Fix A Clogged Fridge Defrost Drain WITHOUT Opening Panels - How To
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 14 ต.ค. 2024
- How To Unclog a Defrost Drain in a Freezer without opening any back panels, today on Lex’s Lounge. In this case we did this on a Frigidaire Gallery fridge, because on those particular fridges , even if you open the panel, reaching the drain is sometimes horrible. How hard it is varies by model.
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Holy cow, 350K views?! Top video on whole channel?! ...You guys REALLY need help with your fridges! Lol ...anyway, if you're new here Plz sub and look around...I actually have many far MORE useful videos than this simple fridge tip.
This is a lot more views now
YES...BECAUSE SAMSUNG DENIES THAT THEIR REFRIGERATOR HAS 2 HUGE DEFECTIVE ISSUES...
This will now be my first stop
So I did all this. Didn’t work. Do you have a video on how to remove the back panel and unclog it? We have that same fridge in white. And is the coil suppose to be glowing hot? Ours isn’t.
Subbed!
This was SUCH a helpful video! We did NOT want to open the back of our fridge. Thanks to Lex, our drain is unclogged!! Pro tip: we also squirted some white vinegar in the drain as well, just to finish cleaning out the yecky stuff. Worked like a charm! Thank you again!!
I'd think twice before pouring vinegar solution down of any drain. It damages rubber and seals. You may want to boil some baking soda in water (or mix washing soda with hot water), and use that instead. It's an old way of unclogging all kinds of drains and it's very effective when used hot. I'd cool it before pouring into the toilet though, to avoid the thermal shock.
I have a Frigidaire. I firstly use this method, but it did not work, and continue to leak. Then, I open the panel a little bit, and found out that there is a layer of ice of half inch thick. I used a metal skewer to dig out inside the panel until I can see the drain hole. I pull hot water in, but it seems like the drain hole is still blocked. I used the same metal skewer to dig inside the drain hole, and get some ice out. After some iterations of digging and pulling hot water, it finally works. Thank you for the tips. My recommendation is to clear the start the process of pulling hot water at least you can see the drain hole (without being block by inches of ice), otherwise, the hot water won't be able to melt such big piece of ice.
Hey same issue! Thick layer of ice, you broke that first ?
I just want to call out that I have fixed my refrigerator two times in the last 3-4 years using this method. I remember the first time I had this issue, I paid someone over $200 to fix it and now it takes me 30 minutes and I don't need to take anything apart. Thank you!
Credit where credit is due. This worked for me. No leaking and no ice build up on the bottom of the freezer. This is so easy that I don’t even mind if becomes a periodic fix. Thanks!
Okay, this worked perfectly to fix a problem I have been having for probably over a year now. This video helped me find the drain hole, and the pan under the fridge (which I was always wondering where it was). Turns out... The drain hole was completely covered with a layer of ice, and then was also plugged with ice too. I didn't have a turkey baster but I had a condiment squeeze bottle with a pointy tip that I was able to use instead and it worked great. Thanks for the video! I was so sick and tired of having to chip out ice from the bottom of my freezer!
I don't have a turkey baster either, so I'm going to try a haircolor bottle!
@@amitylayne5585 that will work as well, i used a meat injector syringe.
I had to come back and say thank you! I did this on April 6th. I'm still amazed this was such an easy fix for what I thought was possibly something major. Plus, I thought I would have to take all of my food out but instead I watched your video, I looked up about my drain pan(I had no idea where it was or if I had one) but I do and I could kinda see it underneath so then I proceeded to remove food from the bottom only yay and saw I had a ziploc bag stuck to ice covering the drain hole! I poured the hot water repeatedly, then I could hear like a gulp of air and the water running to the drain pan! yay Thank you so much! I liked and subscribed too.
Thank you. I was about to call repair service AND to shop for a new frig when I found your video. I figured I had nothing to lose except a few minutes, so I boiled some water, got out the turkey baster and a knife, and after removing bottom ice and scraping ice away from bottom of the vent slots (this was iced over), I sent the boiling water down as directed. Much to my utter surprise and great delight, it worked! No ice collecting at bottom now, and it's over a week. Whirlpool says it needs a 'permanent fix’ of a new drain pipe, but for now, I'm happy and will deal with the permanent issue later if Needed. Thank you again.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!! I've been chipping ice out of the bottom of my side by side for 9 months or more. I bought me a turkey baster and followed your instructions. Well, mostly!!!! My turkey baster had an attachable injection syringe which I used to squirt the hot water down into the hole after I melted the ice in the tray above it. It took a little time to get 9 months worth of ice melted but...I kept at it and EUREKA!!! no more peeing fridge! Thanks so much. All of the other videos showed taking apart the whole freezer. This was the only one that didn't. I really wasn't up for tearing apart the fridge. So, Thank you Lex for posting this video.
