Our 1997 Kitchen Aid refrigerator has had issues with the freezer drain becoming plugged. From time to time we have to take everything out and fully defrost it to let the water drain again. I did that yesterday, and today while cleaning the refrigerator section, noticed that water had flooded the cavity between the cabinet and the back of the refrigerator section on the right side. If I push on the back wall I can hear the water sloshing around. I’ve not seen any reports of this in the forum.
It seems like the hose on the drain must have become disconnected or something in the tray might have rusted through allowing the water to build up. In general it is in great, clean condition so I am a little surprised.
Has anyone experienced something similar? Any recommendations?
There is a drain pan under the refrigerator. If it was too much ice build-up then defrosted water could overflow the pan. Also it is possible the pan got cracked due to age. You can easy replace it and the part is not expensive.
Try to clean the drain line in the freezer by blowing some air through it after it was defrosted.
Hi Gene
Thanks for the reply. When the unit totally defrosted, I confirmed the hose was OK by running water down the hole and it went into the pan. The pan was not overflowing. The water I am feeling is in the back wall of the refrigerator, well above floor level. It is trapped between the back of the refrigerator liner and the back wall of the cabinet. If I drilled a hole in the back of the refrigerator section above the crisper drawers, I am sure water would come running out. Do you have any idea how it would get there or how to get it out?
I never heard about such things and I have no clue how it could happen. If you are going to drill a hole be very careful not to damage any sealed system tubes.
I ended up slicing two cuts in the back of the liner and siphoning just under a half gallon of water. I can only think that the water resulting from melting the ice build up in the freezer drain got between panels and drained to the back of the refrigerator. It was all the way to the top slit in the attached photo. I will wait to see if water builds up there again.
The ice in the freezer is back again and the water is back in the fridge. I feel like I am not finding the root cause. Is there a sensor or heater that melts the ice which is likely to be defective?
Drain was frozen solid again. I found your test protocol and believe that the defrost timer is defective, which I have now ordered. I also wrapped a 12g copper wire around the heater and put it down the drain hole, so when then new timer comes in, the drain will be less likely to freeze again. Thanks for your help.
I purchased the defrost timer kit, but am having difficulty determining which configuration to use. I have both a white and red wire coming into the timer. I cannot find the wiring diagram. Does anyone know the correct defrost timer configuration for a KitchenAid KTRS21KFWH00?
I am experiencing the same thing with my Whirlpool. I’ve had no problems with it’s functioning, but when I unplugged it and cleaned it out, I noticed the back was bulging. I pushed on it and heard water sloshing. I have never repaired a refrigerator, but couldn’t imagine that much water could be trapped back there! Please let me know if your solution works! Thanks!
Ultimately the problem was with the timer. Once I replaced the timer, I could remove the wire and everything works as originally designed. The water behind the wall was due to ice build up in the freezer. The ice separated the panels and allowed water to run down the back of refrigerator. I made a small slice and siphoned the water out using 1/4" plastic tubing as you can see in the photo. Everything runs well now.