Hi everyone!
I inherited an old Whirlpool refrigerator when I bought a house almost 2 years ago. I rent out the apartment it’s in as an airbnb and it has worked just fine until just recently.
A few months ago I noticed a little rust spot under the front foot on the right side of the fridge, but I didn’t really think anything of it. Last week I noticed some water, pulled the fridge out, and found a small puddle (and a bunch of shards from a broken wine glass!)
Now, I know nothing about refrigerators or their parts or how to fix them…but I did a little research and here’s what I’ve come up with. Please excuse the lack of technical terms.
Imagine you’re looking underneath the fridge from the front. There is a hose or a pipe with some insulation (sleeve?) coming from the back of the fridge (maybe the condenser?) to the front right corner and then up into the fridge. Where it goes from there is hidden behind a panel.
When I noticed the puddle, where the hose/insulation bent up into that panel was iced up, and as it melted from the warmth of the room, the water would sometimes drip right there or would run down and drip off at the low point.
Today the hose/insulation is not frosty, but it is soggy and gross.
I think I probably need to replace the insulation, which I believe is known as "sleeve," but I don’t know if just replacing that will solve the problem.
What do you folks think?