Thank you so much!!!
When I saw your video, at first I couldn’t believe that it might work, so I tried to follow the instructions on someone else’s video and opened the back panel of my fridge, but unlike their fridge, mine doesn’t have an access to the tube from the back of the fridge, being too scared to open the panel that’s inside the fridge, I finally decided to follow your recommendation, and wow! I see water finally dripping from the tube in the drain pan under the fridge, and 12 hours have passed and I haven’t seen any leaks any more.
Thank you so much. ( I used a plastic syringe to push the hot water in)
I never comment on youtube videos but i just wanted to say this helped me so much, I didnt have to remove any panels. I pumped hot water from the sink through a turkey baster, adjusted the piece over the hole so it wasnt covering it at all, and it fixed the issue. my fridge has been leaking/forming ice for over a year and I never figured it out. THANK YOU
"And if that doesn't work, well then, you're screwed." LOL!
Not really unplug frig 48 hrs it’ll fix 👍🏽👍🏽
@@simono.1970yeah and lose all your food . 😃👍
That almost worked. We had to put baking soda and viniger to break the the clog free. More then you demonstrated but it got us pointed in the right direction. Thank you very much
thank you lex for the video! we had a lot of ice blocking the drain hole so we used A LOT of hot salt water to melt the ice over the drain hole. my future father in law is very happy man!
By a lot...how much and how long?
OMG! I don't know how you figured out this technique, but it worked like a charm on my top freezer! THANK YOU!
Worked for me! I have a french door GE with freezer at bottom. Been getting ice under bottom tray for a while. Defrosted vents, but could’nt get bolts off to take panels off. Saw your video, got a bulb syringe and some hot water, and gave it a go. After the 3rd or 4th time, heard a loud suction sound and that was it. Put a few more cups of hot water and some baking soda down there. Took some of the water out of drip pan to make sure it did’nt overflow, and fingers crossed that problem is solved!
For those with a Maytag french drawer freezer it may be worth the extra effort to pull panels off so you can check for excessive ice buildup in addition to the drain problem. I had a huge chunk of ice in the upper right hand corner I had to thaw out and I put in some extra effort to do some cleanup maintenance while I had things pulled apart.
Thanks Turkey Baster man, did the job for me in one go , fab job, eternally grateful to you !!!!
Almost worked just like you said we have been having problems for like 2 years.....boiling water didnt work but a air compressor did and cleaned out the drain hose.......GREAT VIDEO THANKS FOR THE INFO......
Just did it and it worked! Hot water alone didn’t do it, so I added vinegar and baking soda. Also had a mini drain snake, pushed it down several times. Checked the hose down at the pan again and it was dripping! Happy! Thanks!
Thank you the vinegar and baking soda I heard a big flesh and then there was finally water.
How much vinegar and baking soda did you add?
@@caripokrassa5027 I didn’t measure, enough as needed I guess. It was 2 years ago I barely remember doing it! 😅
Helpful vid. My fridge repair guy suggested I do this but didn't give me the specifics of how. Thanks!
It's working for me, I was ready to buy a new refrigerator, thanks so much!
THANK YOU!!! 🙏 Single mom here...money is tight and worried what I would do... THIS WORKED!!
Thank you.
I took the additional step of removing the rear panel from the INSIDE of the freezer. Then I used an outdoor flexible, gas grill snake to snake the tube to clear it.
Then I ran hot water down and everything worked good .
Thanks Lex! You solved an issue on my friend's freezer with a simple solution! Keeps the fixes coming!
I could see through that grill that i had 2-3" high ice, so i took the four screws off that hold that panel on, then slid it up about a foot* (it flexes)
Then i used lots of hot water and used the baster directly on the drain hole for the hose till it flowed through. :)
But YOUR video showed me the problem and how to fix it. Thumbs up!
Thank you. My drain hole was frozen to to on/ off power outages. Used boiling water and thawed it out. It’s draining now. 👍🏻
I am going to add another "Thank You!" I started on the inside and took off one shelf bracket and the back lower interior panel. I saw the condensation drain and then found your video. Because I had the panel off, I could dump hot water down. But the turkey baster (and having the panel off) actually allowed me to pressure the line a little to clear it out so that it drained.
On a side note, I concurrently have a rust stain on the back of the freezer that I thought might be the issue and I was running down a rabbit hole of manufacturer defect chasing remedies, spray foam insulation, cutting metal access panels, etc.... Turns out, just a clogged drain line... Thanks again!
