Fridge defrost drain icing up

The drain hole of the refrigerator section of my Neff fridge/freezer is freezing up and the defrost water is not draining away. The fridge goes through the defrost cycle but the ice built up is so thick in just a day or two that it doesn't melt before it starts to frost again. Consequently the defrost water lies in the bottom of the fridge.

I've cleaned around the drain outlet so that's not the cause.

Is a faulty thermostat likely to be the cause?

Reply to
Roly
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Hi

I had the same problem with my fridge...... I tried everything and asked for advice and one answer came back that I thought it couldn't be but it was. Turns out that the foam insulation aroung the drain hole at the back of the fridge got some water in it, this freezes up and then causes the drain to freeze. My drain had a small crack in it that caused the leak.

Before you say yes, mine is the same have you tried melting the ice with hot water. Before I set about fixing it I melted the ice plug so that the drain was clear and any water would easily drain away. You might just have something blocking the pipe that needs clearing.

How to fix...... quite hard but possible.

I loosened the coils at the back(couldn't remove as they are connected) to gain access to the back of the fridge, I cut through the plastic cardboard material to expose the foam aroung the drain. Then I carefully poked and chipped the foam away around the drain, this is where you need to be carefull as there was a cooling pipe near and you dont want to dammage it. I then took the un-necessary step of completly removing the drain which was glued onto the back of the fridge. I cleaned everything up and patched the little crack in the drain and hot glued it back in place.

I didn't bother with the next step which was suggested that you re-foam the area, I didn't think it was necessary for such a small area, I just put a couple of layers of the plastic cardboard material back in and taped it up so that if it happened again I could get at it easily.

The place where I got advice from was

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, They have a message forum with some great people there.

check out the thread describing my problem and fix

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Reply to
Paul ( Skiing8 )

Thanks Paul for the detailed reply. Yes, I have tried melting the ice with hot water but it's frozen again within a day or two.

I've read your thread on the whitegoods forum and it seems very likely that mine is also caused by the insulation icing up.

It's also a built in unit which makes it more of a problem and it's already been out once as I thought that it just needed cleaning, but it didn't. The coil is riveted to the cabinet so I'll need to drill them out for access behind.

To save having to cut away the insulation do you think that a hair drier might dry it out? If that would work it would save having to release the coil.

Roly

Reply to
Roly

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Same with mine

Mine was also built in unit, pain to get out, thats why I was hoping it was something I could do without removing

you could try but I dont think it will help. When I dug out the insulation on mine it was really icy and sodden, I would dig a chunk out and when it warmed up a bit and you squeezed it the water would oooze out, I don't think you could dry it out unless you switched off your fridge for a few days and then tried to dry it out. I used a hair drier after a while just to soften the foam before digging it out.

I think the best way forward is to bite the bullet and release the coil, just be very carefull because you do nt want to damage the pipes that connect to the compressor. When I did mine I left the bottom screw in place near wher all the pipes connected and slightly bent the coils away (this bent the metal bracket a little). This supported the weight of the coils and allowed enough access. If you can get enough access it will take you about an hour to carefully remove the foam but it is worth it when you don't have to mop out the fridge again.

I have pictures of the operation that I can post to you if you want....

Paul

Reply to
Paul ( Skiing8 )

I'll give it a go next week.

Don't think that I need the photos thanks, as I've already had it out once and, apart from releasing the coil, it looks fairly straightforward. Or is that just wishful thinking!!

Reply to
Roly

The Q

Reply to
the q

Hi,

Another possibility is that when the door is closed the warm air let into the fridge cools down and contracts, sucking air up the drain pipe which water then condenses out of and freezes. Supposedly the cure is to make the pipe longer.

Where does the water go after it leaves the pipe? If it goes into a plastic holder for evaporation, another cure could be to put some grains of rock or dishwasher salt in the drain to act as 'antifreeze'

cheers, Pete.

Reply to
Pete C

This is a long-shot for a fridge, but you never know.

I had the same problem with my frost-free freezer. The reason turned out to be that every time the door was opened some moist kitchen air was drawn back UP the drain tube into the freezer compartment. Once there it froze on the inside of the tube, and when the door was opened again a little more froze until the tube was completely blocked.

The answer was given me by the makers (Ocean), which was to bend the drain tube to form an S-trap near the bottom, and fill the trap with water. That is sufficient to stop air being drawn back up the tube. To my utter amazement it worked and I have had no further problems.

Ocean even sent me a free longer tube to accommodate the extra length needed for the S-bend.

Phil The uk.d-i-y FAQ is at

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Google uk.d-i-y archive is at
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NOSPAM from address to email me

Reply to
Phil Addison

Thanks for the suggestion but mine is icing up on the ledge and extending to the drain tube in a matter of 24 hours. I suspect that the earlier post about the rear insulation icing up is the problem. I'll get around to doing it sooner or later and keep thawing it with hot water in the meantime!!

Reply to
Roly

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