Why your side by side freezer
is leaking water
Posted 9-17-2016

 This is how I fixed my "leaking" freezer.  This requires you to work with water and electricity.
A hair dryer with melting water and there are several exposed live electrical behind the plate I removed. 
Just unplug your frig or pop the circuit.  Your frozen food can be put in a pile and a few towels to cover them.  
This only took me 20 min.  But I had a power screwdriver and a Phillips and T-20 ends.
Plus this is my second time removing this plate.
The plate is thin and sharp, watch that too.

Frozen food will melt and can go bad.  So don't blame me if this takes more then
an hour for you and you ruin your food.

UPDATE 7-2018:  Samsung refrigerators do the same thing.  Same problem,
the defroster does not defrost the drip tray by the defroster.
One suggestion was to use a large paper clip, wrap it around the defroster coil,
let it hang down into
the hole of the drip tube.
This is the second time my freezer is leaking water. The first time it was the ice maker, over flowing.  That was a time when the metal tube to the ice maker became frozen with water.  Most of the water spilled to the side, the rest freezing on the bottom of the freezer. I cleared the tube and cut a V at the drip edge (suggestion from another web site)   That fixed it that time. Another time a number of years ago, water dripping from the bottom of the freezer door (side by side).  I finally found out (from the internet) the Frost Free freezers actually melt the ice every few weeks via a heat coil by the cooling fins.  The melting water drips to a bottom catch tray and tube which goes to a hidden tray to evaporate.  So checking around for my model (Whirlpool from the 90s) there is a big aluminum cover with 6 screws (t-20) that shield the cooling fan and coils.  You have to take out your sliding trays.  Put the frozen food off one side, take one side of the rails off (Phillips), most likely the last bottom rail can stay.  The refrigerator side is not touched.  This dripping happen again several years later.  This time I figured I should post this.

UNPLUG YOUR FRIG !   there are live wires behind this shield.

With a T-20 star driver (that what I had on mine) there are some 6 screws visible (see photo). They are in plastic and aluminum holes, so they should come out very easy.
Carefully remove the aluminum shield (there is a plastic edging on it, watch the sharp edges)
You will see the bottom frozen (hopefully) and there is your problem. (see photo)

With a hair dryer (again.. water and electricity) start to unfreeze that metal water collector.  You will see the coil that heats up and defrosts the unit.   The top of the metal water collector will defrost quickly.  Use a large towel to dry it.
You should see in the center of that metal collector plate a plastic hole.  It will be frozen, again the problem.  Get rid of the water, then keep the hair dryer on that tube and the ice just under that metal collector plate.  Find something you can carefully poke into that hold. Do not drop it in that hole !  It can take 5 min to defrost that tube.  You'll know when it's defrosted when you can poke something 3 inched down it. That tube goes to a tray underneath the frig and is on top of some compressor tubes.  Those tube get warm, and evaporates the water that goes into the tray from the defrost mode.

When you think that tube is clear of ice.  Get a cup of HOT water, pour it down there.   It should drain very fast.
Then, you fixed it.  Put back the metal cover, align all the holes first (don't want to put a screw into one of those cooling tubes !) then the T-20 screws back.   Put back the sides (make sure the screws go back in the correct holes).

Re-plug in the Frig.  Put back your frozen food.  It took me some 20 min.  Check in 10 min and you should have a cold freezer.  This may be a time to quickly clean that area with things un-frozen.

There are kits to fix this defrosting problem and in the back there are better drain tubes.  Pretty inexpensive for the two, but this should not be required on such a new refrig.


Refrig with shelves removed.
Leaking refrig problem
Backing plate with T-20 screws removed.

With backing removed you see the fan, coils and
bottom collector tray is frozen.  This is after defrosting it

Leaking refrig problem
Hair dryer melting that ice.  Since the drain tube is frozen, the defrost makes the water drip down the front/back.

Leaking refrig problem

Now, melt the ice in the drain tube.


Leaking refrig problem
You can carefully place something long in the tube.
Then pour hot water down it, it should go very quickly.
This took a couple of hours to do.  So your food has to go somewhere to keep cool.  There is also a replacement fan as seen in top photo.  Its suppose to be better then original.  Once the  icemaker was replaced w/new circuit board in back.  This has not happen again.Year 2021.
Leaking refrig problem



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