SOURCE: Water overflowing of defrost water pan
sounds like you have a clogged defrost drain tube. removing back panel of freezer will give you acess to drain trough, melt away the ice with a hair dryer, youll find a drain hole under there somwhere,pouring boiling water down the drain will clear it pretty quickly( i use a steam machine purchased from the infomercials works awesome, after you clear it and all water drain down tube wrap a piece of solid copper wirearound the heater( black calrod heater right above the drain trough) and stick it in the whole maybe an inch or so. now everythime the heater comes on to defrost it will prevent the hole from freezing over
SOURCE: Overflowing drip pan under the fridge
for reallybsq
problem could be door seals not sealing completely and hence excessive ice formed on evaporator and excess water when it melts. however, i have found this problem many times with large larder fridges and really found no cure.
for guest.
towards the bottom of the back wall, there is a gulley with a drain hole in the middle. this drain is blocked. clear it with something flexible and make sure water flows away freely
SOURCE: Whirlpool side by side defrost drain pan overflowing
Maybe your machine has a leaky door, letting moist air inside. Make sure your compressor area is lint free. The heat from the compressor is supposed to evaporate that water. Make sure the pan is exactly in the right place, level, not cracked.
SOURCE: condensate pan fills w/ water
Hi Packer,
Q: "OK. So, if the icemaker supply line has a leak @ the fitting, how is that water going from the freezer to underneath the fridge into the pan."
A: Only in the weirdest circumstance can this happen. There would have to be a crack in the valve body perfectly positioned so as to spray water directly into the drain pan and not any where else (like, the floor for instance). You'd also be able to see such a leak with your eyes and since you haven't mentioned it, I assume a bad valve or loose fitting is most definitely NOT the problem.
Q: "Problem seems to be worse in the spring and summer months when warmer."
A: This kinda leads me to think that you may live toward the south eastern part or extreme north west of the US where spring and summer humidity is notorious. As temp's outside rise in this part of the country, the air is able to absorb much more moisture than cold or cooler air can. Each time you open the freezer door, cold air "dumps" out (stand in front of the fridge with bare feet and open the freezer door... you'll feel the cold air dumping). When this happens, warm (moisture laden) air rushes IN to fill the void left by the escaped cold air. When you close the freezer door the warm air is trapped inside and the freezer does its' job by promptly removing the heat from it. When the heat is removed (at the evaporator coil), the moisture in the warm air condenses out and forms as frost on the coils.
Every 8-12 hours, your fridge will go into its' defrost cycle to remove/melt the frost from the coils. The defrost cycle lasts for ~20 minutes or until the evaporator compartment reaches 55 degrees, whichever comes first. The melt-water flows through the drain, down a drain tube and dumps into the condensate pan where it is left to once again evaporate right back into the air from where it came. (Kinda like the whole "cycle-of-life" thing, right?) The drain pan is in the bottom of the fridge for a reason. It utilizes the heat in this area to more rapidly evaporate the water in the pan.
Now to tackle your situation. I have to be completely honest... I really don't know why your water isn't evaporating quickly enough. These drain pans are DESIGNED for "worst case scenario" amount of evaporator frost run off and should be able to keep up with it.
Q: "So, do you think it's just a matter of making sure the coils are clean for proper airflow to evaporate the water. If not, junk it?"
A: Yes to the coil and airflow question and No to the "junk it" part. I'm going to recommend as a solution to your problem an after-market part installation that is designed to fix just this situation. It's called a "Condensate Pan Heater". These are used frequently on high-end residential and commercial refrigeration units that generate A LOT of evaporator frost run off. The part I'm going to direct you to is a 15 Watt heater designed to be submerged in water (like an aquarium heater is).
OK, please follow this link to see what I'm talking about. First look at #1 and #2... you'll notice that they look like heating elements in an oven. You'll also note that they are a MUCH higher wattage than #3. The first two heaters are used in large, commercial equipment, whereas #3 is used as an after market residential "add-on" pan heater. It works by simply heating the water in the pan to facilitate a faster evaporation process thereby eliminating the overflow problem... simple, huh?
All you'll need to do to install it is to wire it in parallel with the condenser fan motor and place the heater loop in the pan. That's it!
If you require additional info on the exact steps for wiring this heater in, just let me know.
OH!!! I almost forgot 2 very important things. The first one is that when you install the heater, make sure that you HAVE THE REFRIGERATOR UNPLUGGED!!! The second thing was where you can order the heater... Follow this link to a vendor.
There ya go, Packer. If this solution was satisfactory, please don't forget to rate it as "FixYa".
SG
SOURCE: drip pan needs emptying; had repairman out for other issues, now fridge keeps overflowing
The accumulated ice you saw is of course the source of the water. The refrigerator will eventually rid itself of the excess ice and the problem will therefore disappear on it's own after a while. The drip pan is normally filled with only a small amount of water, and that is dried up by the condenser cooling fan under the fridge. The pan is removable from most units, but not without making a mess. I suppose you can make and clean up the mess one time and be done with it.
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