a manual defrost: the section switched off, food moved to another freezer, towels down, the door left open or a bowl of hot water set inside, and several hours of waiting. It buys time. It fixes nothing if moisture keeps arriving, and the frost comes back. Do not chip at the ice with anything sharp; the liner and the coil behind it puncture easily.
What moves the figure
A coil buried in ice has to thaw completely before its cover can come off, which adds time on the defrost side. A new seal fitted to a door or drawer that hangs out of line would leak again, so the alignment is set in the same visit. Where the drawer itself no longer closes flush, freezer drawer repair covers the slides and the fit.
Check these before you call
- 01
Note where the frost is heaviest: by the opening, across the rear wall over the vent, or on the floor at the back.
- 02
Run a hand round the seal and look for splits, flattened sections or a corner that has pulled away from the door or drawer.
- 03
Push each drawer shut and watch it land. One that stops a little short, or rides up on ice, leaves a gap along one edge.
Still wrong after that? Sub-Zero Repair Kirkland, (425) 699-2400 — visits eight till eight, every day.
Field log
Priced, fixed, signed off.
What Kirkland owners wrote after the figure was agreed and the work was done.
4.9 / 5763 reviews
Wine column in a townhouse with almost no clearance either side. He took the door off rather than force the cabinet out, traced the warm lower zone to a blocked drain and a stuck light switch, and left it holding.
Sebastian R.Totem Lake
Two columns side by side and only the left one misbehaved — warm top shelves, fine at the bottom. Airflow at the evaporator showed the air tower baffle jammed shut. Cleared it, swapped a tired fan.
Hal S.Bridle Trails
Water ran down the inside back wall and froze into a ramp under the ice drawer. The fill tube heater had failed. He replaced it, checked the fill volume and tidied up the mess unasked.
Sunniva B.Bridle Trails
Next step
Say what the unit is doing. The band comes before the bill.
Have the model number from the rating plate and a line on what the unit is doing. The visit is $89, the fault is named and priced inside its published band, and nothing is replaced until you agree the figure.