Liebherr uses passive cooling. The frost build-up is completely normal. Dealers really need to let consumers know about this. Freaked me out too, when I first noticed it.

wwu123, please update on your 36" CS2062 issue.
i've been considering this model for my new kitchen.
txs!

The Liebherr service first said they'd send out a kit in two days to the nearby serviceperson. I was surprised that they seemed to know exactly what to order.

After another half-hour, the thwacking from the motor was getting really loud, so I called back to ask if there was anything I could do to save the motor from destroying itself and needing even more parts. The same guy said the kit is for a temperature control variation that they sometimes see. It doesn't seem to include a new motor, so he suggested I set the temperature from 38 to 40. It was coming and going last night. I raised it still further to 42, and the noise is gone so far today.

I'll report back when the repairman comes.

Finally posting a follow-up on my service experience since the repair happened yesterday.

First, as you can infer from my last post, the repair kit didn't come in two days, or anything near that. Which kind of summarizes my impression of Liebherr's responsiveness to the customer. After four days I called, and they said the kit was backordered, which is understandable, but shouldn't they have called me to let me know? And then they said it would be about a week backorder, when actually it was a month. And I asked if there was a case number associated with my problem, so that I could call back and reference my warranty claim, and they said they don't have any - so basically I have no idea if there's even any record of my problem.

Thankfully their terseness was likely because they were confident in exactly the problem and how to fix it. But from my side it was hard to tell if they were working on my problem, especially since no one here seems to have ever had it.

But finally when the local service contractor came with the kit, I think it was clear there was a well understood repair. The kit was packaged specifically with two large control boards, a new-design plastic vent cover, and a very specific piece of styrofoam. Also by this point, the thin layer of frost on back was a solid sheet of thick ice, and the tech not only spent most of the repair time melting it with a hairdryer to get the shelves out, but also knew there was a huge dam of ice behind the wall (and was causing the original fan clacking) that needed to be melted as well. Sans the hairdryer, the actual parts replacements probably were a 15-minute task.

The fridge seems to be working fine again (actually after turning the temp up as a workaround it has been fine and without noise). All yesterday it was making louder vibrating noises than before, but the tech had assured it was the SuperCool and SuperFrost turned on to chill it back down quickly after all the hairdrying. Sure enough, today it is nearly silent again.

Interestingly both before and after the repair, to try to understand the problem, I realized using an infrared thermometer that the actual temperature is no where near the setpoints. As example, with the fridge set at 38 and freezer at 0, what I mostly read is 44 in the fridge, -5 in the upper freezer, and -2 in the lower freezer. But I suspect that's just what the variability across a large fridge volume tends to be.

Just checking in again to ask what others see on the back wall of their 36" Liebherr in the fridge compartment. It's been about 5 months since the repair kit was put in, and the unit has been working well. There continued to be a thin light buildup of frost on the back wall, but I assumed that was what a normally functioning unit is supposed to be.

The last week or so, the back wall appears to be going through some sort of defrost cycle. Half the frost is melting into water that is settling on the upper two shelves, but the top of the back wall is free of frost. The remaining frost seems to have melted but refrozen into some solid clear ice on the lower part of the back wall. For example some plastic tubs of sour cream and yogurt are held fast to the refrozen ice.

What does your back wall look like? Are the horizontal air slats frosted or icy? Does the frost/ice completely block the lower slats?

I have had nothing but problems with the freezer in less than two years. I have heard from others the same thing - freezer in the Liebherr is terrible: ice maker doesn't work, ice forms in freezer and temperature jumps up, alarms goes off, and so forth. I have a service technician coming tomorrow. If I had to do over again...they don't seem to stand by their products. I feel they should replace mine. We'll see. And GOOD LUCK with yours.

This is all very interesting and sort of scary! I thought for sure a few weeks ago I had found the perfect fridge - the Liebherr 48 inch with biofresh, which is about 2/3 fridge and 1/3 freezer. I had been asking myself why someone else doesn't make this configuration - we will have a secondary freezer in the laundry so just need ice and the basics in the kitchen.

Since then I have seen a number of posts about the Liebherr which concern me! I had been trying to avoid the SZ 736 and freezer drawers (for price and space reasons) but now I find myself leaning that way again.

Anyone happy with their Liebherr 48"?

Whoo boy! I'm starting to wonder, do I just have a lemon, or is there a systematic issue with this model?

Basically I realized the melting frost and water was because the fridge compartment was not cold, it was only cooling to 60 deg for about two weeks, everything was spoiling. Suddenly it improved somewhat, it's been down at 45 deg now, but I have it set at 36, the lowest you can set.

