Sue wrote:
So an update on the amana fridge with the bottow drawer freezer.

Encouraged by Jeffs diagrams, I yarded out the fridge and removed the
panel + found the drain tube. It wasn't plugged on the bottom. It
turned out that the hole at the top was completely plugged with ice.

so plugged that I didn't even know where it was (but since I knew where
it was on the bottom, I could find its approximate location on the top).
I waited 'til the fridge had finished a defrost cycle and then emptied
the freezer and turned the hair dryer and some warm water on the area.
it seems to be fine now.

of course you have to wonder why it filled up in the first place. I
think we spilled an ice cube tray in the area and that might account for
it. of course that may be just wistfull thinking.

I'll bet you did spill something liquid on it, or
something slipped over there and continued to melt
a while at then end of the defrost cycle.

Here's a hint if the problem comes back. Put a 12
gauge copper wire in the drain tube with a curl at
the top to keep if from falling thru; the bottom
end of the wire should protrude about an inch (not
hit anything) from the bottom of the drain tube.
The wire will carry heat up to the top of the
drain and should keep it from freezing, but the
amount of heat it moves will be so small as to not
affect operation.