My friend, you just saved me 2500 dollars. You're amazing, thankyou so much!
Yup, that was it.
Of course my turkey baster couldn't get enough water through the vent. I had to take off a panel inside the freezer to get to the drip tray that had a huge block of ice in it. There was also some ice above the fan that came loose. Every situation is a little different I guess.
Thank you much!
Thank you very much for the hot water solution. Best advice ever for this problem.
Thank you so much for this video. I was able to fix my defrost drain and my problem because you had this great video on here.
This is great! Is this the same process for the refrigerator side? I'm having water pool at the bottom under the veggie bins.
Might be a good idea to add some baking soda to the water You're boiling (it will convert it to sodium carbonate aka soda ash solution), since it softens the water and comes highly recommended for removing clogs from all kinds of drain pipes (shower, sink, etc.; for the toilet I let the solution to cool), it's safe for seals and rubber too. Thawing of the fridge beforehand might be helpful, if not crucial, for some fridges I guess. Never tried that myself though, just an advice I've heard.
Anyway I'm having the same issue as You do with my old European style of a fridge, made by LG, where freezer is in the bottom compartment and the refrigerator is in the top. The only drain hole I can find is at the bottom of an upper (fridge) compartment, covered with a white plastic grill, similar to yours. I need to find a way of removing this grill in order to be sure my water-soda solution goes where it should.
i wish I would've found this video before replacing my icemaker and fill valve and it still not working. I then did your trick, but with hot isopropyl alcohol, and it worked flawlessly. Had I seen your video ahead of time, it wouldve saved me $75 for a new icemaker and valve!
Dude, thanks so much for the pro tip. The hot water baster along with a small gauge pipe cleaning wire did the trick!
Dude, you just saved me a pile of grief - thank you!
Thank you! This led me down the road of exactly what was happening with mine. Had to loosen all the frozen ice in the bottom of the freezer to remove the bottom bucket pan (good ole hairdryer), then had to take the back panel off (4 screws/7 mm socket) and the condensor coils were even froze up let alone the pan. The hot water helped but had to blow it out with air compressor to finally get the drain to start draining. I will definitely start making this part of my monthly tasks is couple droppers of hot water down the drain just to make sure all is well.
I have a Frigidaire Gallery Model # FGHS2631PF2 and this worked great for me!! Thanks so much for posting your video!!
If hot water does not do the trick, try using an air compressor connected to the bottom drip tube to see if you can get air flowing up through the drain in the freezer. We just did it this morning after having issues for several months. Ours is a top freezer. After a few short moments running the air compressor, the freezer drain started to bubble and some water and ice shot out. Then the air started flowed freely up through the drain hole. We kept the air going a few minutes and immediately tried flushing water down the freezer drain and whoosh, the water went right down. And I flushed a LOT down to be sure. We used a bucket and noticed that several tiny pieces of styrofoam came out with the water. That had to be what was clogging the drip tube!
Yes this worked for me, hot water alone didn't do it. Hairdryer thru the vent & comressed air up the defrost tray drip tube:
On a Kenmore bottom freezer style:
Remove only the lower back panel, identify the drip pan (not at 1st obvious) is it wet? That's the best clue. Identify the downtube or angled trough, look for a rubber nipple above the trough, clean it, and the tube coming to it. If necessary compressed air to blow the ice up. Melt with the hairdryer and Vòila, water runs into the tray below.
I had to use air compressor as well.
1 month later, still clear of ice buildup & water on the floor. 👍🏻Wish I'd found this uTube video a year ago! I almost bought a new fridge! 🤦
Thank You for making my life easier. This simple little tip worked out very well for me. One more time THANK YOU..........
Thanks! This method worked like a charm with some modifications
I love the maintenance termonology "well, you're screwed" much better than " we're screwed "
Omg you saved my freezer. I used this method but added some vinegar in the boiling water and I wasn't sure if it was going to work cuz I still saw a bit of clogged water but I think over night that vinegar helped also released what ever was clogging the whole behind that wall. All done with out removing any panel's.... thank you so much. It's so hard to get appliances with the pandemic and I was not wanting to have to replace it. Thx again
Thank you! My refrigerator was serviced. My refrigerator never leaked before but after the service it started leaking in the back onto the floor. Oddly the drain line was pointing outside of the drip pan. Your video helped me locate the issue, hopefully the line is not clogged and was merely directed incorrectly. I’ll keep an eye on it.
This just saved me immensely! Thank you!
