Why Does Ice Form Inside Your Fridge?

While you expect your fridge to keep its contents cold, you don't expect to see ice forming on the appliance's inside walls. While a little water or even an occasional thin film of ice might not be a problem, larger ice deposits and spots of freezing on your food are more concerning.

Why is your fridge icing up, and what can you do about it?

Your Temperature Setting Needs Adjusting

In some cases, a fridge gets too cold because its thermostat isn't at the right level. If your setting makes the inside of the fridge too cold, ice might form on the walls.

Conversely, this can also happen if your fridge isn't kept cool enough. If the inside of a fridge is too warm, then condensation might pool up on the bottom of the fridge and turn to ice.

So, before you do anything else, check your temperature setting. Even if you haven't changed it yourself, something might have knocked the dial and put it higher or lower than it should be. If you aren't sure which setting to use, check the manual.

If the setting isn't quite right and you correct it, then the fridge may go back to normal. If you don't get any more ice inside, you've solved the problem.

It's Too Warm Outside the Fridge

You need to have some air circulation around the outside of a fridge for it to work correctly. If a fridge sits in a hot area, then its compressor has to do more work to cool down the inside. If your compressor is on overdrive, it might accidentally create ice layers.

If you're in the middle of a heatwave, then this might be the cause of the problem. Things might settle down again once the weather cools.

If the weather isn't particularly hot, then check that the fridge has enough clearance space around it. Its manual should tell you how much space it needs to operate at optimum efficiency. Sometimes, moving a fridge even slightly can solve this problem.

Your Seals Are Broken

The door on your fridge has special seals that help it shut tightly. These seals keep warm air out of the fridge so that it stays cool inside.

If a seal has come loose, broken or started to break up, then you lose the airtight seal. Air from the outside will get inside. This warmer air can create condensation that then turns into ice.

So, check your seals to see if you can see signs of wear or damage. If you can, then you need to replace them.

If you can't find an obvious fix for your problem, or if you need replacement seals, then contact a fridge repair technician.

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