fridge/freezer

[L]

I have a Kelvinator fridge/freezer about 6 years old. The fridge part is the type that freezes, then defrosts so that water runs down the back wall and drains away through a hole in the back......recently a lump of ice keeps forming at the bottom of the back wall and diverting the water in to the floor of the fridge (then on to the kitchen floor)...the fridge is on the top and the freezer bit underneath if this matters....anyone have a clue what is causing this and what I can do to stop/cure it? I have defrosted the freezer a couple of times and hoped that switching off at the mains and then reswitching on would do the trick, but it made no difference.

Any thoughts/advice welcome.

L

[Peter]

Sounds like the insulation has broken down at point. From what you describe you have a wet wall cabinet in that the metal evaporator is behind the plastic rear liner of the cabinet, where the pipes inside the foamed cabinet come up from the freezer to this plate they are quite close, the insulation between them has broken down causing a cold spot and ice to form.

Peter

[L]

Thanks Peter - is this likely to mean the fridge temperature cannot be trusted - or is it safe to keep using for as long as I can be bothered to keep mopping up the floor?

L

[Mungo "two sheds" Toadfoot]

My thoughts were "Our fridge/freezer does exactly that too!"

Lump of ice just slightly above the (flattened) V-shaped drainage channel?

Why? Feck knows. Sorry.

Si

[Andrew Gabriel]

If that happens, I guess the channel is blocked, so the water which sits in it right under the evaporator is likely to freeze. f you remove the ice, can you actually pour water into the channel and have it run away? (only test with a small amount;-)

[L]

Yes - once the ice has been removed, the water drains freely - until the next block of ice forms that is!

[Lobster]

Design flaw? Or has it just started doing this?

Sounds a bit like my Hotpoint larder fridge which has a similar problem - at the back of the fridge are two downward-sloping channels which lead to a hole in the back of the fridge, to conduct condensate out the back into a dish on top of the warm condenser, where it should evaporate. However, the hole is forever getting clogged with gunge so the condensate winds up inside the fridge instead

David

[Mungo "two sheds" Toadfoot]

No, it's not directly above the hole, it's off to the left a bit and it leaves the drain hole clear. The condensation from the back of the fridge must run down and freeze at that point and after a few days enough ice builds up to disrupt the flow of water down the channel.

I think Peter's right - the insulation must be dodgy at that point. I will investigate. Later :o)

Si

[Andrew Gabriel]

Yes, that was my first thought, having had two Hotpoints become water[ice]-logged, although in both cases it was the bottom of the cabinet where their insulation failed. I fixed one by stripping off the insulation and replacing it with expanding foam quite successfully. However, the second patient never came round from the anaesthetic after the operation -- the compressor burned out a few minutes after switchon. It didn't survive being tipped up to have a new foam bottom installed, rather like having a fatal heart attack in the recovery room.

[Pete C]

Hi,

I reckon when you close the door, as the air inside cools down to temperature it sucks more air in through the drain hole. The moisture in this air then condenses and freezes at the nearest cold surface leaving the lump of ice.

This worsens in summer as the air has more humdity and the fridge is used more. I've heard that extending the drain hose helps, I s'pose that insulating it heavily would too, you want water to condense out of air passing up the drain hose before it reaches the fridge.

Running a rechargable battery fan on the lump might thaw it as the air in the fridge is above zero.

cheers, Pete.