Mystery puddle in the fridge solved, was not wiring after all

Same kind of moment here with our KitchenAid a couple years back. Water kept showing up under the crisper drawers and I blamed the kids for leaving a juice box tipped over. Third time it happened with nothing in there but vegetables, I pulled the drawers and followed the trail up the back panel. Turned out the fill tube for the ice maker had popped partially out of its grommet at the top, so every fill cycle sent a thin stream down the inside of the panel where I could not see it.

Like you, I had assumed it was electrical at first because it ran right alongside the wire harness and had that foam sleeve over it. Took me longer than ten minutes though, more like an hour, because I kept checking the drain pan underneath first.

One thing I did differently after reseating mine was to mark the clip position with a bit of masking tape and the date. When I checked a month later the tape had not moved, which settled my worry that it would creep back out again. Also learned the hard way to pull the fridge forward and check the saddle valve connection at the wall too, since a slow drip there hides under the unit and ruins the floor before you ever see a puddle inside.

Mine turned out to be a diferent culprit but the same hiding spot. We have a GE side-by-side and I chased a mystery drip for weeks, mopping behind the fridge every couple of days. I figured it was the water line too, so I checked every fitting with a dry hand and found nothing. Turned out the defrost drain in the freezer was clogged with a bit of ice and gunk, and the melt water was overflowing the tray and seeping forward instead of going down the hose.

The way I finally caught it was pouring a cup of warm water down the drain opening inside the freezer and watching it back up instead of draining. A turkey baster full of hot water and some gentle probing cleared it, and that was the end of the puddles.

So if anyone chases a leak like this and the tube connections all check out dry, look at the drain path before you start tightening things. It behaves the same from the front, water showing up in weird places with no obvious source, but the fix lives in a completley different corner of the fridge. Also agree on the paper towel trick. I did the same thing under my drip area for a week just to be sure before I put the panels back for good.

Glad the paper towel test worked, that's a smart way to confirm it. On mine the clip had gotten brittle from years of cold and cracked when I pushed the tube back in, so it wouldn't hold anymore. Ended up using a plastic zip tie snugged around the tube and clipped to the bracket nearby, and it's been fine for a couple years now. Might be worth checking if yours acutally clicked into place or if it's just sitting there loose. A snug fit should feel like it can't slide at all.

Reading this made me realize I've got the same setup in mine, a clear tube with a squishy cover down the back that I always assumed carried power to something. Never once thought about following it to see where it goes. Now I'm wondering if mine is weeping somewhere too because I keep finding a damp spot near the bottom, just thought it was condensation. Does the tube come apart at those joints by hand, or do you need some kind of tool to get it off?