Defrost How do I remove the melted frost ...water from area behind cold plate. A lot of it went into that area which is too narrow to reach.

If this is an automatic defrost or "no-frost" freezer and it has developed a lot of frost and ice, call a repairman. That should never happen.

But if it's a manual defrost model, follow this procedure.
1. Turn off the freezer. Then remove all the food and toss it into a picnic cooler to keep it frozen. (Some blue ice packs will help.)
2. Open the drain on the bottom of the freezer, and put the end of the hose from the drain (which most have) into a roasting pan to catch the water from the melted frost.
3. Leave the door open. If you have a small electric space heater, blow warm air into the freezer to speed up the melting process.
4. Don't scrape the ice -- you could puncture a cooling coil in some units, making the freezer useless.
5. In about 30 or 40 minutes (15 with the space heater) the ice will be melted.
6. Dry the interior with a towel, toss the food back in, turn the freezer on again, and you're done.

These tempratures are pretty cold should be around 0 deg. but it sounds like you might have a bad defrost timer or defrost thermostat the frost should not come back if defrost system is working

It sounds like you have a defrost problem.

All the cooling for both sections takes place in the freezer behind the back wall. A fan back there distributes the cold air throughout the freezer and fresh food section. Every 8 - 10 hours a heater comes on for about 20 minutes to eliminate the frost from the evaporator coils back there. If this defrost cycle fails the frost will build up to a point of no air flow so the fresh food side and most of the freezer start to warm up.

The best way to take care of this is to turn it off and unload the freezer, take the shelves out and the screws holding the back panel inside the freezer out. Remove the back panel from the freezer. Use hot water and a hair dryer to unthaw the ice and frost, you will need lots of towels as the melting will bring lots of water on to the floor. Once the frost is gone you will need to install this part WR51X443. The picture below shows it. The kit contains new heaters and thermostat.

This sounds like clogged drain / hose in the freezer compartment, here's why:

When the defrost circuit turns on, the compressor turns off. The defrost coil melts frost that collects on the freezer coil and drips in to a small pan located below the coil. The pan is formed so that the water that drips in it can flow to a hose connected under it. When the defrost cycle completes. the compressor runs again, bringing the temperature in the freezer to about 0 again. Any water remaining anywhere in the freezer will turn to ice very quickly.

If the hose should become clogged with ice, or slowed by mold, bacteria, etc. - water flow will be slowed, and / or eventually stopped. Ice will become thicker and thicker on the floor of the freezer as there is no place for the water to go.

A service manual for the appliance would be a good idea, but may not be required. You'll need to unplug the freezer and empty the contents. Defrost manually with a hair dryer or other heat source. If you decide to chip away ice, do so carefully.

The defrost and drain area of most refrigerator / freezers are located behind the rear panel of the freezer compartment. This is where the manual would indicate where the parts are located. Remove any ice maker installed if needed to remove the back panel.

Defrost any ice previously hidden by the panel. Chipping ice here should be a last resort, as sharp edges can damage cooling coils, tubing and the drip pan itself. Use a turkey baster filled with hot water to direct a stream at the area of the pan filled with ice. Hot water will likely have to be directed down the opening on the pan to melt ice in the hose as well.

Once the ice is cleared, mix about a 10% to 20% solution of bleach and water (1/2 ounce bleach to 3 ounces water) and direct down the drain hose. This will kill and inhibit further growth of mold and bacteria in the hose, which should help it drain water quickly.

Re-assemble and plug into power.

I hope you found this Very Helpful. If you need more help, ask again - but include the freezer manufacturer's name and model number. Good luck!

