I rent out apartments to college kids. I bought this fridge at Lowes in the Scracth and Dent dept 3 or 4 years ago.

The unit gets low usage and non during the summer. Around June 1 of this year, I unplugged it and left both doors open. (this is a 16.5 ft--freezer top )

Recently the tenants complained that the freezer was too warm. I took it open and did a ton of research online too.

Last night I opened the back to check for frosting and sure enough there it was. So I left the unit unplugged and the doors open all night.

Today I examined the area where the frosting occurred. It happens to be the point where the defrost heater attaches to a thin (1/8"?) copper feed tube above it. But the weird thing was there was a 2 inch piece of tape with a soft black asphalt-like tape of the area where the joint is.

a) Would it have come from the factory like this?

b) Did I buy a reconditioned unit and not know it?

c) If it is a leak in the refrigerant or in the coil, is it a repair I can do myself?

a) would the tape be something that they would have installed at the factory?

b) do ytou think I lost any refrigerant?

c) After it dried off, I taped it over with duct tape and the internal freezer temperature (2 days later) has gone from 42F down to around 34-35F (still not below 32F)

d) do you think the fridge has ANY hope? it's been barely used