Lifesaver! Simple, common sense solution that worked!
Thanks! This video helped me fix the frozen drain and more importantly saved out engineered flooring we installed in the kitchen! Pulled the back panel off at the bottom and vac'd out all the buildup as well.
thank you so much i really did not have money to buy a new fridge right now
Thanks I get that puddle and ice patch under the bottom freezer bin on my Fridgeaire Gallery side by side. I'm gonna play Appliance repair tech this week but first I have to buy the Turkey baster..
Great tip if it's ice blocking the line, but if it's some other schmeg in the line, you gotta get in there somehow to clean it out
That’s exactly what he said.
Well the way my freezer is designed it's almost impossible for any schmeg to get into the drain. Good thing because the bottom was covered in food particles and melted icee pops.
So how do you get rid of the shmeg?
@@joannafugardi9625 schmeg remover.
THANK YOU!!!! I was pre-paired to take the whole damn back apart, I tried your method and it worked! 😁😁😁😁
so awesome- everybody else wants you to take the fridge apart and fool with the drain tube... works great!
I tried the hot water but it was still clogged. I got a metal shears and cut an opening at the drain area. I jiggled a long piece of plastic tubing back and forth thru the drain line and it started draining. Thanks for your good help.
Lex world I have been watching u for my meds lol ur a man of many hats. But always good advice ty
Thanks, I have the exact same refrigerator, same problem.
Great fix. Thanks. I didn’t have to empty the entire freezer to
get at back panel. ..... I gave the drain a shot of Clorox too.
same message as James...i have the same fridge with the same problem...gonna try your solution shortly...thx....
used the turkey baster method, and WALAH....water came through the drain hose...THX AGAIN
This was fine little video I needed I hope to fix customers freezer drain
Thank you for the helpful vid! Will definitely try this out before anything else because my island is in front of my fridge so I’m very limited when it comes to space for moving and dismantling.
Using boiled water worked perfectly. Thank you so much:) Blessing to you!
Can't believe but that actually worked for me within seconds of pouring the hot water in. Thanks
Do you have to unplug it?
So simple and helpful. Thank you.
Thanks for the info, this helped solve our problem today.
Your video helped guide me to the easiest solution. I had an iced up drain pipe and used the boiling water and turkey baster after pulling off the panel and ice maker and I got drainage!
I repair for a living. The last at least 10 units I have worked on. Doing this would of only made a larger mess. Very inconvenient to do. But pretty full proof. Remove everything from freezer and fridge. open doors wide. Get fan and blow room air into freezer area. Run fan several hours Ice melts slowly. For me on a call and equipment I use it takes 2 hours to take a frozen evap and drain line back to working order. The drain line is very slow to melt. and make sure you check drain line in back that it is freely flowing. If it has a rubber cap looking thing covering the end of pipe. Remove is and clean it out under running water. make sure it is not stuck shut. Its job is to keep humidity out of freeze while letting water drain out of drain tube.
FYI, as with just about any fix, it depends on the make/model. I have a 2021 Whirlpool (Model: WRT518SZFM00) and using the baster only sent water into the refrigerator. I had to take off the inside back (defroster) panel of the freezer in order to get the water to go down the drain/defrost tube. It was a PITA but the only way to get the hot water to go down the tube. So my suggestion is; try this baster method BUT watch the inside of the refrigerator to see if that's where the water is going.
Just did mine today. I used an ice pick to break up about a 1/4 inch of ice in the top aluminum pan. Then melted it all with the hot water as soon as the drain hole melted. The drain hole is about 1/2" in diameter, and it's right in the middle of the aluminum catch pan where you put the hot water.
Thank you for this video. I’m having a hard time finding the answer to my question. My freezer seems to have this noise that when I find out it’s origin, there’s like a puff of missed that gets spit out. It seems to be louder than I’ve heard it in the past so I didn’t know if I should be concerned. I’m thinking it’s justThe part of it that keeps it defrosted, but I’m not sure. Can you give me any information please?
couldn't figure out what was screwing up in my fridge, replaced the bi-something thing on the freezer coils, ripped everything open a few times, and then a few days ago I heard the same thing you did lol and I saw the light. trying to run hot water down it now :)
I got to get me a turkey basil. I was wondering what i can use to get some hot water back there. I usually remove the shelves and take off the cover in the back. I going to try this tip thanks man..
I like your idea, best one yet. I use hot water from the coffee maker
Seems to have worked , hope the defrost motor did not burn out first. Too bad all the food in my freezer seems to have defrosted before I found your page. Cooking up all the steaks, etc.. and frozen foods before they go bad from refreezing.
did you hear sounds after draining?
