Why Is There Water Under the Drawers in My Refrigerator?

If you look under your empty crisper drawers in your refrigerator and see standing water, that is not normal. In fact, other than perfectly explainable condensation after a refrigerator has been open too long, there should be no moisture inside this appliance at all. So if there is enough moisture for water to be standing underneath the bottom drawers, you need to do a little investigation as to why so you can fix it before it becomes a bigger problem.

The most common reason for standing water in your refrigerator is because there is something wrong with the defrost drain tube. When the defrost runs, it melts excess frost off the evaporator so it doesn’t build up. That water then drips down and out a small drain hole, through a drain tube, and into a drip pan where it will evaporate off. However, because the drain hole and tube are small, if that water collects random bits of food on the way, something that can happen if you don’t clean your refrigerator often, then the drain hole or even the tube can become clogged.

The best way to fix this is actually really simple. You will want to pull your bottom drawers out and located the drain hole. You will want to clear it of debris and run warm water down it. If the water builds up when flushing it out, you may want to run a flexible pipe cleaner through the hole to get out tough blockages.

Don’t forget that after you have flushed out the drain tube you will need to empty the drip pan. The defrost never produces enough moisture to leave a lot of standing water. However, running water to flush the drain tube out will have a lot of trouble evaporating away before mold or mildew start to grow.