Leaking Fridge Freezer

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DonL

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There is usually a drain in the freezer ( necessary because of course the freezer defrosts itself periodically.) That line takes the water to a pan located under the condenser coil/compressor area. The heat from those items evaporates the water. Your line is plugged...a fairly common problem. You need to find the line....starts somewhere on the floor of the freezer...and blow it out. Or it may have an ice clog in it.


I did not see this post jimbo, until I posted.

Yes, What jimbo said.
 

DonL

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You know what I find so interesting is look at the volume of views this discussion is getting. It's the most traffic I've seen for a long time in such a short time line. There must be thousands of people in the same boat. Not a good sign.

I still like the idea of the back of linear shower drain....


You should design one and become rich.

Great Idea.
 

SteveW

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A related problem that refrigerator designers face is how to deliver liquid water to the icemaker without the water freezing in the supply tube. This used to happen with my old Frigidaire. The engineers redesigned the water supply tube to be open at the top and for some reason that seemed to allow the water to quickly flow into the icemaker and not stay in the tube long enough to freeze.
 

JohnfrWhipple

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A related problem that refrigerator designers face is how to deliver liquid water to the icemaker without the water freezing in the supply tube. This used to happen with my old Frigidaire. The engineers redesigned the water supply tube to be open at the top and for some reason that seemed to allow the water to quickly flow into the icemaker and not stay in the tube long enough to freeze.

Steve I have disconnected the water to the fridge. There is no water supply - this crappy fridge leaks by itself.
 

SteveW

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Steve I have disconnected the water to the fridge. There is no water supply - this crappy fridge leaks by itself.


Yep, that is condensate water for sure!

Your coils, like mine and everyone else's, accumulate a layer of frost on them every day. Every 24 hours or so your fridge runs a heating element next to your evaporator coils in the freezer, to melt off that layer of frost. This condensate water drips into the tray and (in theory at least) down a plastic tube to a pan at the bottom of your fridge near the compressor, where it evaporates. Something wrong in the plumbing between the plastic tray under your evaporator coils, and the water pan at the bottom.

You are absolutely right, John, that your unit seems to have a crappy design. You really shouldn't have to do anything to keep that system from leaking.
 

Dj2

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"With every month I dislike this fridge more and more."

I swear your wrench is getting larger with every post...

You know what I would do? mitigate my losses, and replace the fridge.
 

FreedMiester

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If this is a common problem then I am going to start informing the builders I work with that I have another plan. My wife this morning has green lighted operation Fridge drain line!

JW

I have the same Kitchenaide, with the same problem. If you unplug the unit and take everything out of the freezer drawer, you can then remove the basket and plastic drawer insert. In back of where the drawer is (Yes, I wish tho whole freezer door would come off, but I couldn't figure out an easy way to do that, so this is awkward to reach) is a metal? panel with vents in the bottom. Behind this is the evaporator coil, and in the center is a drain hole that connects to a short rubber tube with a "fish mouth" end, that exits into the pan underneath. The fish mouth is supposed to keep cold air from leaking out, but open to allow water to drain. It is clogged with ice. There may be a heated wire that is supposed to melt the ice (i don't remember). I pulled that panel out and used a hair dryer to clear the ice from the drain and it took another 9-10 months to clog up with ice again. Now that it is clogged again, I plane to pull the fridge forward, remove the hardboard panel from the the back of the fridge and try to clear the drain from there (it has to be easier). I might cut some of the "fish mouth" off to let it drain easier...
 

SteveW

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Very disappointing, John!

If this is your condensate drain line freezing up, and there is no debris causing this to happen, I have read on some of the appliance forums that some techs will wrap copper wire around the defrost coils and run the wire down the drain a little ways - that way every time the fridge does a defrost cycle it melts any ice build up. I think I have seen some actual repair kits that use this principle in one of the appliance repair parts sites.

Just resurrecting this post. For some fridge models there is an retrofit kit from appliance parts stores that includes a wire that goes from the defrost coil to the condensate drain so that any ice gets thawed every defrost cycle.
 

