The short answer
This fault reads the same on every make, but it does not rank the same. On the BC models it is usually an evaporator fan that has stopped turning. This line runs to enough models that the units in service span a wide range of ages, so the parts that wear sit ahead of the parts that fail from a design weakness.
What you observe
- Frost builds as a sheet on the back wall of the freezer — Not the usual light dusting — a solid skin you can knock with a knuckle.
- The compressor never seems to stop — It runs and runs without reaching temperature, which is the same fault seen from the other side.
- Condensation or a damp smell inside the fresh-food compartment — Warm air is reaching the cabinet, and it carries moisture with it.
- NEAR MISS — the cabinet is cold but water is pooling under the crisper — That is a drain fault, not a cooling fault, and it is covered on the leak page for this appliance.
Causes, most likely first on the BC line
- An evaporator fan that has stopped turning — Ranked first here — it is a moving part under frost and it produces the same warm cabinet from a different component.
- A temperature sensor reporting the wrong reading — Second here — it is a plausible cause of a cabinet that never calls for cooling, but it is not the first thing to reach for.
- A cabinet standing somewhere it cannot shed heat — Third here — it is free to correct and it makes every other cause worse.
- Body: A line this wide puts both old and recent units in front of you, and the ranking below favours the causes that come with age over the ones that come with a build. On this set the ordering survives the build unchanged, which is worth knowing before you spend time on the least likely of them.
Check in this order, and why
- Open the freezer door, hold the door switch in and listen for the fan — A fan you cannot hear with the switch held in separates this cause from the other likely one before any tool comes out.
- Watch whether the compressor cycles at all over an hour — A compressor that never starts, in a cabinet that is clearly warm, points at what is telling it the temperature.
- Look at what is around and above the cabinet — Against a radiator, boxed into a cupboard, or with the top packed to the ceiling — all three hold heat against the condenser.
- Body: Across a line this wide the access varies with the generation, so the order starts with checks that need no panel off at all, and only then moves to the ones that do. Work them in order: each one clears the cause it sits beside, and the next is only worth doing once the one before it is clean.
Before you open anything
Safety
Unplug the appliance or switch off its breaker before removing any panel — a capacitor can hold a charge after the power is off. Do not chip ice off an evaporator with anything metal: the tubing behind it is thin-walled, and a puncture turns a cheap repair into a sealed-system job.
Models in the BC family — Every model this page covers, exactly as the model line is recorded. Nothing outside this table is a model number, and nothing on this page claims to cover a model that is not in it.
Reference| Model number | Family key |
|---|---|
| BC-128-E | antarctic-star:refrigerator:bc |
| BC-128C-E | antarctic-star:refrigerator:bc |
| BC-145B | antarctic-star:refrigerator:bc |
| BC-145B/2T | antarctic-star:refrigerator:bc |
| BC-46-E | antarctic-star:refrigerator:bc |
| BC-46B | antarctic-star:refrigerator:bc |
| BC-46BC | antarctic-star:refrigerator:bc |
| BC-47AN | antarctic-star:refrigerator:bc |
| BC-70-E | antarctic-star:refrigerator:bc |
| BC-85B | antarctic-star:refrigerator:bc |
| BC-90B | antarctic-star:refrigerator:bc |
| BC-90U-E | antarctic-star:refrigerator:bc |
| BC-90VE | antarctic-star:refrigerator:bc |
When to call a technician
Call once the owner checks above come back clean, and call at once if the fault is on the sealed system — refrigerant work is licensed work and the tools for it are not owner tools. Oil at the compressor, or a burning smell from the back of the cabinet, is a stop-now condition: every hour it runs after that costs more to put right.
Nearest pages of this class
Lead Appliance Repair Technician · 12 years experience
Experienced technician with 12 years specializing in washing machine and dryer repairs across all major brands.
