I have a Kelvinator fridge/freezer about 6 years old. The fridge part is
the type that freezes, then defrosts so that water runs down the back wall
and drains away through a hole in the back......recently a lump of ice keeps
forming at the bottom of the back wall and diverting the water in to the
floor of the fridge (then on to the kitchen floor)...the fridge is on the
top and the freezer bit underneath if this matters....anyone have a clue
what is causing this and what I can do to stop/cure it? I have defrosted
the freezer a couple of times and hoped that switching off at the mains and
then reswitching on would do the trick, but it made no difference.

Any thoughts/advice welcome.

L

"L" wrote in message
...
I have a Kelvinator fridge/freezer about 6 years old. The fridge part is
the type that freezes, then defrosts so that water runs down the back wall
and drains away through a hole in the back......recently a lump of ice
keeps
forming at the bottom of the back wall and diverting the water in to the
floor of the fridge (then on to the kitchen floor)...the fridge is on the
top and the freezer bit underneath if this matters....anyone have a clue
what is causing this and what I can do to stop/cure it? I have defrosted
the freezer a couple of times and hoped that switching off at the mains
and
then reswitching on would do the trick, but it made no difference.

Any thoughts/advice welcome.

L


Sounds like the insulation has broken down at point. From what you describe
you have a wet wall cabinet in that the metal evaporator is behind the
plastic rear liner of the cabinet, where the pipes inside the foamed cabinet
come up from the freezer to this plate they are quite close, the insulation
between them has broken down causing a cold spot and ice to form.

Peter

"Peter" wrote in message
...

"L" wrote in message
...
I have a Kelvinator fridge/freezer about 6 years old. The fridge part
is
the type that freezes, then defrosts so that water runs down the back
wall
and drains away through a hole in the back......recently a lump of ice
keeps
forming at the bottom of the back wall and diverting the water in to the
floor of the fridge (then on to the kitchen floor)...the fridge is on
the
top and the freezer bit underneath if this matters....anyone have a clue
what is causing this and what I can do to stop/cure it? I have
defrosted
the freezer a couple of times and hoped that switching off at the mains
and
then reswitching on would do the trick, but it made no difference.

Any thoughts/advice welcome.

L


Sounds like the insulation has broken down at point. From what you
describe
you have a wet wall cabinet in that the metal evaporator is behind the
plastic rear liner of the cabinet, where the pipes inside the foamed
cabinet
come up from the freezer to this plate they are quite close, the
insulation
between them has broken down causing a cold spot and ice to form.

Peter


Thanks Peter - is this likely to mean the fridge temperature cannot be
trusted - or is it safe to keep using for as long as I can be bothered to
keep mopping up the floor?

L

L wrote:
I have a Kelvinator fridge/freezer about 6 years old. The fridge
part is the type that freezes, then defrosts so that water runs down
the back wall and drains away through a hole in the
back......recently a lump of ice keeps forming at the bottom of the
back wall and diverting the water in to the floor of the fridge (then
on to the kitchen floor)...the fridge is on the top and the freezer
bit underneath if this matters....anyone have a clue what is causing
this and what I can do to stop/cure it? I have defrosted the freezer
a couple of times and hoped that switching off at the mains and then
reswitching on would do the trick, but it made no difference.

Any thoughts/advice welcome.


My thoughts were "Our fridge/freezer does exactly that too!"

Lump of ice just slightly above the (flattened) V-shaped drainage channel?

Why? Feck knows. Sorry.

Si

In article ,
"Mungo \"two sheds\" Toadfoot" writes:

Lump of ice just slightly above the (flattened) V-shaped drainage channel?

Why? Feck knows. Sorry.

If that happens, I guess the channel is blocked, so the water
which sits in it right under the evaporator is likely to freeze.
f you remove the ice, can you actually pour water into the
channel and have it run away? (only test with a small amount;-)

--
Andrew Gabriel

"Andrew Gabriel" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Mungo \"two sheds\" Toadfoot" writes:

Lump of ice just slightly above the (flattened) V-shaped drainage
channel?