I called Liebherr warranty service a few weeks ago, and the service guys came today. They opened the fridge and immediately said "Oh, man", then they called Jerry at Liebherr (not good when the manufacturer rep is on speed dial). The conversation on this end went like:
"I've never seen one this bad"
"At least 2-3 inches thick all over the back"
"The fan case is all icing up"
"No we can't"
"We don't have a truck that big, you'll have to do it"
And then afterwards to me: "They'll call you"

I expect Liebherr will call and say they're going to swap it out for another one.

I love how this fridge looks and how it functions when it works, but it's worrying me that it's not just a dud (which would be understandable) but systematic flaws. The previous frost repair had a very specific manufacturer service kit (W020110) ordered after a one-minute phone diagnosis. This time the service guy didn't even need to diagnose it, there was nothing he could do. Which all says they know exactly what the problem is, which says others must have had the problem.

On the other hand I've had none of the other problems reported here. My ice maker is fine, my freezer has never had problems, my model does not have self-close doors anyway so that's not an issue....

As you can see from my post a few years ago, I am a Liebherr owner who would NEVER recommend this brand to anyone. Ice maker still does not work. Hasn't since I purchased the dud and all Liebherr does is continue to send replacement parts that continue not to work.

I cannot even get a service person to come. There was only one dealer around here who carried the brand but stopped because of service problems. I wouldn't recommend it either.

I have printed out a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly(seasonal) household checklist...haha...My leibherr has its own. Check the drain, check the back for frost buildup and any packaging touching, check the back stop strips, etc.

One thing i do that may help excessive frost buildup is they way foods are stored? I was storing tortillas and some dry goods like cornmeal and flour at the very top but that may have restricted air flow, not sure. I also have been using the supercool feature when filling up straight from a market stock-up. Especially a farmers market. I do cool homemade stocks in an ice bath, but finish cooling in the fridge overnight before freezing. Same with the freezer. Using superfrost when putting in stocks and unfrozen meats and soups.

As the original poster I should update that soon after the last repair visit failed to address the problem, Liebherr willingly swapped out the unit for a new one based on the lemon law, as there'd already been three or four attempts to address the same problem. The new one has not had any frost at all in back - I know it was not due to us placing stuff in back as our fridge is only half full usually.

I did pay the difference to upgrade to the HCS2062 for self-closing doors, but due to the way the center door seals were preinstalled unevenly, I have one self-close door and one that just gets stuck ajar - not sure if this is worse than the CS2062, where a light elbow shove will swing the door closed. Anyway I didn't want any more repair visits so we've just lived with it. The right door seal is coming apart now, so when I order new ones I'll try to install them evenly.

Thanks for the up-date. Service calls are so frustrating. You got a lemon. Nice to hear they made good, sort of. A shame about the door closing. Even with our troubles it does actually perform well. Temp is consistent and even in both compartments. Produce is expensive and this is our first fridge that has not had any loss due to inconsistent cold/hot spots. My old Norge was 'sexy' for its time and the envy of the neighborhood but did have random increase/decrease in temp that ruined tender greens. I'm in the habit now of using the 'super cool' on weekends in the Leibherr fridge compartment when we open and close more often and do alot of cooking.
Our old KitchenAid in the basement still kicks along but nothing tender can be anywhere near the back. Kale and collards are hearty and near frost proof, but salad and baby spinach will never be stored down there. I'm always fussing with the temp by micro mm, barely moving it.

I have just discovered a massive buildup of thick ice at the back of my Liebherr fridge. Since tomorrow is Labor Day, I doubt my appliance dealer will be open. For now, I am setting my fridge to 44 degrees and hope to carefully chip out what I can when I come back from my errands. I'll probably have a lot of water in my veggie and meat drawers if I don't get our as much ice as I can. When my appliance dealer opens, I'll be trying to get an appointment with a repeair person ASAP. Anyone know someone skilled in Liebherr fridges in the NY/NJ/CT area? I like the set up of my fridge, so I don't want to give up on it. It's nice and tall and thin, so it hold a lot, but things don't get lost as easily in the back...although what was in the back is now stuck on the back wall of the fridge!

By the way, a good trick I learned to help me get along with my Liebherr is that I have a turkey baster with a thin, steel tip that they sell to inject liquor into fruit. It is just what you need to such out anything that might have clogged the drain that's on the back wall of the fridge. That used to cause flooded veggie and meat drawers, but now I can fix it quickly.

Jeeeeze, after having my built in and paneled JA 48" fridge, I've never had to "Such" on it once in those 9 years, alto I suspects that "Suck" was meant to be typed.

Never had a ice buildup, but in the interest of "fair discloser", I did replace the icemaker after 5 years, A simple DIY job and the icemaker cost about $135 and there were many sources for it on the net.

