A freezer that’s stopped keeping temperature is one of the most time-sensitive appliance faults there is, and the right response depends on how long it’s actually been out and whether the door has stayed closed.
The General Timeline
A fully-stocked freezer that stays closed can typically hold a safe temperature for around 48 hours; a half-full freezer, closer to 24. A freezer that’s been opened repeatedly during the outage loses that buffer much faster.
What to Do Immediately
Keep the door closed as much as possible — every opening lets cold air escape and warm air in, shortening the safe window significantly. If you have access to dry ice or a backup freezer, that can meaningfully extend how long contents stay safe.
When in Doubt, Don’t Refreeze
Food that has fully thawed and risen above 40°F for more than two hours should not be refrozen, even if it still looks fine — this is a food-safety guideline, not a Liebherr-specific one, but it applies regardless of what caused the failure.
Because of how quickly this window closes, we treat every freezer-down call as same-day priority. See our freezer repair page or call directly.