Check the condenser fan underneath the unit accessable form the back behind the cardboard cover. It should be running when the compressor runs. OR Check the evaporator behind the rear cover inside the freezer. Check for ice build up. . Light frost everywhere(NORMAL) or a partial pattern of ice(LOW ON FREON) or nothing(LOW FREON OR COMPRESSOR PROBLEM).
If the evaporator coils behind the back panel of the freezer are icing up because of auto defrost failure that will stop the circulation of cold air and eventually affect the freezer too.

check defrost timer, defrost heater, defrost thermostat. In most newer models the timer has been replaced by an electronic control board. If the heater and thermostat are ok it’ll be the control

How to check everything
http://www.acmehowto.com/howto/appliance/refrigerator/refrigerator.php

If the evaporator coils behind the back panel of the freezer are icing up because of auto defrost failure that will stop the circulation of cold air and eventually affect the freezer too.

check defrost timer, defrost heater, defrost thermostat. In most newer models the timer has been replaced by an electronic control board. If the heater and thermostat are ok it’ll be the control.

You can turn the defrost timer till it clicks and everything shuts down. The heater should now come on. If it does, replace the timer. If it doesn't, check the heater and defrost thermostat. Turn the timer again till everything starts back up to end the defrost cycle.


Your evaporator coils frost up in normal use and every eight hours or so the entire unit shuts down and the defrost heater comes on to melt the frost. This cycle last about 20 minutes. The melted frost drips into a drain pan and through a drain tube to the drain tray under the freezer/refrigerator where it's evaporated by the condenser fan.

I have the same model + problem. You should not need to defrost this model manually if it's working correctly, but the ice build up you describe is probably due to a blocked pipe in the auto-defrost system at the back. You need to defrost properly to prevent recurrence.

Behind the upper freezer drawer there's an aluminium tray behind a plastic grille. Every few days this tray warms up to melt any accumulated ice behind this plastic grille (full height of the freezer). A pipe should take the meltwater down to a plastic tray below (pipe + plastic tray are visible if you take the lower panel off the back). Your problem is too much ice blocking that pipe: the heater can't cope and it doesn't melt, so the ice 'cascades' down the back behind the bottom drawer.

When you manually defrost, you must ensure that this pipe is clear, otherwise the auto-defrost won't work, and you may have to defrost manually again within days.

I have found that the best way to defrost the pipe is to remove the lower back panel, disconnect the corrugated flexible plastic pipe from the stub that comes from the bottom of the freezer, + pump steam into the stub (gently) using a hand-held steamer (with tube + nozzle). You don't have to empty the freezer or move your food as the door stays closed, and no steam gets into the freezer until the pipe is unblocked. Be sure to unplug the freezer before taking the back off! [There is a fan in this area that could start up without warning]

Check how much of the pipe is blocked by gentle probing with a pencil: the aluminium tray is about 105mm above the bottom of the stub. This measurement is important…

When the pipe is clear, there may still be too much ice in the aluminium tray above (not sure how much is 'too much') if you only created a narrow 'chimney' though the block of ice (likely to get blocked again). You need to widen that chimney by melting more of the ice in the aluminium tray. I use a simple steam nozzle made from an old-fashioned Bic pen with a couple of 1mm holes drilled just below the coloured bung at the end. This directs steam onto the walls of the 'chimney' rather than upwards.

There's no point steaming the walls of the plastic 'stub' pipe, so only use the home-made nozzle when your probe reaches 105mm (i.e. when you have melted all the ice in the plastic stub tube but before your 'chimney' has broken through the block of ice in the aluminium tray). If you judge this right, you'll melt almost all of the ice under a still-frozen top surface: no steam will get into the freezer and your food will stay frozen. With a probe it will be clear when you've broken through the top surface of the ice. When you have done so, it's time to look inside the freezer to see how well you have cleared the aluminium tray.

It's perfectly feasible to get all this done in 30 minutes.

Don't forget to replace the corrugated plastic pipe + valve at the bottom. It stops humid air from going into the freezer and icing up in exactly the area we've just been defrosting.

Take a lot of care with steam jets as they can burn you badly. You should check a first aid website so you know what to do BEFORE it happens.

