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Attitude AT Series Freezer is the scope of this page, and on it a cabinet that runs and will not get cold points first at a condenser or a cabinet with no room to lose heat. The brand page puts a lid or door seal that is no longer sealing first; here it moves down, because what sits behind which panel on these models changes what is worth checking first. 4 of the 6 causes below can be checked without a tool; the rest need a technician.
What the machine is doing
- The lid or door has frost round its edge — Warm moist air is getting in at the seal and freezing where it meets cold metal.
- Packages are soft and the ice cream will not hold — The first thing anybody notices, and the reason a thermometer matters more than a hand.
- A thick crust of frost over the walls — Frost is insulation. Past a certain thickness the cabinet cannot get heat out of its own load.
- It runs constantly and still climbs — Running without reaching cut-out is the clearest evidence that it cannot get where it is being asked to go.
- It failed after a warm spell or after being moved — Both change the conditions the cabinet works in rather than the cabinet itself.
- NEAR MISS — water is pooling around the base — A leak has its own page, and a defrost that is failing to drain is the usual cause.
Causes, most likely first on the AT series
- A condenser or a cabinet with no room to lose heat — This is the cause most often mistaken for a failing compressor, and it is the only one on the list that gets better with a vacuum cleaner.
- A lid or door seal that is no longer sealing — A chest or upright freezer lives or dies on its seal, because everything it loses it loses through that line. Frost at one point on the rim is a map of the leak.
- A garage, porch or outbuilding running outside the rated range — A freezer that is fine all winter and fails every July is telling you about the room, not about itself.
- A thermostat or sensor that has drifted — If the control believes the cabinet is cold, it stops calling for cooling. Drift produces a cabinet that is stable at the wrong temperature.
- Overloading or a badly packed cabinet — Loading warm food in quantity does the same thing temporarily, which is why this one is often a habit rather than a fault.
- A sealed-system fault or a tired compressor — Last, least likely and not owner work at any point. It is what is left when the seal, the frost, the coil and the siting all come back clean.
What to check first, second, third
- Look at the frost thickness on the walls — Thick frost is both a symptom and a cause, and it has to come off before anything else can be judged.
- Close the lid on a sheet of paper at several points round the rim — Anywhere it pulls out freely is a leak, and it takes two minutes to check the whole perimeter.
- Only then suspect the thermostat and the sealed system — They are last because they are the two that cost money to be wrong about.
Before anything comes apart
Safety
Before a panel comes off, the machine comes off the supply: unplug it or switch its breaker off. A capacitor can hold a charge after the power is off. A lid that is propped rather than latched can fall. Support it properly before anyone reaches into the cabinet. Leave every interlock and door switch exactly as you find it: each one cuts power to something for a reason.
Models in the AT family
Reference| Model number | Family key |
|---|---|
| AT50FRE | attitude:freezer:at |
When to call a technician
The split is simple: what you can see, reach and clear with the machine isolated is owner work; refrigerant work, and anything that means lifting or tipping a loaded cabinet is not. On this page that puts a thermostat or sensor that has drifted on the far side of the line. Call straight away for anything that smells of burning, trips a breaker or gives a tingle from the cabinet, whatever else the page says.
Other problems covered for the AT series
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