Water dripping into refrigerator section from the freezer above

[Rebel1]

I have a 14-year-old Kenmore 106.68862891 top freezer refrigerator, with no ice maker. While there is never visible ice on the walls, floor or ceiling of the freezer, ice forms under the floor of the freezer and then drips into the frig section below, presumable during a defrost cycle.

Here's what the freezer looks like with the floor removed:

A closer view of the floor and rear wall: With the freezer rear wall removed: There are three large rectangular openings at the rear of the floor. The two outer ones open directly into the refrig section; that's how the water drains from the freezer into the frig section.

Note in the shiny aluminum tray, just behind the right rectangular opening, there is a black hole that appears to be a drainage hole, but if I prod into it with a small screwdriver, I can't find a clear opening to a drainage tube that would lead to this evaporator tray at the bottom of the refrig:

I can't trace the tube upwards from what you see because it enters the body of the refrig and is concealed by the sheet metal, with the rear sheet metal riveted in place.)

From marks on the tray, it once captured water. Now, it is perfectly dry.

Presumably the tube from the freezer to the evaporator tray is clogged, maybe due to 14 years of dust. I've tried heating with with a hair dryer on medium, and compressed air from a WD-40 size can of office duster.

Any other theories, or ideas for opening the drainage tube?

Thanks,

R1

[Stormin Mormon]

The drain is pretty obvious to me, just right of center. I've cleared these with a turkey baster, and hot water. Length of soft wire, to push the crud down and out. Aluminum, or thin copper works well.

Alternately, you can also use a shop vac from the bottom end of the hose.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

.

Here's what the freezer looks like with the floor removed:

A closer view of the floor and rear wall: With the freezer rear wall removed: There are three large rectangular openings at the rear of the floor. The two outer ones open directly into the refrig section; that's how the water drains from the freezer into the frig section.

Note in the shiny aluminum tray, just behind the right rectangular opening, there is a black hole that appears to be a drainage hole, but if I prod into it with a small screwdriver, I can't find a clear opening to a drainage tube that would lead to this evaporator tray at the bottom of the refrig:

I can't trace the tube upwards from what you see because it enters the body of the refrig and is concealed by the sheet metal, with the rear sheet metal riveted in place.)

From marks on the tray, it once captured water. Now, it is perfectly dry.

Presumably the tube from the freezer to the evaporator tray is clogged, maybe due to 14 years of dust. I've tried heating with with a hair dryer on medium, and compressed air from a WD-40 size can of office duster.

Any other theories, or ideas for opening the drainage tube?

Thanks,

R1

[Rebel1]

Two excellent ideas I'll try tomorrow. Thanks.

R1

[hrhofmann]

A hand-held bucycle pump connected to the tube should be able to generate enough pressure to blow the tube open. Once it is open, I would try to flush it further using water blown thru the tube.

[notbob]

Sounds like you already know how the defrost cycle works. So, if the water is draining into the fridge compartment and not to the evaporation pan under the fridge, I'd say you have a blocked or disconnected drain line. If blocked, the water has nowhere else to go. If disconnected, the water is missing the drain line and going into the fridge compartment.

Rental places have an electrician's tool called a "fish tape". It's a long thin piece of spring still that is stiff enough to be pushed through pipe, conduit, etc, yet flexible enough to bend around corners. It's made for pushing and pulling wiring and comes in different sizes. A good option if you don't want to buy a new wire.

nb

[Stormin Mormon]

If that works, remit $74.95 for online consultation.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

.

R1

[Stormin Mormon]

Way overkill, for this. Besides, the drain hole is about 1/4 inch diameter, and the fish tape won't go in.

I'd try turkey baster and hot water, first. Stuff the nozzle of the turkey baster in the drain hole as best you can and give it a good honk of hot water. Then go around back, and see if it came through. Repeat.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

.

Rental places have an electrician's tool called a "fish tape". It's a long thin piece of spring still that is stiff enough to be pushed through pipe, conduit, etc, yet flexible enough to bend around corners. It's made for pushing and pulling wiring and comes in different sizes. A good option if you don't want to buy a new wire.

nb

[Rebel1]

SM,

I boiled a cup of water and used an ear syringe to squirt it into the drain hole. After a couple of tries, the drain opened and the water flowed right through to the evaporator tray at the bottom. I then took about 8" of #12 electrical wire and poked it into the drain tube. Absolutely no resistance, while previously I couldn't poke anything a mere 1/8" into the drain.

Many thanks.

R1

[Doug]

Yes, unplug the refrig for a couple of hours to let it thaw. Then plug it back in. You may have to do this perhaps once a year. I do have to warn you that a 14 year old refrig is probably in it's senior years.

[Stormin Mormon]

Dear R1, sounds like you did fine. Wish I had more business, I'd offer you a job. A capable gentleman such as yourself, well, it's like the old expression. You can't find good help any more.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

.

I boiled a cup of water and used an ear syringe to squirt it into the drain hole. After a couple of tries, the drain opened and the water flowed right through to the evaporator tray at the bottom. I then took about 8" of #12 electrical wire and poked it into the drain tube. Absolutely no resistance, while previously I couldn't poke anything a mere 1/8" into the drain.

Many thanks.

R1

[DerbyDad03]

At least 6 years with no problems since I bought the bottom freezer fridge.

2 dogs now...only had one when I had the problems with the old refrigerator. Older cat who spends more time inside now than she used to when I had the problems with the old refrigerator.

So even though my conditions seem to meet the worst of your criteria, I have yet to have an issue with the freezer drain.

One factor to consider is that improvements may have been in the overall design of the drain system, defrost cycle, etc. since the long- ago purchase of my original refrigerator. The OP did say that his refrigerator is a 14 year old Kenmore. My old unit was older than that but it was a Kenmore also.

My brain's cramping as to the make of my current refrigerator, but I can say for certain that it is *not* a Kenmore.

Maybe it's a Kenmore issue above and beyond anything else.

[Jon Danniken]

With currently-manufactured models, I would tend to agree with you. Older models were built better, and last longer. My 20+ year old Sears Coldspot is still running as strong as the day it was new (save for the evap coil fan which was replaced).

They don't make 'em like they used to.

Jon

[DerbyDad03]

re: "Older models were built better, and last longer..."

...but probably use a lot more electricity.

...but don't have many of the features available on newer models.

Drop your model number and electricity pricing into this calculator and see how much you can save by upgrading...

I threw some numbers in there and it shows that I can replace a old unit that costs $260/year to operate with one that costs $64/year. Tha'ts almost a $1000 savings in 5 years. Even if the new one died that soon, I probably saved enough to buy a new one - assuming I actually *saved* the money. ;-)

[Doug]

Thanks for confirming what I suspected. I don't always believe these so called calculators.

Maybe they are made by the refrig mfgrs ???

[Stormin Mormon]

You peeked? How'd you know?

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

.

It's a 20 YO fridge, therefore the door gasket must be leaking. It's a spare fridge, so its probably only storing a six pack of soda, a bottle of really old deep frying oil, and a couple of D-cell batteries. It probably hasn't been defrosted in 2 years, so the freezer is a solid block of ice wrapped around a couple of blue ice freezer packs.

Factor those items into the calculations and you'll have a pretty inefficient unit.

[George]

The additional significant savings we noticed is that box temperature is much more uniform with our new fridge. The lower you can keep the box temp the longer food will last. In addition to the old fridge using a lot more electricity there was a lot of food waste because if I turned the stat down areas would freeze. So I had to set the temp higher. I can't remember ever having spoiled milk etc or needing to discard food with the new fridge.