Hello Folks, This is your typical Sears/Kenmore unit, w/ freezer on top and refrig on bottom. 9 years old. The auto defrost has not worked really well in the last few years, I have had to manually hack away at frost build up @ the rear panel of the freezer compartment. Recently, I have been getting a lot of water accumulating below the crisper trays in the very bottom of the refrig. compartment. I turned the unit around, found the plastic drain hose that dumps into the evaporator tray in the very bottom of the unit, and can not blow through it. I pulled the rear panel off the freezer compartment, and found a little bit of frost in the drain catch bin, but not very much. You can’t really access the top of the drain hose from the freezer compartment, I would have to pull all the parts off that bolt to the roof of the refrig. compartment to gain access to the hose inlet. I am not an appliance repair guy by trade, just a DIY if possible guy. Any ideas appreciated. Thanks, josterberg :eek: :eek:
[LEFT][COLOR=#000000]It seams that your drain is stopped up. To clear it you will need to remove the back wall of the freezer. The drain hole is located under the evaporator coils, usually in the center. Clear out all the ice that you can, then use hot water and a hose and blow out the drain hole until it clears out. When hot water will pour freely through it, then it’s fixed. Hope this helps.
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Jeff, Thanks. Just a question from a DIY person: As I mentioned, I did clear the drain "catch basin" of a handful of ice, nothing major. Have you ever seen the hoses plug up with anything other than ice? Thanks, Jost
Yes they can get trash or food particals inside them causing them to stop up. That is why you need to blow the drain out and run hot water through it.
Jeff-- BTW, this is the best website I’ve found, and I looked at a lot of them trying to find the parts I needed. Best selection, prices, plus the Forums–great job on all fronts. My plan is to remove the freezer back panel again, and using a turkey baster w/ a plastic tubing extension, run some hot tap water into the drain hose. The drain hose inlet is not easy to see, never mind get to. If I see the hot H2O back up then drain, I’ll figure it’s a fix. I will check the drain hose flow manually just to be sure before buttoning it back up. I’ll post my results. Thanks Again, Jost
Thank You!!! That sounds great!
Thats Great! Glad we could help!
You will need to check and make sure the drain line is clear and the unit is level. If not, it will continue to stop up. Some drain lines need to be removed from the unit to clean them out. Hope this helps.
HI Jeff,
Can you tell me where the water flows to from the drain pan that is underneath the condenser/coils? I’ve somewhat melted the ice plugging the drain plug but where do I check where the water goes to if I flush it with hot water? Is there a pan underneath the fridge? front or rear access?
Thanks!
Jay
Yes, sometimes there will be food and even lastic bag corners get into the drain hose and clog it. You need to blow through the hose to clear any blockage in the hose.
— Begin quote from Jeff / APP Team;505722
You will need to check and make sure the drain line is clear and the unit is level. If not, it will continue to stop up. Some drain lines need to be removed from the unit to clean them out. Hope this helps.
— End quote
my original question to your help dept is:
samsung rs2630ww side by side fridge came with house we bought 2.5 yrs ago. about 6 months in, we noticed a little water on the floor. pulled everything out of freezer and verified drain plug was stopped up with ice. defrosted – cleaned out drain tube (i had similar problem with my old maytag, once i cleaned drain tube with warm water and bleach, no more problems)… but this samsung, within 3 months, water on floor again, and noticed ice forming on bottom of floor in freezer, and backing up to the top rear of the basket. thought maybe seals were bad, but they seal good (sometimes too hard to open the door). since i have cleaned the drain tube out a minimum of 5 times, there never is anything coming out of it, except ice. once the ice is clear from the tube, nothing else comes out. no debris, mold or "gunk". we keep a towel under the front of the freezer door, but no matter how many times i clear the drain tube, within a couple of months at the most, we start having ice buildup again. have verified the fridge is level.
also, as a side note, not sure if this makes a difference, but the unit sat unused for about 1.5 years - as the house had been empty…
BTW, i love this website all around. – will GLADLY send business your way… i refuse to buy new machines of any kind if i can get replacement parts so easily as your website provides… MAJOR KUDOS
THANKS
Jennifer1969:confused:
Hello Jennifer1969. You need to clean out the tube and make sure the hot water flows into the drain pan when it is done. Once the water flows, make sure the freezer is around 0° and that nothing can get into the drain hose again. Corners of plastic bags, small food bits and different stuff will clog the drain and prevent it from draining. Also, make sure the unit is level so it will drain properly and keep a check on the drain pan to make sure the unit is draining after a defrost cycle.
