Refrigerator makes water puddles

[Willshak]

Your garage is probably not air conditioned, and if like mine, during these hot humid days, the condensate in the pan is not evaporating fast enough.

[Ignoramus18860]

I am in N Illinois. We have a refrigerator in our garage. It is making water puddles underneath it, which attracts some undesirable lifeforms. There is no water line coming to the fridge, so the water much be condensate from the air, either from refrigerant pipes or the freezer.

How would one approach finding out what is wrong? Any good starting tips?

thanks

i

[Pete C.]

Water almost certainly from the defrost cycle. Normally this is collected in a catch pan and just evaporates. If there is enough frost forming to produce enough water to overflow the catch pan then you likely have a bad door seal or have the freezer over packed preventing the door from sealing and letting in warm moist air to form the frost. It's also possible that the catch pan is missing or could have broken so the water it would normally catch is going directly on the floor.

Pete C.

[Grandpa]

Given that its marking its territory, its probably an automatic defrost model. The defrost cycle melts the ice that forms in the freezer section, and the melted water is directed out a drain tube underneath the unit. Normally, there's a catch pan that contains the water and the hot air from the fan blowing over the coils evaporates the water.

Either you are missing the catch pan, or its mis-aligned and the water is running on the floor.

[Ignoramus18860]

Pete, that's a very good start on things. I will definitely try to verify what is going on with the defrost cycle. Thank you.

i

[Ignoramus18860]

Got it. Thank you. Will check it and post some updates.

i

[Ignoramus18860]

Should be easy to correct. I would just drain it to a bucket or to outside... Thanks guys...

i

[Tom G]

Others have suggested the condensate pan overflowing or not being there but are you sure the water is not simply condensing out of the air around the refrigerator door gasket and running down the body of the refrig to the floor. If the refrig has some age, there is probably a switch inside the fresh food section that turns a heating wire on to heat the gasket area of the refrigerator to prevent condensation during warm, humid days. That may have been switched off. And if not, I suspect that you would always get condensation around the door of a refrigerator in a Northern Illinois garage in the heat and humidy we've been having here. I've been avoiding going outside until this passes.

Tom G. in Roscoe, Ill.

[Richard J Kinch]

Also possible this condensate tube is clogged from spilled food or the like.