The short answer
A Aviva ARTM cabinet that ices repeatedly after being cleared is reporting one of two things: a way in for humid air, or a way out for meltwater that is blocked. Both are owner-checkable on this family, and the order below is set by how these compact top-mount refrigerators are built rather than by generic refrigerator advice.
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.
- Items nearest the rear wall are frozen, the rest is not — On a compact top-mount refrigerator that is the load touching the cold surface rather than a control fault.
- The ice returns within days of being cleared — Speed of return is the most diagnostic thing here: fast return means a live air path, slow return means humidity and door traffic.
- 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 ARTM
- 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 upper door is the cold one and the one that ices at a bad seal. Ranked first on Aviva ARTM, which is a top-mount refrigerator: that construction moves this cause ahead of where the generic ordering puts it.
- 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.
- Room humidity and how often the door opens — Every door opening exchanges the cabinet air for room air, and the water in that air stays behind. A cabinet opened constantly in a humid room ices for no other reason.
- A blocked defrost drain — Melt water that cannot leave refreezes where it stood, so the ice appears at the bottom of the compartment or under the lowest shelf. 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.
- Find and clear the drain — The freezer rear panel from inside the upper compartment, and the base bay from behind with the cabinet drawn forward. A drain that has blocked once will block again, so clear it properly rather than poking at the opening.
- 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 owners report the lower compartment because that is where the food spoils, but the fault is usually decided in the compartment above it.
- 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 ARTM family
Reference| Model number | Family key |
|---|---|
| ARTM142** | aviva:refrigerator:artm |
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. One more thing that is specific to this family: the ARTM variant table on this page is the whole of what is covered here — a single model number and nothing else. If the plate on your machine is not one of them, the ranking above was not written for it.
Other problems covered for the ARTM family
Lead Appliance Repair Technician · 12 years experience
Experienced technician with 12 years specializing in washing machine and dryer repairs across all major brands.
