problem with my fridge, water leaking?

Question

Can anyone help me? I've been noticing a puddle of water on the top shelf of my fridge, the water seems to be coming from a small U shaped vent at the back. Its a slow drip. Also on the very back of the top shelf the water and some of the other food keeps freezing. I adjusted the temperature a little. Its still cold enough and food safe but the water keeps coming and its still freezing. I have a Kemore refrigerator with the freezer up top. No water dispensor or anything fancy about it. I think its about 5-7 years old(came witht he house). I don't want to call sears because they have lousy customer service especially for repair. Can anyone tell me what might be wrong, what should I check?

I never would have chosen a kenmore appliance myself so please no more comments about how crappy they are, I know. I'm replacing them as I can afford it.

Answer 1

I have found that the quality of Sears appliances (particularly Kenmore) is about the same as their customer service.

Anyway, when a refrigerator goes through the defrost cycle, it injects warm air into the freezer to melt any frost that may have accumulated. This water is routed to a drip pan at the bottom of the refrigerator where it evaporates because of heat from the compressor.

There's a drain at the bottom of the freezer box where this condensate is collected. If the hose that routes this water down to the drip pan is leaking, the water will leak down into your refrigerator box instead.

I don't know if you can get access to this hose without taking the whole refrigerator apart (I know how they work, but I don't know how to fix them). Maybe you can access it from the back or remove it from inside the freezer box. But, I'll bet that's your problem.

Answer 2

Sounds as if the self defroster (If equipped is bad). Most refrigerators have a defrost timer located at back bottom of refrigerator. Turn off power look at timer and mark the wheel so you can see if it moves or not. Then move it a couple of notches and see if you can here it click. Turn power on and next day check and see if the timer wheel has moved. If not you will need a new timer. Hopefully that is all you will need, as heating elements if bad will be a pretty costly fix.. You can always defrost manually until you buy a new refrigerator if you have too.

Answer 3

Your defrost drain is frozen and water cannot go down it so it travels the path of least resistance and goes down your air vent. Very, very common for all whirlpool products which is what your Kenmore is. To se if this is the problem you will have to remove 4 screws.
1. Unplug unit
2. Take all food and racks out of freezer
3. Remove two screws in bottom panel of freezer. In the front 1 on each side then remove panel. You will prolly see ice under this.
4. Remove 2 screws on back panel then tilt is slightly forward and disconnect the icemaker wiring and ground wire on the top left side of back panel then remove panel.
5. Underneath the silver coils on the back is your defrost drain pan, if its frozen over you can use whatever you want to scrape as much ice out as possible...be careful not to get too crazy and hit the silver coil and puncture it...BAD MISTAKE.
6. Then you will need to get a turkey baster and flush hot water down the drain until it is clear. Drain is located in the defrost drain pain about 1/3 over from right side.
7. Once drain is clear pour some hot water down it and listen for the water running under the ref...you're done.
8. If you want you can't make a heat transfer strap (6" piece of copper or alluminum, bend it with a small hook on one end and wrap it around your heater (black car under coils over drain pan) and put it down the drain. This way every time your heater comes on it also warms your drain and will prevent it from happening again.

Should take you about 30 minutes and you need NO parts and saved yourself about $150 from a repair company.

Hope this helps

Answer 4

With the invention of the no frost refrigerator, came heaters on timers that perform this miracle while we sleep and watch tv. This can be replaced by the homeowner but you need to price the parts and evaluate the worth of your equipment. You'll also need someplace to put everything from your fridge while you feel your way through this job.

Answer 5

i have same problem, let me know what answers you get please.