The short answer
On the AVG MVP models this page covers, frost and ice are a symptom of moisture entering a cold box, not of the cooling working too well. This is a heavier cabinet built for frequent opening and a warm room, with forced-air cooling, a coarse condenser behind a front or rear grille and a drain arrangement designed to run continuously, so the entry points are few and they can be checked in order in an afternoon.
What you observe on these models
- A sheet of frost on the rear interior wall — A sheet rather than a dusting is the airflow-closing kind, and it is the version that ends as a temperature complaint.
- Ice under the lowest shelf or basket that returns after clearing — Meltwater that cannot leave.
- Items nearest the rear wall are frozen, the rest is not — On a commercial-style undercounter cabinet that is the load touching the cold surface rather than a control fault.
- NEAR MISS — no ice, but the cabinet will not hold temperature — That is a cooling-failure page, not this one.
Causes, most likely first on MVP
- Airflow blocked by the load itself — Bottles or packages against the rear wall create a cold pocket that ices while the rest of the cabinet runs warm. Stock loaded to the back of the shelf closes the return path. It leads the list on AVG MVP because these are commercial-style undercounter cabinets — an undercounter cabinet concentrates this fault in a way a full-size machine does not.
- A defrost cycle that is not completing — Frost that returns as a sheet rather than a dusting means the cycle that should clear it is stalling, and the sheet closes the airflow path down as it grows.
- A door seal drawing humid room air — Warm room air meeting a cold surface deposits water, and at these temperatures that water becomes ice at the point of entry — which is why the ice is always worst nearest the leak.
- The ice maker, on the models that have one — An ice maker that has stopped is a fill, a freeze or a harvest problem in that order, and the models in this family that lack one make this question moot. Most cabinets of this class do not make ice; a separate machine does. Last on this list, and the item that every cause above it can imitate exactly.
Check in this order, and why that order
- Clear the ice completely, with the power off, and note the date — You cannot diagnose ice you cannot see the growth of. Defrost with time rather than heat, and never chip at it — the tubing under the surface is thin-walled.
- Check the seal at every point of the door line — A strip of paper closed in the door and pulled at intervals will find a slack point. On a glass door, check the hinge side, which is the side people never check.
- Read the set point and ask what the cabinet is actually for — A cabinet set colder than its load needs will frost regardless of its condition, and this cabinet is specified to work in a warmer, busier room than a domestic one, which means it runs closer to its limit and shows a neglected condenser sooner.
- Count the door openings and note the room — Humid rooms and frequent opening produce ice with nothing broken at all. If the ice returns slowly and evenly, this is the answer.
Before you open anything
Safety
Unplug the appliance or switch off its breaker before clearing ice or removing any panel. Never chip, lever or heat ice off an evaporator or an interior wall: the tubing beneath is thin-walled and a puncture ends the cabinet.
Models this page covers — the MVP family
Reference| Model number | Family key |
|---|---|
| MVP46DS | avg:refrigerator:mvp |
When to call a technician
Call when ice returns quickly after a full defrost and the seal, the drain and the set point are all ruled out, because at that point the defrost arrangement or the sensor that governs it is the remaining candidate. Call immediately if you find ice where a line enters the cabinet, or if clearing the ice has exposed damaged tubing. Check the plate before acting on any of this. MVP is an undercounter cabinet, and the ranking above is written for that construction rather than for the brand as a whole.
Other problems covered for the MVP family
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