Hello Jake:

I have found that if I remove the water filter the refrigerator does not drip from the water dispenser and I can get 10 ounces of water out in 10 seconds. Before that I could only get 6-7 ounces out. I don't think the filters are the problem, because it has dripped from day one with new filters.

Had the county water department come out and check the pressure, it is 50 lbs, my gauge showed 48.

The problem must be the water tubes in and out of the filter are too small, the filter housing is defective or restrictive, or the water shut-off valves are not compatiable with the water filter for this refrigerator. It has one of those long blue ones made by PUR.

Yesterday I spent three hours on the phone calling seven different people they referred me to and at the end of the day, nothing changed and no one called be back. I am still working on the fix.

Mike C

Yea Mike this is a very unique problem that I have seen before as well as other techs.

They need to send a Whirlpool engineer/top lead tech. representative to your home to investigate this.

Jake

__________________
Appliance Repair School 1987-1988
Star Appliance Tech. 2 yrs. 1988-1990
Wards Appliance Tech. 11 yrs. 1990-2001
Sears Appliance Tech. 4 yrs. 2001-Oct. 2005
Jake's Appliance Repair Nov. 2005-present

If you need more repair advice help on your appliance, click Here

Look-Up & Order Parts

Shop Home Appliances

part no. 8201537 is an anti drip water line that installs in the freezer door. At the end there is a little resevoirabout the size of a silver dollar 1/2 in wide .My refrigerator is a couple of months older than yours, It does help but is not fool proof. The new resevoirs is just a long roll of 5/16 plastic water tubing and since the the valve is a long way from the dispenser there can be drips. If you want to be absolutely sure the valve is seating a clean clear short plastic tube can be put in the shutoff valve on the water disp side and pull the harness to that solenoid. Check it in a few hours or next day. It will probably be dry.
I would first try the anti drip water line, it helped mine but it is not perfect.

Thanks for the information. One serviceman showed me one, but never offered to install it. Instead he ordered part number 2314271. It is special connector part that only allows water to flow one way. It is installed under the freezer door where the plastic tube goes back under the refrigerator. He cut a 1 inch piece of tube and put in in front of the regular connector. It stopped the drip after getting a glass of water, but the water stopped right at the tip of the dispenser and the one way valve would not allow the water to be sucked back into the tube. It worked okay, but after about an hour when the water started to ooze again, it still dripped.

I will look into getting one of the parts you mentioned.

Mike C

Would like to look at the circuit diagram of this fridge.

To see whether the valves are switched by electro-mechanical switches/relays or by solid-state switches (SCR or Triac).

If they are switched by solid-state switches, there are chances that the leakage current in these solid-state devices is high enough to prevent the valve to shut-off completely. The leakge current increases with the increase with ambient temperature.
These solid-state switches could be turned on for a short period of time due to electrical surge (high voltage pulse) in the power supply. The compressor switching ON/OFF will generate the electrical surge. Any appliance motor switching ON/OFF near the fridge (e.g washing machines) will also generate such electrical surge.

Seems that this is an overlook in the design.

the seven:

Wow, talk about giving the patient a full physical. You are covering all of the bases.

One day a thought similar to yours hit me and I disconnected both connectors on the water shut-off valve one evening. The next morning there were still drips of water a plastic tray I have under water dispenser. But that is an excellent suggestion. I will remove them next time for a longer time, or disconnect them the next time my wife uses the washing machine and see if it still makes puddles of water.

Thanks for the feedback.

Mike C

My New Sear Elite model has the same problem...The useless Sears service person says it is due to low water pressure..Needless to say,NO MORE SEARS STUFF IN MY HOUSE!!

I have ordered a new inlet water valve..Sears would not do ANYTHING for me...

lloyd

Well LLoyd I must be the only guy in the USA that knows why your Sears refrigerator drips water from the water dispenser. It took me two years, two refrigerators, 12 water shut-off valves, two water regulators, one hot water heater, one expansion tank and a water pressure gauge to find out. Sears Service doesn't have a clue of what the problem is or how to fix it and apparently don't want to know, because they always try to blame the customers home and water pressure instead of the product.

The problem is due to a design flaw that lets water ooze out and drip. Other brands don't do this, so it is either designed in on purpose or a design flaw.

If you replace one shut-off water valve and it does not stop, replacing more probably isn't going to help the situation.

There is a large coil of plastic tubing rolled up in the bottom of the refrigertor section to keep the water supply cold. When you you remove water, it is replaced by warmer water. As the water cools, it expands and the only place it can go is up the door over the curve at top of the water dispenser, then it collects into a drip and it comes out. If yours drips, take a flash light and look at the tube above the dispenser outlet in the front of the freezer door and the water level will be at the 12:00 pisition in the tubing curve ready to come out. It usually only drips after you fill a glass and then later as the water expands again and it gets back up to the 12:00 position.

I have talked with people from Whirlpool and they say it does it more with the roll of tubing than it did with the old style water storage tank. In the future, I will only buy a refrigerator with a storage tank for the water dispenser.

I put a main water line water pressure regulator in the water line to the refrigerator and can change the pressure from 24 lbs to 55 lbs. It drips less at 28 lbs or above 45 lbs.

I removed the PUR water filter from mine and it really slowed down the drip. The reason is because there is more water pressure. With more water pressure, when the valve shuts off, the water is sucked further back into the door and it has to move more distance in the tube to get to the 12:00 position where it can drip again.

Who knows when Sears will ever fix the actual problem. A lot of people have unwillingly bought these refrigerators that will drip water from the dispenser and there doesn't appear to be a fix. At least they haven't fixed mine yet. Sear Customer Relations won't call you back and the slogan of Customer Satisfaction Guaranteed apparently doesn't apply to these refrigerators

Mike C

Well that makes perfect sence to me..My guess is when the weather is cold or warm it drips more or less...

I just hate poor R&D of products...

Thanks..

I will replace the valve and live with it...I should return it..It is 3 months old...

It should be covered under warrantee for at least one year. I would call Sears Service and ask them to send someone out and replace the water shut-off valve. A new refrigerator should not drip water from the water dispenser. As long as the water pressure is over 30 lbs, (their specification) the problem is with the refrigerator. These refrigerators are not advertised to drip, therefore they should not. If the service person that comes out refuses to do replace the part, say fine, then replace it with one that does not drip. You now know why it drips, he doesn't. If they work on it five times and can not fix it, they should replace it.

I don't think the weather will have any affect on it. Once warmer water gets in it and expands as it gets down to the normal refrigerator tempature, it usually doesn't drip any more. . To prove this, put a small glass cup under the dispenser and don't use the water dispenser for about three days and see if it stops dripping.

It is very frustrating to spend so much money for a new appliance that has a problem and know the seller is unable to fix it. There should be a disclamer label one each refrigerator in the store to warn the customer.

I would like to hear for other people out that may have a solution to the problem.

Mike C.