Frozen Fridge Defrost Drain

[lee h]

Kenmore two door top freezer/ bottom fridge. symptoms- water was dripping from bottom compartment onto the floor. defrost water had backed up and iced all over back of freezer compartment. Ice had also formed in bottom of bottom compartment. (the water had dripped down the inside back wall). Fridge is about 4 years old.

After using a hair dryer and plastic tools to gently remove all ice from both compartments, found that the drain line from upper (freezer compartment) was plugged with ice. Examining the pan at bottom of fridge where drain line empties, showed dirt and dust. LIkely the drain had not been working for a long time.

Need suggestions on how to clear the frozen drain line. Access is available at top of line. Would like to minimize amount of time the freezer is emptied so food will not defrost. The drain line itself is inaccessible for most of it's run. (It's between the inner and outer shell of the fridge.

How to speed the 'defrosting' of this drain line segment I cannot reach? thank you for your time.

lee h

[professorpaul]

I had this problem in a summer place that did not have a forced air heating system with an air filter. Lint would clog the line. I invested in a roll of fairly heavy stranded insulated wire at the local hardware store. Then snaked this through on a regular basis -- every 6 months. Not the way I would want to solve the problem, but it worked. If you are dealing with some frozen area that you can't get to, then you are sort of stuck with a complete defrost until you can "snake" it clean. PITA.

[wingnut]

Hello, i would suggest a cooler and some ice. You can't rush the defrosting.....it takes time.

What i think, (cant see it...WAG incomming), you are treating the symptom and not the source of the problem.

My WAG is a problem in the defrost cycle. Call for repair.

[Noozer]

I used a turkey baster and hot water.

Once you have it defrosted, wrap a heavy piece of wire around the defrost wire and let it hang down into the drain hole. That way the hanging wire will warm up during the defrost cycle.

[wingnut]

Might be better to fix what's broken. Just the crazy way I think.

[Noozer]

On my fridge it just a bad design. Other than replacing the whole thing there's little that can "fix" the problem.

[lee h]

I'll have access to the box tomorrow (it's in another town). wingnut, the defrost cycle must be working, at least to some extent, or it would not produce the large amount of water that drains down in the the 'icebox' portion. i.e., the frost/ice is melting.

In googling the problem, it seems that most new designs do have a metal plate or wire carrying defrost heat down into the drain line. This unit does not. I'll fabricate something out of 12 gauge solid wire if I can't locate the correct part in short order.

Thank you for the replies, folks. I'll give it a shot tomorrow.

lee

[wingnut]

Hey Lee, yeah my bad. I have to admit i missed the water info, but I see it in plain english when i go back and look.

[DerbyDad03]

For what it's worth, my Kenmore used to freeze up the same way. Freezer gunk would clog the drain hole and the defrost water would have no place to go. Solved it by buying a new fridge - bottom freezer GE. Love it!

[lee h]

Yep. The box before this one was an avacado green Kenmore, bottom freezer. Worked fine, lasted thirty years. :-) Dont expect as much from this new crap.

lee