Jeff
I make sure that no bags etc get near the drain, and each time i have cleared the drain tube, i made sure water flowed freely from it, with no obstructions. as for the unit, i had my boyfriend verify a few minutes ago that the unit is indeed level. each time i cleared the drain tube, i left the unit off overnight to make sure the line dried completely before turning the unit back on. i wouldnt even put food in it for a couple of days (left that in my garage unit), to make sure. i did notice the last time i cleared the drain tube that within 2 or 3 days there was water on the floor again. we hear it cycle in defrost and checked that there was some water in the pan at the back of the unit, but still having this ice over problem on the bottom inside/ cant even get my bottom basket out right now. granted i havent cleaned the tube out in about 6 months – it has gotten old having to repetitiously do this.
thanks for the quick reply… Jennifer1969
You need to physically access the drain hole and pour hot water through it and if needed use a hose and blow the drain line out. A partial clog will cause the issue you are having with the unit. This is the only fix for the issue you are having.
Jeff
I managed to get all of the ice build up out of the bottom of the freezer. i am still waiting for the chunk to melt some in the drain hole, but noticed that when i took off the panel inside the freezer, up towards the top of the coils there are 2 pieces of insulation (one on each side) – the one on the right had a chunk of ice attached to it. is it possible the thing is not defrosting and we just didnt realize that? i have it unplugged waiting on clearing the drain hole (hot water not working very fast)…
Jeff
as of 7:06 est. i managed to get all of the ice out of the drain hole. poured hot tap water with a little bleach mixed in, repeated 5 times with fresh water. there is nothing blocking the drain hole. the water flushes out the tube rapidly.
any other suggestions???
thanks
jennifer1969
Did you use a tube and blow out the drain tube and make sure it is fully clear. The only reasons this happens is trash getting into the tube or in some cases the freezer being to cold, but that is rare. If the unit is clear, and it is level, it shouldn’t stop up every 3 months. There is no more to be done except make sure that tube is clear.
Jeff.
I did in fact use a tube and blew out the line, nothing at all came out of the tube – line etc…
I wanted to wait a couple of days to see if ice was starting to form again in the bottom of the freezer. As of today 9-19, I see some water in the drain pan (in back of unit). I think my problem is going to go further than the drain being clogged. In the past out of 5 levels for coldness (digital) my boyfriend had lowered it from 4 to 3, I think that may be part of the problem. The freezer wasnt always staying within range that it needed to be as far as temp goes, once he changed the level to a lower one. The weird thing is, I put a freezer thermometer in the freezer, and it was staying right around 0 degrees – being set on level 4, but this morning i looked at the thermometer and it shows -20. In the past when it was set at 3, we got the ice build up in the bottom – it seemed, once it went in defrost mode. Do you think that maybe the defroster is defective, or what in the world could cause such a drastic temp range? set on level 3, if i put ice cream near the bottom shelf it was still "scoopable" and if you had ice cream on top shelf it was harder to scoop out of container. Now I am wondering if maybe when it goes into defrost mode the temp was changing and the freezer was getting warmer than it should, and maybe thats why the ice would build up, because something was melting (ice from ice maker maybe???)… what do you think? the thermometer is pretty reliable model, and i put in fridge and left for a few hours and it read 41 degress (which is what the other thermometer i have in fridge was reading). I REALLY APPRECIATE THE GUIDANCE, cant afford a new fridge right now… Jennifer1969
If the unit was running around 0° and then goes down to -20°, you may have a temperature sensor issue with the unit. I have attached a copy of the thermistor chart to test the sensor. You will need a multi-meter to test it. The thermistor is located in the vent of the freezer assembly. If it is bad, you will need to order the assembly for the thermistor. Here is the part number for that as well.
[part]AP4169102[/part]
Jeff, thanks so much for all the info. had a lot going on (major issues with internet and unable to get back online earlier) – yeah the cable co doesnt like me now. update on ice over… up until 3 days ago, no ice at all on the botton of the freezer (or frozen running down slope of back wall)… GUESS what? today i noticed a small piece of ice at the front. weird thing is, that this past saturday, my boyfriend emptied the entire ice holder for our cooler, and then we have ice over on the bottom again??? any idea? thanks for the termistor chart, i will get that checked asap. but any chance our ice maker is an issue on top of the temp sensor? thanks again, Jen