Now after 9 years +, the seal on the fridge door is starting to show some wear so I will have that replaced, too old for much of this DIY(ing), anymore.

about 2 years ago, we started to see temp swings in the freezer alto the fridge held steady, that turned out to be a partial plug in the sealed system that cost be about $350, so I can't really complain and the icemaker always makes plenty of ice, and the real ice, not that "Psyco Dellic mini stuff"!

Gary

Thanks...reading your entry reminded me that when I call for a repairman, I need to mention the rubber seal on the door needs replacement, too...it's starting to corrode, but I forgot about that.

Sounds to me like you might have blocked off the air flow. Look inside the ref where the cold air comes in at the top if you had something up against that you will get ice

I'll see if I can find it. Right now the fridge is nicely melted. I'm still going to have a repairman come to change the rubber seal and clean out the underneath. I never do that and I know I'm supposed to. I'll check for that air flow thing though...thanks.

I've been having a similar issue like the others above. I have a Liebherr freezer/wine fridge. After about a year of owning it, the freezer started to "defrost" itself. I would open it up, and it was wet inside. Checking the temperature with a thermometer it would be above freezing, but the door panel would say -20C. After I turned it off and back on, it would refresh the temp and start to freeze again. Started off slow, but now this is daily. I've been fighting with the service company over the past year. They replaced the inverter, the white temp probe that is visible on the inside back panel, and the controller board. They won't do anymore nor do any replacement. So far I replaced the fan inside. I'm unsure of what else to replace as most of the parts have been swapped out already.

As an update, I now don't have a problem with ice forming, but have never fixed the rubber seal on the fridge door that corroded. It's not like the old days when you could get a repairman to replace the rubber. You have to buy a whole new door. About 3 years ago, it would cost $600. For that, it should be put toward a new fridge. I haven't done it because my cabinets are built to fit my tall, thin Liebherr and I don't have many other brands to pick from.

I have the 2062 and am in the process of defrosting the freezer to remove a layer of ice that has formed along the bottom and back wall. I need to remove the freezer tray in order to clean up the melted ice. After reading the freezer compartment container removal instructions, I don't have enough clearance to get the drawer out even at an angle and wondering how far this drawer should open? I only get 13.5" on the drawer glide (pic attached), anyone else?

I have a Liebherr HC2060 that stopped working after a power surge. Replaced 2 boards, looked good, except now the refrigerator keeps returning to a temp of 32 degrees f regardless of where the temp is actually set (40 degrees) so everything is frozen. Any suggestions?

Have you tried Liebherr phone support? They are very reaponsive

Hi, OP here though I haven't been on this thread in several years...

safemommy, I just measured my top and bottom freezer drawers, and 13.5" is exactly how far my drawers extend. I've removed the ice cube tray with that extension, but I don't think I've ever tried to remove the entire compartment.

Paula Piekos, about three years after I got the replacement unit, my center rubber seals split, but I was able to get an authorized repairman to order and replace the seals, I did not have to order a whole new door. I am talking though only about the middle whether the two doors come together, not the ones that go all around perimeter where the door seals against the body.

But I do vaguely recall that parts and labor for that came out to about $350, wasn't cheap. The new ones have been on for about seven years now, and are starting to split in one place - I try to wipe down the contact areas on the seals to reduce friction to keep them longer. When the repairman came, I was going to try to observe how he replaced those center seals, so I could do it myself next time, but I got distracted. I know they simply slide on and off; however, there's one or two hard plastic parts that he removed to get access.

Thankfully I've had no major problem with the replacement fridge over 10 years. Occasionally the upper freezer drawer would mysteriously ice up and be hard to open/close; turns out if the ice scoop handle sticks up too much it prevents the drawer from being fully closed. The small fan at the bottom of the unit, behind the screwed on grill, got out of balance and off-center, and started to make horrible screeching, and took two repair visits to replace the fan and motor. But otherwise has worked reliably....

Also, looking back at the thread, I forgot that my fridge doors were supposed to be self-closing. Funny, because before the center seals were replaced, only one side self-closed. After the seals were replace, neither side self-closed - the last door to close gets stuck slightly ajar, as it catches on the seals. I don't mind giving the door that last push - I'd rather have airtight seals, than self-closing doors, if that's the tradeoff. And the fridge will give a beeping warning after a minute to let us know if a door is stuck ajar.