I pray this fixes the leak on my fridge. Thanks for showing a simple step to try first. Jesus bless.
Did it work for you? I was thinking maybe a squirt gun would work alot better because of the pressure it produces with each squirt. Just an idea for you. I used a turkey baster just today; so far, it seems to do well; if it leaks again, I WILL be trying it with a squirt gun.
@@louiewhitegoldwielder6788 Hi Louie----yes, the turkey baster did work. I used really hot water and bang. It was flowing.But I think I will go ahead and pull everything that I need to to take the panel off in the freezer section to manually defrost the coils.
Also, just went to the garage for the leaf blower (lol) to clean out all the dust and pet hair from underneath until I can get one of the skinny little coil brushes to do a more thorough job. Will put a vacuum cleaner or shop vac behind fridge to catch a bunch of the stuff that gets blown out....will start sort of further back from fridge so force of blower is not so great as to cause a huge dust storm all over the kitchen. Take it easy and have a great day. Jesus bless.
@@sandrarichardson2713 Yep, good ideas yoi have! Jesus bless you as well!
@@louiewhitegoldwielder6788 Either way,, You may want to use baking soda cooked in water (You'll get soda ash solution) and use this hot solution instead of plain hot water. Never tried that myself on the fridge, but for sinks and shower drains it literally works wonders (I pour soda-water solution down the drain directly from cooking pot), while being totally safe for pipes, rubber and seals (unlike i.e. vinegar). I've read that it works for fridge drains too.
It reacts with aluminum and zinc though, so I don't know if it can be poured into a squirt gun. It's safe for stainless steel.
@LexsLounge can I buy you a beer or something. My wife was ready to shop for a new fridge and this saved the day (and saved me some $$)
On the Jenn-Air, the drain tube goes down makes a hard right go slightly uphill, then straight down to the pan. the problem is that when the horizontal tube pitches up to the second elbowit, it develops a swamp and buildup starts clogging the tube. This is is a manufacturing screw-uphorizontal line should be sloped downward. you need to shim that Elbow on the second turn before it goes into the pan, to prevent swamping and buildup of debris that clogs the horizontal short of turning down to the pan. .
This worked great. Thank you so much! Saved me a bunch of money for repairs.
thank you so much!! i was able to fix my fridge in no time at all :)
Awesome tip. Thanks for posting.
Mine was particularly stubborn.. in the back to a top freezer unit. The hot water didn't work so i ended up using salt. I poured the salt in the drainage tray followed by water.
did you hear sounds after draining water?
"If that doesn't work then you're screwed." LOL. Good video bud. Buying a turkey baster as we speak.
Great fix! It only took me about 20 minutes! Thanks so much! 👍
Longer to boil water than fix issue. Thank you. I always used a heat gun, but this is easier
do you turn off the fridge?
I had to adapt this a little. I used a lighter and piece of metal suspended with a pair of vice grips. I used a lighter to heat suspended metal and melt the ice clogging my drain.
Worked like a charm! Thank you!
Going to try this on my fridgidaire gallery. Did not know they had a drain pan, what happens to the water if it works normally? Does it evaporate?
This works great!!!! Didn't have to tear anything apart either!!
Thanks! Easy fix before checking out my water filter housing!
Worked awesome thank you! Some little chunks of ice got down there and clogged it up.
Is that paper and envelope looking stuff taped to the condenser coil? If so that seems like it will cause more energy use or not allow you fridge/freezer to get cold.
I had the same issue with mine and the dealer told me to basically do the same thing but add a small amount of bleach to it because most of what is clogging it up is algae. After I done that it worked awesome.
Thank you so much for your fridge fix.
Thank you 🙏 for the info. Enjoyed the video.
Very practical and easy (usually the problem is solved by starting the easist way)..by the way, once it drains, where the water will go eventually, sorry I'm a layman. Thanks!
Other video said that there is a fan near the drain pan that evaporates the water
It worked for me. Thx a bunch!
Nice job. I will be doing that this week.
So is the drain tube supposed to have something on the end? I flushed mine out with the hot water and only noticed a trickle of water coming from the end. It looks as though there like a white "cap" thing on the end.
From what I've read, yes, there's some sort of an element at the end of the drain pipe, can't remember it's significance though (semi-filter stopping the dirt from the drain pipe from getting into drain pan maybe?). It's not that crucial apparently, as long as You have an easy access to your drain pan for cleaning.
This was really helpful, worked like a charm
Worked! Thank you!! 🙌🏽🙌🏽
Thanks, It worked like a charm.