The short answer
A Breda freezer compartment that will not freeze is almost always a flap that is not sealing or a plate buried in frost. Check both before touching the dial. An overfilled cabinet and a warm room come next. Nothing here is an ice maker, so there are no valves or lines to blame.
What you observe
- Ice trays stay slushy overnight — The compartment is cold but not freezing.
- The flap door will not close flush — Frost or a tray behind it holding it open.
- Heavy frost inside the compartment and on the plate — The classic signature, and the cause rather than the effect.
- Frozen items thaw and refreeze into a block — The compartment is cycling above freezing between runs.
- NEAR MISS - soft ice cream in a compartment like this — Normal. It is a freezer compartment, not a deep freeze.
Causes, most likely first on this brand
- The flap door not closing or sealing — First on this design. A tray pushed too far back, a hinge that has worked loose or a frost lip on the edge all hold the flap open a fraction, and the compartment cannot hold freezing with warm air flowing in.
- Frost buried over the cold plate — Second. The compartment is the coldest part of the plate, so it frosts first and heaviest, and once the frost is thick it insulates the surface that should be freezing your trays.
- A thermostat set too warm for the season — Third. One dial controls the whole cabinet, so a setting that keeps the fridge section pleasant in winter can leave the compartment short in a warm kitchen.
- A door seal or condenser problem stealing capacity — Fourth. Anything that makes the whole cabinet work harder shows up in the compartment first, because it has the least margin.
- A thermostat or sealed-system fault — Last. Suspect it only after a full defrost, a sealing flap and clean coils have all failed to fix it.
Check in this order, and why
- Close the flap and look along its edge — A gap anywhere means the compartment is not sealed.
- Judge the frost thickness on the plate — Thick frost is the cause. Defrost before any other test.
- Move the dial one step colder and wait a day — One step at a time, because a compact cabinet is slow to settle.
- Check the main door seal and the coils — Both steal capacity from the compartment before anything else.
What an owner can safely check
- Defrost the whole cabinet — Switch off, empty it, and let all the frost melt rather than chipping it away.
Tools: towels, cool boxAbout 240 min
- Clear the compartment and refit the trays — Nothing should touch the flap or hold it off its seat when closed.
About 15 min
- Adjust the dial one step colder — Wait a full day before judging the result or moving it again.
About 10 min
- Clean the door seal and vacuum the coils — Both steal cold from the compartment before they show anywhere else.
Tools: cloth, vacuumAbout 30 min
- STOP HERE if a defrosted sealed cabinet still will not freeze — That is thermostat or sealed system.
Before you open anything
Safety
Unplug the refrigerator before defrosting. Never chip ice off the plate or the compartment walls with a knife or screwdriver - the cooling circuit is directly behind them and a puncture ends the appliance. Do not use a heat gun or boiling water; warm room air and time are the safe method. Move frozen food to a cool box, and discard anything that has thawed rather than refreezing it.
When to call a technician
Call when the cabinet has been fully defrosted, the flap closes flush, the seal and coils are clean, the dial has been given a day at a colder setting and trays still will not freeze. That combination points at the thermostat or the sealed system. Call sooner if the fridge section is also warming, because a cabinet losing cooling everywhere is a different and more urgent problem.
Nearest pages of this class
What this page does not cover
This page covers the small inner freezer compartment of the Breda apartment-size static-cooled refrigerators. It is not an ice maker and not a separate freezer, so plumbed ice-maker faults, fill valves and supply lines are out of scope. Also absent: thermostat settings, storage times, part identifiers and capacities, which differ by family.
Lead Appliance Repair Technician · 12 years experience
Experienced technician with 12 years specializing in washing machine and dryer repairs across all major brands.
