Whirlpool Refrigerator Leaks Water Into Freezer?

Stephanie
Bronze Post Medal for All Time! 162 Posts

October 14, 20140 found this helpful

We had a similar problem with ice collecting on the bottom of our 12 year old Kenmore side-by-side starting last Spring. It would get to the point where you couldn't shut the door due to 3 inches of collected ice and we had to defrost the freezer every few months. I did a lot of research and found that the water is a natural product of the defrost cycle that runs in the freezer to remove ice that builds up on the freezer element and it is supposed to drain out of the freezer through a little drain hole in the back and into a drain pain under the freezer - that explained the running water sound I used to hear from the fridge sometimes. There are a couple possible reasons the ice might build up.

First the freezer isn't sealing so it's generating a ton of frost and ice. You can try rubbing petroleum jelly along the rubber seal and that might help (it certainly made the seal stronger on ours).

Second, the drain hold could be clogged (usually by a frozen pea or other crud), so the water can't drain, freezes and builds up. If you can find the hole, defrost your freezer (you can use a hair dryer to help melt the ice) and then shoot hot water down the hole using a turkey baster. You can also try clearing it with a pipe cleaner. Make sure that the water runs into the drain pan.

Then, if the problem happens again, I found that our freezer was supposed to have a little piece of metal that runs from the defrost element to the drain hole... (all behind the back panel in the inside of the fridge). In our fridge that little metal piece had gotten broken off somehow.

There is a replacement part you can buy, but the shipping on it was ridiculous, so I decided to try a hack I found on a forum online that involved loosely wrapping a 15 gauge piece of wire around the element twice and putting the other end a little ways into the drain hole (very important to do this when the freezer is defrosted and unplugged). Then when the element heats up to run the defrost cycle to remove ice buildup from the freezer coils, it transfers the heat down the wire and into the drain, defrosting any ice so the water can drain out like it's supposed to. We did this several months ago and haven't had a problem since. Just make sure not to wrap the wire around too tight.

I have been planning to post it here on ThriftyFun but haven't gotten around to taking the freezer apart to take a picture. This is the push I needed to do it. I'll post here when I have it submitted so you can see pics.

Aerein

February 22, 20200 found this helpful

A piece of putty from the freezer found its way in the drain line, blocking it.The evap coil in the freezer froze up. It would never completely thaw out during a defrost cycle and what did accumulated on the bottom of the freezer and leaked out past the door seals onto the floor.