Safemommy, I just spent the last two days defrosting our freezer. I dont know the exact model we have but it appears to be the CS2080. We moved into this house and this was the refrigerator here so I don't have a lot of the original paperwork. We have been having issues over the last year or so. First the ice maker appears to have a mind of its own, I know it works but it is often stubborn and decides to just stop. I play with all of the different reset modes on it until it finally works and then just pray to hear the sound of it dropping ice or filling automatically. As for the freezer, we started having alarms going off in the middle of the night that the freezer had lost temp and was 10 degrees or more above the setting. I would slam the doors trying to ensure they were firmly shut and then turn off the alarm. This appeared to work until the next day, I expect one of my kids would open and close but not firmly enough. After being tired of my 3am alarm clock I started investigating. I realized I had a significant ice build up on the rear of the freezer and behind the panel so I turned off the freezer and full defrosted it over the last day or so. Getting out the bins takes a bit of work but you need to angle up the front of the bin while pulling it towards you. Unfortunately, my slamming of the freezer doors to get a proper seal has led to cracking of the plastic. At this point the freezer is completely dry and free of ice and I just reinstalled the bins and set to superfrost, here's to hoping this solved my issue. I also cleaned the filter but I dont believe this was the issue, I recommend if you have the freezer compartment out its a good time to do that as well.

Thanks Ryan, I’m on my second defrost project in the last 2 weeks—had thought the last one would get me through Christmas but no such luck. This time I noticed the paneled door was being pushed out on one side so I saw the buildup—the buildup is minor, caught it early. It appears to be coming down the back wall and pooling toward the center. Now I’m wondering if the ice maker is leaking water that now drips and pools, causing the buildup. I cleaned and mineral oiled the gaskets and they now close fine so I don’t think there is any air leak. Good luck to you, it’s pretty ridiculous for such a $$$ appliance!!

My Liebherr refrigerator is now 10 years old and dying very loudly, and boy was it a problem all those years. Same problem as other folks. Ice would build up on the back wall of the freezer which would lead to the whole thing shutting down. Once the ice melted it would turn back on by itself several days later. There was a lot of tossed out food over the years. I would call service but by the time they arrived a week or two later it was running again. I learned after the first 5 years to just remove any ice build up ahead of time. This seems to work. Odd thing to have to do for a frost free freezer. Hopefully they have solved this over the last 10 years but I don't think i would trust their product again.

THANK YOU ALL for documenting your Liebherr triumphs and travails (mostly of the latter). I was planning on ordering one this week and this has turned me off to the brand. Defrosting?? Seal deteriorating in fewer than 10 years? No DIY for me, either. Maaaybe Liebherr has listened over the ten years and rectified these common complaints? Does anyone know of another brand with high-end Euro styling that makes a 24” width fridge/freezer?

All of the above—mine keeps building up ice around the fan—I’ve spent a lot fixing and think I should replace. Looking at the Bosch 500 same dimensions as the slim 24” liebherr or the whirlpool—but are they as quite as this one?

I wish I could recommend the brand, really I do BUT I've had my integrated side-by-side Liebherr fridge/freezers for many years and I've had nothing but problems with the ice maker specifically. The other fridge is fine but for whatever reason this ice maker freezer has given us nothing but headaches. And that alarm? Ooof. Would I purchase again? NO

My Liebherr built in-double drawer freezer is model HCB 2082. I bought it in 2020 at the recommendation of my kitchen designer. I like the modern look and the referigerator works fine and maintains its temperature. The freezer is an ongoing problem with frost build-up on the back wall and bottom. I finally realized the problem when it became increasingly difficult to close the freezer drawer. and consequently it couldn't hold its cold temperature. The alarm let me know, usually in the middle of the nighrt. Customer service told me to turn the freezer off for 48 hours and make sure it was completly dry before turning it back on. The two previous times I probably had not dried it well enough. While I am writing this review I have towles protecting my hardwood floor while the freezer is defrosting again. Fortunately I have a second less expensive freezer in the basement. Another issue I had not expected was to lie flat on the floor every few months to remove the vent filter. At my age this is a workout.

OP here, I can't help advise on the back wall freezing issues, as after Liebherr replaced my original unit within 2 years per California lemon law, I haven't had any issues with the new one.

But a couple of other updates, that may be helpful to folks trying to get as much life out of these expensive units as possible:

1) After paying a repairman to replace the center magenetic seals (that keep the French doors together within three years on the replacement unit, I made sure to wipe down the seals occasionally of any mold or buildup, to minimize friction when the door seals slide past each other. But eventually they do start to split, I finally found the part numbers and a place to order them online. They weren't cheap, about $180 for both left and right seals; but sure beats paying $350 additional in labor for someone to come out to install them - esp as it takes only about 10 minutes to replace both seals (took a while to find out how they're attached, but they're really just pressed into place with no tools or screws needed).

2) I finally had icemaker issues, but also found on Youtube it's pretty easy to remove the icemaker from the freezer compartment. Once out, there's a DIY repair kit about $150 for the most common problems (e.g. a cracked freezing tray). In my case, the tray mechanism somehow iced up and when it rotated to drop the ice, the tray literally fell off its hinge. But the tray wasn't broken, and luckily I was able to put the parts back in place, put it back into the freezer, and it worked just fine after that. After seeing how simple the mechanisms are, I'm also confident I'll be able to use the repair kit in the future.