FIXED KitchenAid Refrigerator KRFF507ESS00 Water Leaking once in a while - drip pan seems dry

[nwguy]

Model Number

KRFF507ESS00

Brand

KitchenAid

Age

6-10 years

Hi - I'm new to this forum and hoping someone can help with what I think is a unique problem.

We have a KitchenAid French Door Bottom Mount Refridgerator (includes icemaker/water dispenser on left side). The refridgerator is just over 6 years old (model # KRFF507ESS00). For about the last year we will find a pool of water at the left front of the fridge on an intermidant basis (guessing from 1x a week at times to 1x a month at times). It always seems to occur overnight.

I"ve read that it could be because of a blocked drain but note there is no water inside the fridge and under the fridge appears to be dry. I've also noticed the drip pan seems to be completely dry which makes me think water isn't getting there to evaporeate which would seem to indicate a blocked drain.

Hopefully this next part isn't completely off base....recently I noticed (should have been sooner) a silicon type material at the left front (circled in blue in the picture). It seems to be a plug or seal of some sort and I'm wondering if the water is coming out of that. Is there water that runs along the front to get to the drip pan? It seemed a bit loose so I push it in but there is still water that appears.

Does the pooling of water coincide with an automatic defrosting?
Does it make sense that under the fridge seems to be completely dry?
Is that silicon material some sort of seal that has failed?
Do I have a plugged drain?

Anyway, I've searched Youtube and google and the issue we are having seems kind of unique and I'm hoping someone here has some suggestions.

Thanks!

 

[dashriprok]

Check in the freezer section for ice underneath the drawer. If there's ice on the floor of the freezer compartment, you've got a blocked defrost drain.

 

[nwguy]

Thanks for the reply. I checked the bottom of the freezer for about a week and there was no ice build-up. It seems like the leak is internal. A few days ago the leak occured again around 8:30am. We pulled the fridge out this time and noticed a couple of drips hanging from the edge of the fridge which might indicate where the leak is coming from. The spot is marked by tape in the picture below. Do you stil think this is a plugged defrost drain?

If so, is the fix just a replacement of the defrost drain? Or is it being plugged by ice? Or is it hard to tell?

 

[nwguy]

I'm back. Just want to say that the problem appears to be fixed. Based on this forum and what I read online it seemed to me that it was a blocked drain and I could have done it myself but I wasn't sure how to get the drain out. I had a fridge repair person come in and it took them about 15 minutes to fix. Turns out there was a screw I didn't see that needed to be taken out before you could remove the drain. Argh.

 

[Jake]

@dashriprok possibly missed your last post.

Thanks for the update, glad to hear that's all it was.

Jake

 

[tjm260]

I had the exact same issue with the exact same unit. one i cleared the drain it worked. The drain was blocked with reddish brown gunk which reoccurred 8 months later. The tube was blocked and water spilled over to base of fridge and on to wood floor… what is the reddish brown stuff and where is it coming from?

 

[Jake]

Good job fixing yours too.

what is the reddish brown stuff and where is it coming from?

That's a good question, does it have any smell to it?

Does it feel gritty? Or oily?

Jake

 

[tjm260]

didn’t smell an odor or any oily smell… it was like wet rust or clay frankly and the S tube was so blocked I had to blow it out both times. This time we turned the overflow value over the drip pan so hopefully it won’t spill on the refrig steel housing and onto the floor. there is no discoloration or rust by the drains inside the fridge.. this all started when it froze up and the technician came out after thawing it out and moved the defrost from Horizontal to vertical on the deicing coil behind the wall of the fridg. the drip pan has the same rusty red color on the bottom

 

[tjm260]

Wife did say it seemed gritty when she washed it out of the sink… no smell.

 

[Jake]

Ok, thanks for the update.

Jake