TimR wrote:
Another vote for door seals. No way refrigerant is low if you're
maintaining the freezer at that temperature. Door seals on a unit
that old are almost guaranteed to be leaking.

Replacement is neither cheap nor easy, by the way.

Here's the countervaling point, however. Bad door seals would make the
machine work a lot harder. There should be lots of hot air coming off the
condenser (which is fan-cooled). In fact the condenser is barely warm at
all and the air coming off it barely any warmer than ambient air.

FWIW, the compressor dome is hot but not excessively. I can place my
entire hand on it and hold it there for a dozen seconds before it becomes
uncomfortable. (Real scientific, I know.)

That still doesn't prove low charge as there could be any number of things
wrong such as a poor compressor, an internal clog, etc. None of which is
worth repair on an older unit like this.

And even if the charge was low, there's the question of where it's leaking
and how long will a recharge last.

Taping around the seals as much as I could and leaving it that way all day
seemed to have little effect.

Anyway, that's where things stand.