Clearing Out a Frozen Drain Hole Causing Your Freezer to Leak

Nothing ruins your day faster than walking into your kitchen and finding that your refrigerator has manifested an unruly little puddle in front of it. While leaking in a refrigerator can be caused by many reasons and may need repair, if the puddle is more situated under your freezer, the most common cause is that the drain hole or tube is frozen or clogged.

If your freezer isn’t consistently producing a puddle, signaling a water issue, it is most likely only leaking when the defrost cycle activates. When the defrost turns on, it melts the frost off the evaporator coils which is then sent to a drain hole and ferried away. However, if the drain hole or the tube it uses are blocked, that water will become standing water, freeze, and subsequent runoff will start spilling out the bottom.

What you will want to do first is locate the drain hole. This is in the bottom of the freezer and maybe hidden under pull out drawers depending on your model. If you can see ice or obstruction of the hole, it needs to be removed.

If you cannot see any blockages or your leaking problem persists, then you may have a clog or a freeze in the actual drain tube rather than just the entrance. The simplest way to fix this is to fill a turkey baster with hot water, inserting it into the drain tube, and using the force to clear the blockage. If it is exceptionally bad, you may even need to install a new drain tube, but that is in the most extreme circumstances. Typically the forceful hot water is enough to remove anything that may have potentially ended up in there. Most clogs are very minor, but they are compounded by water freezing inside with them. If clogs are common, you may want to consider installing a drain hose heater.

We are here to help with a drain issue in your refrigerator!