An intermittent stream of water from the back top center shroud in the lower freezer section of our Gladiator causes lots of ice in the freezer. What's wrong?

SOURCE: ice buildup in the freezer. dripping from above refrigerator area

I have had water/ice down the back of a Gladiator as well. I just emptied it, disassembled the back wall of the upper portion of the unit. Just a few screws, and one has to disconnect a wire harness, and then after removing styrofoam and yet another panel, I was able to locate the drain hole. It was frozen solid. As I have hot water in the garage, I sprayed some in the drain hole area and then in the lower portion to get rid of some of the ice. After alternating several times (and removing the lower panel on the back of the unit), I was able to see a free flow of hot water from the drain tube at the lower back of the fridge. I have towel dried everything and have a fan on it now so that it is very dry before starting back up. I am guessing that the drain tube starts to freeze in the winter months (I am in Wisconsin), and then just has no way to thaw as it is sandwiched in the back wall of the unit. This winter I may try some extra insulation. Good Luck!

SOURCE: Is there supposed to be styrofoam in the back part

I had the same problem and a repair tech helped me solve it. (or I hope) On this model (a unit made by whirlpool sold only at sears) , the drain line runs from the small upper refrigerator unit thru the back of the lower freezer unit and is very prone to freezing up. When it does, all the water that melts in the top refrigerator unit during the defrost cycle flows thru the air vents at the the top of the freezer unit and collects on the bottom and all over your food. I have called whirlpool and sears and they do not have an official fix for this yet, but the tech told me it is a common issue. The first step is to fix the obvious problem of the blocked drain line. You have to melt the ice dam that has collected in and over the drain line. (Unfortunately, the unit defrost cycle won't do it.) The slow way is to just unplug the empty unit and wait several hours (and you can't be sure that is actually clear) . The surer and quicker (but harder) way is to remove the back panel of the top compartment and use hot water to melt the ice until you see the drain working. I have found I can do this without emptying the freezer compartment ( I will put the step by step instruction for this at the end of this post so it won't clutter this up if you already know how to do it.) The next step is to fix this recurring icing problem. (note: The tech who showed me this warned that sears could say this voids any warranty. (If enough people call and complain about this issue perhaps they will make an official repair) I had the top unit apart and could access the drain. I took a 5 foot length of 14 qauge solid t-stat wire (any small gauge solid wire will do) and stripped the plastic cover off it. I placed one end down the drain line approximately 4 feet. Then I carefully wrapped the other end tightly around the defrost bar that runs directly above the drain. (The defrost bar resembles an oven element and runs around the coils on the back of the fridge compartment) I put several tight wraps on it and cut off the excess. This wire now transfers some of the heat from the defrost cycle into the drain line. I have not had any problems since then (Although I don't know if the problem is totally eliminated or just slowed down). I plan to look again in a few more weeks and see if the are any ice dams blocking the flow drain pan around the drain hole. If so, I will add another piece of wire to eliminate them. STEP BY STEP for removing ice buildup (it is a good idea to go to the sears parts site and look at the screen for this unit to see what you will be getting into) (Have lots of towels on hand and get two small pots of water boiling) remove all food and shelves from upper unit. remove 2 short screws from 3" square plastic cover on upper left of back wall. Remove cover. This will expose a section of the wiring harness with 2 connectors. Separate the one toward the back). Remove the 6 fasteners in the back (metal) wall (2 short 4 long) carefully pull the metal wall out (don't bend it). remove the lower plastic liner tray and the plastic wall base at the back of the compartment. Be gentle - it may be iced in place) this will expose the styrofoam insulation. Carefully remove it (again-Be gentle - it may be iced in place. If so try hot water or a hair dryer on low. Aim at the bottom.) This will expose the two air vents that go to the bottom compartment, the center upper air vent chamber and the inner wall. The bottom of the coil and the defrost heating element will be visible. There is an aluminum catch pan that feeds the drain all along the back of the unit. The drain is located toward the right of the center - it is the size of a nickel. (it may not be visible if it may be totally buried under the ice) If the coil that is visible is totally iced up, you may want to remove the inner wall and de-ice it. (This would be a sign that this might be a larger defrost issue.) Place your towels around the the vents and bring 1 of you pots of water over. (keep the other going to use next) Be c areful to place it on a towel so you don't harm the plastic fridge liner. Just spoon it onto the ice and as it melts wipe up the water. Swap out the water pots as they cool. Eventually you will see the drain. Keep doing this until you finally see the water flowing out the drain. Reassemble the unit. Remember to fully push the wires back into opening or the metal wall won't sit flush. And if you forgot: There are six screws the hold in the back wall: two short screws go the bottom - outside holes and the four long ones go on the top and bottom center.

SOURCE: the bottom freezer portion of my gladiator freezerator forms ice

Hi,
The drain for the water to get away when defrosting is frozen shut...
Checkout this tip to help you..

Water Running in Refrigerator from Freezer
http://www.fixya.com/support/r3780310-water_running_in_refrigerator_from

heatman101

SOURCE: What's your problem?water leaking into the refrigerator section. Freezer ices over on normal setting

you have a defrost issue number one in which most likely you need to replace the defrost thermostat or the defrost heater remove the rear panel on the inside rear wall of the freezer. The thermostat is a disc like object with two wires attached to it you can test this by performing an ohms test on this part should read at least ,50 you can also perform the same test with your multimeter on the defrost heater usually around 21 ohms or higher ohms ratios range on heaters as long as it is around 20 it would test good. If both test good then you would look at the defrost timer or adaptive control. When you remove rear panel mentioned and access the evaportator coil any ice build up on the coil has to be defrosted with a hair dryer. if you have any questions message me back. Thank you
Rick