Jacobsond

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Here is the tech bulletin. Your appliance service person should know about it.Repeat failures is not exceptable (at least not in our shop). You may need to find another repair person.
PDF file to big to attach I pasted relivent page without the picture
® Registered trademark of Whirlpool, U.S.A., KitchenAid, U.S.A., Jenn-Air, U.S.A., or Maytag Properties, LLC or its related compa
®MAGIC CHEF is a registered trademark of CNA International, used under license. © 2013 All rights reserved.
For Immediate Attention of Your Service Department TECHNICAL
SERVICE
POINTER
Technical Service Pointer #: W10632338
Action Required: Informational/Mandatory
Release Date: August, 2013
 Refrige
Page 1
Brands Affected
ALL POINTERS ONLINE:
https://www.servicematters.com/
To receive pointers by email, or to edit
or delete a current email address, go
to https://www.servicebench.com/
Amana, Jenn-Air, KitchenAid, May
And Whirlpool Refrigerators.
Models:
See attached pages.
Serial Numbers: All
Concern:
Ice build up on bottom of freezer.
Defrost water does not drain.
Duck bill check valve plugged.
Correction:
A “P Trap†drain tube kit is now available for the
models listed on the attached sheets. If the new
design “P Trapâ€, see figure 1, has not already been
installed, Order and install kit part number
W10619951. Follow the detailed instructions supplied
with the kit.
 

asbruckman

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We have the same fridge and the exact same problem.

My best guess about what is happening is that it's really easy for the middle freezer drawer to get bent a bit.
That makes it hard to close the freezer properly. Whenever it's left a bit ajar, stuff melts.
And the water then creates a sheet of ice on the bottom of the freezer.
And the sheet of ice makes it impossible to close at all.

We're now removing the sheet of ice twice a week.
Thinking about trying to bend the bins back in shape, but can't figure out
how they're supposed to go. I found this thread while looking for a picture
of what the middle rack is supposed to look like--where are the wheels supposed
to ride? The two sides are bent differently. Just removing the middle
freezer rack might help possibly....

It's driving me particularly crazy because my DH is always asking "Who left the freezer open??!"
And my answer is "It's @#$# impossible to close right, even if you're paying attention, for an adult.
The kids have no hope."

All advice appreciated!
 

Svendsen1

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It appears that more and more people are looking for help with their leaking Kitchen Aid Fridge. This last ten days saw 700 people view this thread! Insane.

What a testimonial to a piece of shit fridge I bought. So many people in the same boat. I wonder how many thousands of dollars are spend every week keeping a simple fridge working the way it should.

Kitchen Aid Canada told me ten days ago someone would call me. Not a word. Not an email. Not a phone call.

I guess if your Kitchen Aid you just ignore the exposure and hope it goes away…..


So I just finished "fixing" this problem this morning on my 2 year old Kitchen Aid fridge. Here's what I did. I pulled the fridge out and removed the hardboard back off the bottom portion of the fridge. I located the rubber fish eye drain tube and removed it and cleaned it out. It was sticky and clogged with food particles and dust from the past 2 years. (When that rubber piece clogs, the water that is melted from the defrost cycle backs up to the top of the drain that is located in the freezer and ends up freezing. ) I reattached the rubber drain tube, put the hardboard back on, and pushed the fridge back into place. I then took the freezer door off, as well as all the baskets to gain access to the back panel inside the freezer. I used a hair dryer to get the majority of the ice thawed covering the fins of the coil. I then boiled some water and using a syringe, concentrated the hot water in the center portion of the pan underneath the condenser pan to melt the ice that had frozen inside the drain that leads to the pan in the bottom rear part of the fridge. There's no need to remove the panel at the back of the freezer as long as you can get a turkey baster or syringe to shoot hot water in the center portion of one of the vents on the panel. The problem stems from the rubber drain piece near the compressor, so since there is a p- trap fix available, I was wondering if anyone had installed one yet and can comment on how it's holding up? Because I'm sure mine will clog again within the next 2 years... Im just glad I was able to avoid a service charge...
 

Svendsen1

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Thank you for your helpful post. I wish I had the time and the skill set to do this repair myself.

Never had much luck with appliance repairs - I specialize in showers.

Is Kitchen Aid going to pay you for your time? I doubt it. Sad that each fridge requires all this repair time and that the fridge was so poorly designed that 1,000's of people are having problems. I wonder how much damage these Leaking Kitchen Aid Fridges have caused over the years...

I appreciate you starting this thread. I wouldn't have known what a common problem this was on such an expensive fridge had you not posted the issue you were having. Like you, I also have hardwood floors in my kitchen. By luck I guess, I happened to be in the kitchen near the fridge at the same time it decided to start leaking for the first time. I was fortunate it didn't damage my floor. I sure wish kitchen aid would pay me for my time to fix this ridiculous problem. I doubt they will though.
 

Svendsen1

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I keep getting emails from people asking me how to fix their leaking Kitchen Aid fridge...

I don't know!!!

I have been at work when the repair man comes by (twice now).

This email I just received from RB....

Hi John, I found your post about your leaking kitchenaid French door fridge with leaking freezer. I have the same issue and kitchen aid wants to charge me $300 to fix it. My leak started about 5 ,moths after thief war entry expired.
I read thru the thread of comments regarding your post but don't understand the fix. I am not overly handy but can figure anything out with the help of google.
How do you recommend I go about solving this issue so I don't have to pay $300?

