Why does the frost come back after I clear it by hand?

Because defrosting it by hand removes the evidence rather than the fault. The cabinet is supposed to melt that frost on a schedule and drain the water away. If the heater, the termination sensor or the control is not doing its part, the ice returns on the same timetable, and those three read differently on a meter.

What does a defrost repair run?

Heater, thermostat or sensor work sits at $260–$630, parts and labour. A blocked drain cleared and proven is the cheap end of it; a failed drain heater or a control that never initiates the cycle is the upper end. The $80 diagnostic is credited toward either.

Is water under the crisper the same fault as frost on the freezer wall?

No, and the location is most of the diagnosis. Water under the crisper is a blocked fresh-food drain. Frost on the freezer back wall is the defrost system itself. They get described as one problem on the phone constantly, and they are different jobs taking different parts.

Sub-Zero refrigeration

Frost on the walls, water under the crisper, a slab in the Sub-Zero ice bin

Water that should leave the cabinet is staying in it and freezing where it sits. The evidence is usually visible before anything is disassembled.

Where the frost sits tells you which of three faults you are looking at.

Frost is a symptom with a short list of causes, and in a Florida house the raw material is never in short supply. Every time a door opens, humid air enters the cabinet, condenses on the coldest surface it can find, and freezes there. A working refrigerator melts that frost off on a schedule and drains the water away. When either half of that arrangement fails, the frost accumulates and the water stays.

Where the water sits tells you what failed

We ask people to look before they call, because the location is most of the diagnosis.

Frost on the freezer back wall, returning after you clear it. The evaporator is not being defrosted properly. Either the heater is not producing heat, or the sensor that terminates the cycle is calling it done too early, or the control is not initiating the cycle at all. These read very differently on a meter and there is no reason to guess between them.

Water under the crisper drawers. The fresh-food drain is blocked. Melt water that should run down the back wall and out is backing up into the bottom of the compartment instead. Nine times out of ten this is debris in the drain, not a failed part.

Ice under the freezer drawer or around the runners. The freezer drain has plugged, usually with an ice plug at its outlet. Clearing it is straightforward. Working out why it plugged — a drain heater that is not working, a drain tube that has shifted, a cycle that is running long — is the part that keeps it from coming back in four months.

A slab in the ice bin. This one gets misattributed constantly. Loose cubes become a slab when the bin warms up between harvests and the surfaces melt and refreeze into each other. The ice maker is doing its job. Something else is letting the bin warm — a defrost cycle running too long, a drawer or door not sealing, or a compartment that is drifting.

A puddle on the floor. Water has found its way past the evaporation pan or is overflowing it. Worth attending to quickly in a house with hardwood or engineered floors, which is most of Orange Park.

Why the drain plugged, which is the part that matters

Clearing a blocked drain is quick. Working out why it blocked is what stops the same call coming back in four months, and there are only a handful of honest answers.

Ordinary organic debris — food particles, crumbs and the film that builds in any drain path — narrows the tube until melt water no longer clears it between cycles. Once it is slow, the standing water freezes at the coldest point, usually right at the outlet, and now the blockage is ice rather than debris. On models fitted with a drain heater, a heater that has failed produces exactly that ice plug on a perfectly clean tube, and clearing the tube without testing the heater guarantees a return visit. A drain tube that has shifted out of position, or a grommet that has come adrift, dumps water where it should not be while the drain itself is clear.

Each of those has a different fix and they are not distinguishable by looking at the puddle. That is why the drain gets traced along its length and the heater and termination sensor get read on a meter rather than replaced on suspicion.

Humidity is the other half of the story

Northeast Florida gives a cabinet a great deal of moisture to work with for most of the year, and a built-in installed against an exterior wall or in an open-plan kitchen that vents to a screened porch sees more of it than the design assumes. A gasket that has taken a permanent set, a door held a millimetre open by a overloaded shelf, or a custom overlay panel that has dropped on its hinge all allow a continuous trickle of humid air in. The defrost system then spends its life fighting a load it should never have had.

That is why we check doors on every frost call, even when the frost is clearly an electrical fault. Fixing a heater in a cabinet that is still inhaling wet air just means the next failure arrives sooner.

The visit

Flat diagnostic fee, credited toward the repair. Written estimate before anything is ordered. If the evaporator is fully iced, part of the visit is thaw time, and we will tell you honestly whether that is best done while we wait or on a return trip.

What people describe

A sheet of frost on the freezer back wall that returns after you clear it
Water pooling under the crisper drawers or along the bottom of the cabinet
A solid slab of ice in the ice bin instead of loose cubes
Ice forming under the freezer drawer or around the drawer runners
Food at the back of the freezer frosted over while the front is fine
A puddle appearing on the kitchen floor in front of the unit

How the visit runs

Identify where the water is collecting, because the location names the failed component
Check whether the evaporator is iced over and how evenly the frost has formed
Trace the drain line for a blockage or an ice plug at the outlet
Test the defrost heater and the termination sensor rather than swapping both
Check the drain heater or drain path on models that have one
Inspect gaskets and door closure, since humid air is what supplies the frost

Typically 60–90 minutes, plus thaw time if the coil is fully iced.

