Why Is My Refrigerator Leaking Water?

When a fridge leaks, we look at the defrost drain before anything else. Next comes the water line running to the ice maker and dispenser. Water pooling inside the fridge is the drain, pretty much always. A puddle on the floor could be either one, or the pan that sits under the fridge.

Start with where the water is

Mop it up first. Really dry it, then walk away for a few hours. The fresh water that shows up afterward is the clue. That first big puddle only tells you something's wrong.

Wet under the crisper drawers? Drain. Wet behind the fridge, or only after you hear the ice maker fill? Water line. A wet spot right under the door is trickier. It can be that same drain overflowing, or it can be the dispenser. Floor only damp on sticky summer days? Could be no leak at all.

Water dripping inside the refrigerator

Your frost-free fridge melts the frost off its own coil every so often. That water has a path. It trickles down a little trough at the back of the freezer, drops into a hole, then runs through a tube to a pan down by the floor. Crumbs get in that hole. Sometimes it ices over. Either way the water backs up and you find it sitting under the drawers.

This one you can usually fix yourself. Look low on the back wall of the fridge section, about in the middle, for the drain hole. Fill a turkey baster with warm water and squirt it in, a few times. Gunk comes loose. For the stubborn ones we use a pipe cleaner. Nothing sharp, though.

Cleared it and the drip came back a week later anyway? Shine a light into the trough. A little plug of ice in there tells you this drain isn't clogging. It's freezing. The drain heater or the defrost itself isn't working right, and that's a part we'd replace. Our page on ice building up in the freezer goes through how that system quits.

Water on the floor under the fridge

The drain water ends up in a shallow pan way down under the fridge, by the compressor. Warm air off the condenser fan dries it. So far so good. But a pan that's cracked, or got bumped off its spot, just lets it run onto your floor. We'd pop the kick plate off the bottom front and look with a flashlight. Some pans pull straight out the front. Others mean rolling the whole fridge out.

And when you roll it, go easy. That skinny plastic water line in back pinches or pops off its fitting if you rush, and then you've got a second leak to chase.

The water line, ice maker and dispenser

If there's an ice maker or a dispenser on your fridge, somewhere there's a shutoff valve feeding it. Usually it's right behind the fridge. Sometimes it's under the kitchen sink. A leak along that line shows up as drips in back, or water sneaking forward under the fridge.

Run a finger around the fitting where the line meets the fridge. Damp means look closer. Sometimes a slow drip at the compression nut quits after a gentle quarter turn, but don't crank on it. Then the filter. New filter lately? A filter that's not pushed all the way home leaks, plain and simple. Take it out and put it back until you feel the click.

Water around the ice bin or on the freezer floor comes from somewhere else entirely. The little tube that fills the ice maker can freeze shut, so the water spills inside instead of reaching the tray. An inlet valve that won't fully close does about the same thing. We replace both. Until then, close the shutoff valve and the mess stops.

Condensation that looks like a leak

Little beads along the door edge, or sweat on the outside of the cabinet, usually come from humid kitchen air getting past the door. A torn or stiff gasket won't seal. Try closing the door on a sheet of paper. If it slides out with hardly any pull, the seal's weak there. A stiff one often softens back into shape after a wipe with warm water. A cracked one gets replaced.

Also check whether the fridge leans forward. Most are meant to tip back just slightly, so the doors fall shut by themselves. Turn the front feet or rollers till they do.

Leaks that need a repair visit

If the line itself is leaking and you can't stop it, close the water valve. Then call us. Same if the drain keeps freezing up, or there's ice in the freezer right where the water's supposed to run off. Water coming from somewhere you just can't find? Also us.

We fix fridge leaks all over Parma and Cleveland. Our technician tells you the price first and waits for your OK. You can book through the refrigerator repair page, or just ring (216) 352-3935. Fridge running warm on top of the leak? Then read about the warning signs of a failing refrigerator too.

Questions people ask