Why? Feck knows. Sorry.

If that happens, I guess the channel is blocked, so the water
which sits in it right under the evaporator is likely to freeze.
f you remove the ice, can you actually pour water into the
channel and have it run away? (only test with a small amount;-)

--
Andrew Gabriel

Yes - once the ice has been removed, the water drains freely - until the
next block of ice forms that is!

"L" wrote in message ...
I have a Kelvinator fridge/freezer about 6 years old. The fridge part is
the type that freezes, then defrosts so that water runs down the back wall
and drains away through a hole in the back......recently a lump of ice keeps
forming at the bottom of the back wall and diverting the water in to the
floor of the fridge (then on to the kitchen floor)...the fridge is on the
top and the freezer bit underneath if this matters....anyone have a clue
what is causing this and what I can do to stop/cure it? I have defrosted
the freezer a couple of times and hoped that switching off at the mains and
then reswitching on would do the trick, but it made no difference.

Design flaw? Or has it just started doing this?

Sounds a bit like my Hotpoint larder fridge which has a similar
problem - at the back of the fridge are two downward-sloping channels
which lead to a hole in the back of the fridge, to conduct condensate
out the back into a dish on top of the warm condenser, where it should
evaporate. However, the hole is forever getting clogged with gunge so
the condensate winds up inside the fridge instead

David

Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article ,
"Mungo \"two sheds\" Toadfoot" writes:

Lump of ice just slightly above the (flattened) V-shaped drainage
channel?

Why? Feck knows. Sorry.

If that happens, I guess the channel is blocked, so the water
which sits in it right under the evaporator is likely to freeze.
f you remove the ice, can you actually pour water into the
channel and have it run away? (only test with a small amount;-)

No, it's not directly above the hole, it's off to the left a bit and it
leaves the drain hole clear. The condensation from the back of the fridge
must run down and freeze at that point and after a few days enough ice
builds up to disrupt the flow of water down the channel.

I think Peter's right - the insulation must be dodgy at that point. I will
investigate. Later )

Si

In article ,
"Mungo \"two sheds\" Toadfoot" writes:

I think Peter's right - the insulation must be dodgy at that point. I will
investigate. Later )

Yes, that was my first thought, having had two Hotpoints become
water[ice]-logged, although in both cases it was the bottom of
the cabinet where their insulation failed. I fixed one by stripping
off the insulation and replacing it with expanding foam quite
successfully. However, the second patient never came round from
the anaesthetic after the operation -- the compressor burned out
a few minutes after switchon. It didn't survive being tipped up
to have a new foam bottom installed, rather like having a fatal
heart attack in the recovery room.

--
Andrew Gabriel

On Thu, 9 Sep 2004 09:04:17 +0100, "Mungo \"two sheds\" Toadfoot"
wrote:

Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article ,
"Mungo \"two sheds\" Toadfoot" writes:

Lump of ice just slightly above the (flattened) V-shaped drainage
channel?

Why? Feck knows. Sorry.

If that happens, I guess the channel is blocked, so the water
which sits in it right under the evaporator is likely to freeze.
f you remove the ice, can you actually pour water into the
channel and have it run away? (only test with a small amount;-)

No, it's not directly above the hole, it's off to the left a bit and it
leaves the drain hole clear. The condensation from the back of the fridge
must run down and freeze at that point and after a few days enough ice
builds up to disrupt the flow of water down the channel.

I think Peter's right - the insulation must be dodgy at that point. I will
investigate. Later )

Hi,

I reckon when you close the door, as the air inside cools down to
temperature it sucks more air in through the drain hole. The moisture
in this air then condenses and freezes at the nearest cold surface
leaving the lump of ice.

This worsens in summer as the air has more humdity and the fridge is
used more. I've heard that extending the drain hose helps, I s'pose
that insulating it heavily would too, you want water to condense out
of air passing up the drain hose before it reaches the fridge.

Running a rechargable battery fan on the lump might thaw it as the air
in the fridge is above zero.

cheers,
Pete.