Behind the inside panel (fridge side) there is a built up sheet of ice that has bowed the panel outwards and completely stopped the fans. I have partially melted the ice but cannot get the back panel off to get the rest of the ice off and see why its building up in the first place. Help!

leave alone, defrost machine

The rubbing noise comes from your build up of ice. If no auto-de-icer, then unplug your fridge or turn it off, allow it to thaw, remove all dripping water. restart or replug

I use a shop vac to remove water.

be sure NOT to break, or chip the ice, as you may break freezer components

ICE/SNOW BUILD UP IN THE FREEZER SIDE? IF SO, YOUR BI METAL THERMOSTAT OR HEATER IS BAD. THAT NOISE IS PROBABLY THE FAN BLADE HITTING THE ICE THAT IS BUILT UP BEHIND THAT PANEL. GOOD LUCK

TIMOTHY DO 714-334-1998

u probably are starting to get an ice up behind the freezer compartment or your fan has stopped blowing the air into the freezer first thing is to make sure the fan is blowing the cold air into the fridge side if not then there is your problem if you do feel the fan blowing then you would have to carefully remove the rear panel and check in the areas that have willcall them holes tat go into your fridge if they have ice built up inside of them if they do have ice then you have a defrost problem and would have to be aqble to perfom a continuity test on the deforst thermostat and the defrost heater if both of these are fine the next thing that you would look at would be your defrost timer check for the air and the ice and if you stillhavent found the problem write back hope this helps

You appear to have a problem with the defrost components (defrost thermostat and/or heater(s)) located behind the freezer rear panel where all of the ice has built up.

Contact an appliance service company

It sounds like the evaporator fan is hitting ice that is built up on the evaporator coil. When it's making the noise, open the freezer door and see if it stops.
(Most models are wired so that the evaporator fan cuts off when the freezer door is open.)
Check the inside back, lower panel of the freezer for ice built up or frost on it. If there is, you have a defrost problem that is most likley a bad heater. It's located around the coil inside the freezer behind the panel you will be looking at. The defrost problem would explain the freezer not freezing ice cream.

I have the same problem and have found that if you take the panel off inside the refrigerator and with a blow dryer defrost it. It should work for a few weeks. I have been doing this once a month since March and I hope to found out how to fix it also.

try defrosting, it might be touching ice build up. you can check by pressing the knob switch in front after defrosting one day

I also had a loud fan and it was caused by ice build-up on the fan in the back of the freezer. From inside the freezer, I removed the plastic grill that covers the fan (I think I also had to remove the side rails and ice maker) then just let the fan defrost in the sink. Made sure it was nice and dry before putting it back in or else ice would just form again. I also took a sheet of plastic and put it between the ice maker and fan grill to stop water from dripping onto the fan and haven't had a noisy fan since. I just need to remove the ice build-up from on top of the plastic sheet every now and then, but that's much easy than taking everything apart to get to the fan.

could be due to ice build up jamming the fan. take back panel off and check for ice. if ice present the defrost system has failed. also on some models, the fan stops when door is opened. check door switch is operating