Water puddling on bottom of fridge

[Maggie]

I wonder if anyone can help me. We noticed wetness on the carpet last week around the front of the refrigerator. Well on Friday, DS saw much moisture on the carpet, so he pulled the fridge out to check it out. There wasn't anything from the outside, so Hubby looked inside. He pulled out the bottom 2 crisper drawers, and lo & behold, there was the problem.!! There was so much water puddled on the bottom that it was slowly dripping out of the fridge. Well, they cleaned it all up and I've been checking it since. Well, about 15 minutes ago, ta da there is now more water puddled on the bottom shelf. Of course the owner's manual says to check the door to make sure it's closed, etc. I guess they don't want anybody repairing their own appliances. It's a self-defrost freezer if that helps at all, and it is almost 7 years old. Thanks for any ideas! Maggie

[mtman]

i would think the drain hose is cloged locate it older ones ran down the back some newer ones it runs behind the inside panel inside tthe back clean it out that might work

[Travis in Louisiana]

First of all, the fridge must be cooling since this was noticed last week. 2nd, does this fridge have a icemaker and water dispenser in it? There could be a slow leak that has developed on the water line to the icemaker or water dispenser. 3rd, and probably the problem, the drain from the freezer section is clogged either by food or froozen water. When the icebox goes into a defrost cycle, there is a (sometimes) a small heating element wrapped around the drain tube to keep the water from freezing up as it goes down the tube from the freezer section to the drain pan. You could try using an air-compressor to blow air back up the tube from the pan to the freezer secton and see it the water will drain from it or maybe you could detect if the drain tube is broken somewhere in the wall of the icebox. This is all my brain can come up with now.

[Cosmic]

Probably the drain path for the defrost water is plugged or blocked.

Depending on the fridge can be a variety of designs. Some the drains are caught by channels at the top and run via a tube to the compressor pan where the heat evaporates it. On some the drain collection is in the chiller compartment up high about where the light is, usually a square type channel, the drain hole is normally on the right hand side.

Some the drain hole may actually be in the freezer, some the drain hole is on the bottom of the chiller compartment. Look in the back and see if you can see the compressor and its drain pan. Look for the tube or drain path and try to trace that back to the source. Can also run a stiff wire back up the tube or try to blow it with an air source.

See here for the general idea

http://www.angelfire.com/poetry/john...ost_drains.htm

[Cabin Fever]

Remove the detachable grille that is on the bottom front of your fridge. There should be a pan there which usually sits on some coils. That's the drain pan. The drain pan is supposed to collect all the water that is produced from the defrost cycle of your freezer. The coils below the pan heat the water which allows it to evaporate.

If your drain pan is dry, then the drain or drain hose from you frig to the pan is clogged.

If the drain pan is full of water, then (1) you're opening the freezer too much during this humid weather and/or (2) the gasket on the freezer is leaking. Close the freezer door on a dollar bill. If the dollar bill pulls out easily, the gasket needs to be replaced.