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There's a small puddle under our Kenmore french door refrig. Upon checking, I found a sheet of ice on the bottom of the freezer under the basket, so somewhere water is leaking and then freezing on the floor of the freezer. So the question is, where is the most likely source of water? The first thing that comes to mind is the icemaker. But there's also the water dispenser on the door and of course, the water filter way up on top and defrosting drains, etc... How would you go about finding the source? Thanks so much! Sue
This is a common problem we have had with our freezer being situated at the bottom of the frig.
The problem is caused by the condensation drain line adjacent to and partially going through the coldest part of the freezer.
It can - and does - tend to ice up once a year or so.
So the if the drain line freezes, the water, instead of draining out is blocked.
The water backs up and enters the bottom of the freezer box and as it builds up inside the bottom compartment, you will find ice on the bottom of the compartment that eventually leaks out and now you have a nice puddle on the floor.
What to do ?
Call a serviceman and spend a hundred bucks or more ?
I did once but watched what he did and now fix it myself.
So..
Unplug the frig and pull it out from the wall.
Open the bottom freezer door and remove the bottom basket but leave the door open.
On the back of the frig at the bottom is a cover plate and by removing the screws it will easily lift off.
You'll now see a plastic housing with the drain line attached that is also screwed on the back, so remove the 2 or 3 screws attaching it and pull the housing out gently but firmly !
There may be a metal/aluminum tube which goes into the frig so pull it all the way out.
This will now let some warm air into the interior that will melt the lower part of the internal line in only a few minutes.
With the drain line separated from the housing and the aluminum tube, blow through it to make sure it's clear.
This has probably only taken you about 15 to 20 minutes but it will now be OK to put everything back together as this is all that needs to be done.
It also doesn't hurt to vacuum the the frig coils with a crevice tool to improve coolant movement.
Plug it back in and you're 'good to go' for about another year or more !
Good luck !
I'm going through this frozen drain line exercise right now. My refrigerator is also a bottom freezer unit. Do you happen to know if this occurs more often with bottom freezer units? If that's the case, I'm seriously thinking about changing to a top freezer unit.
THANK YOU for sharing your information and experience.
Thank you, kenway, for your reply! That makes perfect sense & actually, we pulled out the frig, emptied the freezer for a few days, found no leaking again, so we put it back and it's been okay since. Next time we'll do your plan... (Hopefully there won't be a next time!)
Pachinko - We have had 4 bottom freezer refrigs in the last 25 or so years in different homes after my sister told me how much she liked hers! Us too! This is the first time we ever had a problem. We've had 2 GE's, a Whirlpool, and now this Kenmore Trio which I think is a Whirlpool product. I know this isn't 'common', or at least hasn't been - and hopefully won't happen again. We've had this refrigerator 3 or 4 years now and this is the first problem...
Thanks again and best wishes! ~ Sue