Some of these tips may be helpful: (1) run the freezer at -18 degrees (the 'warmest' setting) so it's not working so hard. (2) Leave a big gap (>100mm) between the back of the freezer and the wall. (3) Clean the matrix of delicate tubes to the left of the fan whilst you have the back off [a small bottle brush is ideal; remove the fan for better access]. (4) Put something between the middle of the freezer and the wall to prevent the warm air that's being blown out behind the fridge from being sucked into the air intake behind the freezer (there is a baffle built in underneath, but nothing behind. (5) Mount the fan on spacers (with longer screws) so that it's closer to the heat exchanger… this means that a larger area of grille can act as an air intake. (6) Raise the unit off the floor a little to free up the air intake path beneath the freezer.

Hi,

I was made aware of your concern and would like to offer a few ideas you may want to consider. Water dripping down is not a leak during defrost condition as this would be the ice melting. Normally, there would be a drain hose specifically to channel the melted ice/water to a drainage system. The amount of water would then be proportional to the amount of ice melting as with the length of time to completely melt, drain away.

Perhaps you could check the filter/drain screen as well as the drain opening for any blockage/clogging. You could also try checking the same on the drain hose as well as for possible kinks. Additionally, there would be a sensor behind a boxy cover that triggers the system back into operation. If there is still melted ice/water inside the freezer, then the sensor would prevent the unit from turning on completely. You may want to check this sensor and verify that it is dry.

An exploded parts diagram would help you identify/locate the above mentioned parts.

Good luck and thank you for using FixYa.

This will not cause a freon leak and it is possible that the door was left open, but to be certain that you don't have a defrost issue, follow the guide below to diagnose any problems. Also the warm walls are normal during compressor run times.
Below is a link that will help you with parts and diagnostic procedures that are specifically tuned to your manufacturers data plate information.
http://www.repairclinic.com/0047_3.asp
If your freezer cools but doesn't get cold enough, it may have a problem in one of several areas. To better understand the proper operation of a freezer, read about freezers in the How Things Work section of our website.

In a self-defrosting freezer, poor cooling often results from a heavy frost build-up on the evaporator coils. You can't see these coils without removing a panel inside your freezer. But if you see any frost or ice build-up on the inside walls, ceiling, or floor of your freezer, it's a sure sign of frost build-up. And that's a sign of a problem with the self-defrosting system.

Freezers should self-defrost three to four times in 24 hours. But if a component in the self-defrosting system fails, the freezer continues to try to cool, instead. Eventually, so much frost builds up on the evaporator coils that the circulating fan can't draw air over the coils. There's still some cooling because the coils are frozen. But with no air flow over the coils, the cooling is quite limited and the freezer isn't as cold as it needs to be.

An easy (though often inconvenient) test of whether the problem is with the self-defrosting system is to remove all of the perishable food from the freezer, turn the thermostat to Off, and leave the door open for 24 to 48 hours. (Keep several towels handy in case the melting frost and ice overflows the drip pan). This "manually" defrosts the freezer. When the frost and ice build-up has completely melted away, turn the thermostat back to a normal setting. If the freezer then cools properly, it indicates a problem with one of these components in the self-defrosting system:

• The defrost timer. To test this, manually advance to the defrost cycle. The unit should advance itself out of the defrost cycle in about 45 minutes.
  
  
• The defrost thermostat (or bi-metal switch). This thermostat allows current to pass through it at temperatures of 20 to 30 degrees Fahrenheit and prevents current from passing through it at 40 to 60 degrees (depending on its design). This is difficult to test, though, because it takes a prolonged, very-cold temperature to turn it on.
  
  
• The defrost heater. You can test this for continuity using an electrical meter.

If my assistance helped resolve this issue, please show your appreciation by rating how effective my advice was in resolving this issue.
Thank you,
Dave E. (Illeagle)
"Your satisfaction is my personal reward"

You should check the drain hose inside underneath the freezer.This is done at the back down below. Mine was looped too high and water could not get out. I took the loop off that was holding the hose and now water can drain away without freezing. You can pour warm water down the drain hole to melt the ice in the tube if you remove the grate covering it inside the freezer. I have read that several Kenmore upright freezer
owners have the same problem. I was astonished that this was the problem and I had put up with it for too long, defrosting the freezer every 2-3 months!.Give it a try!