From RB


Classic that the leak happens juts after the warranty period. Just like mine. Planned obsolesce at it's finest I'm sure. What a crappy fridge this Kitchen Aid KBF S25EVMS3 is. Total and utter crap....

I think mine was about 5 or 6 months after the warranty ended as well. It appears to be functioning correctly though now after I fixed it- however I know it will happen again in the next year or year and a half unless I get the p-trap to replace the rubber fish eye drain in the back .
 

Jacobsond

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So I just finished "fixing" this problem this morning on my 2 year old Kitchen Aid fridge. Here's what I did. I pulled the fridge out and removed the hardboard back off the bottom portion of the fridge. I located the rubber fish eye drain tube and removed it and cleaned it out. It was sticky and clogged with food particles and dust from the past 2 years. (When that rubber piece clogs, the water that is melted from the defrost cycle backs up to the top of the drain that is located in the freezer and ends up freezing. ) I reattached the rubber drain tube, put the hardboard back on, and pushed the fridge back into place. I then took the freezer door off, as well as all the baskets to gain access to the back panel inside the freezer. I used a hair dryer to get the majority of the ice thawed covering the fins of the coil. I then boiled some water and using a syringe, concentrated the hot water in the center portion of the pan underneath the condenser pan to melt the ice that had frozen inside the drain that leads to the pan in the bottom rear part of the fridge. There's no need to remove the panel at the back of the freezer as long as you can get a turkey baster or syringe to shoot hot water in the center portion of one of the vents on the panel. The problem stems from the rubber drain piece near the compressor, so since there is a p- trap fix available, I was wondering if anyone had installed one yet and can comment on how it's holding up? Because I'm sure mine will clog again within the next 2 years... Im just glad I was able to avoid a service charge...

Now there is a guy that did what I have been trying to get across. The replacement p-trap fix does work. No drain under the fridge needed. No need to remove the sheet of ice of the bottom of the freezer. It is a poor design. The problem is not limited to Kitchen Aid The repair has been out for almost a year now. Before the P-trap fix most of us repair guys just snipped a little V on the rubber piece so it would not seal up again.There was more air infiltration in to the freezer and it might have frosted the coil a little more,but the defrost drain would not plug again.
 

JohnfrWhipple

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How to fix your leaking Kitchen Aid Fridge - once and for all

OK. This discussion has been going on for a long time. Two plus years to be exact. My Kitchen Aid fridge model number S25EVMS3 should be today. Fixed once and for all. After years of complaining - years of blooging about my crappy fridge someone from Kitchen Aid called me back.

Not because of this discussion here mind you - but rather I think because of my blasting them on their Face Book profiles (Kitchen-Aid Canada & Kitchen Aid America). I got someone there to ask for my email and contact info and then they called and I called back.

So Friday I phone in the morning my time 10:00AM PST. It took 10 minutes to get through and have the girl on the other line (Dawn) read the "Case File". Then I was placed on hold for four minutes - Dawn came back and said hold a little longer and another six minutes went by. Then she tells me that Kitchen Aid is going to fix my fridge! On their dime, not mine.

THAT IS ****ing Awesome. I asked how, and with what.... Dawn seems to not want to tell me but I insist no one is coming to my house unless I know what part number they are putting in my fridge. Turns out that there is a new part from Kitchen Aid for this issue. Not an original part but an entirely new part.... So again Dawn did not want to share this info but I pried it out of her and the "wait for it" ......... "Dramatic Pause"

This replaces part numbers W10309238, W10210988, W10344402, W10210987, W10585186, W10588598.

And should fix a lot of leaking Kitchen Aid Fridges.

I was told the repair man would come today. This part I love. Some time between 8:00 AM and 4:00PM. I was also told that the repair man would give me one hour notice. So I'm guessing at 7:00 AM if I do not hear from him 8:00 AM is out the window since no one called Sunday, or Saturday or even Friday.

So my fridge that continues to cost me money will now cost me possible an entire's day pay if the fellow shows up at 4:00. And maybe more if he no shows....

I'm up and ready. Freezer is emptied. Cell phone charge. Wait Wait Wait....
 
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DonL

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The good news is that the repair man just called and booked for 1:00PM.

The Bad news. I have three solid hours of chores to do now.

All ready cleaned up the front deck, back deck and replaced some light bulbs. I got to find another three hours of stuff to do. My wife is going to be so happy...;)


Defrost and clean the fridge ?

Is it working yet ?


Good Luck.
 
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