Parts, access and what we will not take on

Parts are matched to the serial, not the model

Built-in refrigeration runs long production lives, and components are revised inside a model designation. That is why we take the model and serial from the plate inside the cabinet before anything is ordered: two units that look identical in a kitchen can take different boards, different gaskets and different fan assemblies. Genuine OEM parts only, so the part carries the manufacturer's own coverage rather than an aftermarket substitute.

What rides on the van, and what does not

Common wear items — seals, sensors, fans, drain components — are stocked, which is why a narrow scope produces single-visit repairs more often than a broad one does. Controls and sealed-system parts are ordered against your serial number and add days rather than hours. We tell you which of the two you are in at the first visit, not afterwards.

Access is part of the job

A built-in is framed into cabinetry. Working on one means grille clearance at the top, room at the hinge side, and sometimes drawing the unit out of its opening on its own rails — which is heavy work in a finished kitchen with a stone counter above it and hardwood below. If the fault is likely to need the unit out, we would rather plan the route with you than discover it on the day.

Where we stop

We work Sub-Zero built-in and integrated refrigeration and nothing else. Inside the kitchen the line is just as firm: no ovens, cooktops, ranges or ventilation hoods, no dishwashers, no laundry, and no refrigeration built by another manufacturer. If a fault turns out to be cabinetry, plumbing or house wiring, we say so and put it in writing rather than working outside our competence. Questions about a unit still inside the manufacturer's own coverage, a recall, or product registration belong with the manufacturer directly.

Refrigeration is not air conditioning

We are a kitchen refrigeration company, not a heating and cooling contractor. Furnaces, heat pumps, air handlers, central and mini-split air conditioning, thermostats and ductwork are a different trade under a different licence, and we do not work on any of them, quote for them, or subcontract them. EPA Section 608 is what federal law requires of anyone who opens a sealed system, a kitchen cabinet included. It is not a home-comfort licence and we do not present it as one. The two trades are cousins — a condenser in a kitchen and a condenser on a slab outside are doing the same physics — and that resemblance is exactly why it needs saying out loud. If the house is warm, the number you want is an air-conditioning contractor. If the cabinet in the kitchen is warm, that one is ours.

$80 flat diagnostic, credited toward the repair. Written estimate before any work starts. No parts ordered until you approve the figure.

Where we take this call

What it costs

What does a frost and defrost repair cost?

The bands this fault lands in: $240 to $2,460, depending on which component it turns out to be.

$80 Flat $80 diagnostic covering the visit and the full diagnostic sequence, credited toward the repair once you approve the work.

Completed repairs, parts and labour together. A band is not a quote: the firm figure is written down after the diagnosis and before a part is ordered.
Repair	Typical range
Diagnostic visit	$80 flat, credited
Defrost heater, thermostat or sensor	$260–$630
Ice maker, water valve or supply line	$240–$620
Compressor or sealed-system repair	$950–$2,460

90 days on labour, 365 days on parts, genuine oem parts. The whole table is on what it costs.

Asked on the phone

What else comes up on a frost and defrost call?

Why does the frost come back after I clear it by hand?: Because defrosting it by hand removes the evidence rather than the fault. The cabinet is supposed to melt that frost on a schedule and drain the water away. If the heater, the termination sensor or the control is not doing its part, the ice returns on the same timetable, and those three read differently on a meter.
What does a defrost repair run?: Heater, thermostat or sensor work sits at $260–$630, parts and labour. A blocked drain cleared and proven is the cheap end of it; a failed drain heater or a control that never initiates the cycle is the upper end. The $80 diagnostic is credited toward either.
Is water under the crisper the same fault as frost on the freezer wall?: No, and the location is most of the diagnosis. Water under the crisper is a blocked fresh-food drain. Frost on the freezer back wall is the defrost system itself. They get described as one problem on the phone constantly, and they are different jobs taking different parts.

Customer reviews

Owners who called about this

Chosen for this page because they describe the same fault, and printed in full.

4.44.4 out of 5 across all 63 reviews published on this site

5 out of 5
Snow was collecting on the top shelf of the freezer and the door felt sticky to open. He found the drain heater open and a vent seal split, so warm air got in every time we opened it. Both were replaced.
Susannah E.January 2026
5 out of 5
Ice was forming under the freezer drawer and around the runners. He found a plug at the drain outlet and a drain heater that had failed, so clearing the tube alone would have bought me a few months.
Perpetua E.April 2026
5 out of 5
A puddle on the kitchen floor in a house with wood floors, so I was anxious about it. He found the evaporation pan overflowing because the drain had shifted out of position, and refitted the grommet properly.
Araminta U.March 2026

All 63 of them, three-star entries included, are on what owners said after the visit.

Book a diagnostic visit

One flat fee to find out what is actually wrong, credited toward the repair. We cover Orange Park and the rest of Clay County within about 40 miles.

Call (904) 442-8210 Request a visit

Diagnostic: $80
Labour warranty: 90 days
Parts warranty: 365 days
Monday – Friday: 08:00 – 18:00
Saturday: 09:00 – 16:00

Written estimate before any work starts. No parts ordered until you approve the figure. Closed Sunday. Calls placed after hours are returned the next working morning.