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+-- Thread: PSA - Clogged Freezer Drain Tubes (/showthread.php?tid=7342145)
PSA - Clogged Freezer Drain Tubes - crokett™ - 09-02-2018
I had one. Youtube videos (including one that looked exactly like my fridge) weren't much help. I didn't have a tool that was stiff but flexible enough to make the turn from the freezer down into the tube. After several failed attempts at fixing it I discovered that the plastic tube at the bottom of at least my fridge is just stuck into the rubber seal in the bottom of the freezer. It's not screwed in. It was relatively easy to fix after that. I just pulled the tube out and used a small bottle brush to clean it out, then used a turkey baster to flush the tube out.
RE: PSA - Clogged Freezer Drain Tubes - Stwood_ - 09-02-2018
Last time we defrosted our upright, the drain tried to clog. I use a air nozzle and set the regulator for 10 or 20 #'s and blew it clean. Our had some cardboard looking stuff come out of the hole.
RE: PSA - Clogged Freezer Drain Tubes - Ohio Mike - 09-02-2018
(09-02-2018, 06:43 AM)crokett™ Wrote: I didn't have a tool that was stiff but flexible enough to make the turn from the freezer down into the tube.
I use plumber's solder for this. Works great at pushing out clogs made of cat hair.
Mike
RE: PSA - Clogged Freezer Drain Tubes - doc1 - 09-02-2018
There is a fix for this for Whirlpool refrigerators: part #W10619951 Tube drain. I paid some guy $265 to install this, including the part, after trying to break through a bunch of crud in that drain with all kinds of gadgets and wires. He installed it from the back in about 5 minutes. Whirlpool should have treated this like Samsung did their washing imbalance problem--sending out someone to fix it for free. It can't be done from inside the refrigerator--too many bends and curves.
RE: PSA - Clogged Freezer Drain Tubes - JTTHECLOCKMAN - 09-02-2018
the old copper wire trick hanging from the defrost coil and sticking in the drain hose has worked well. They sell a kit and all it is is a piece of copper wire and a tech to come out and the bill really goes up.
RE: PSA - Clogged Freezer Drain Tubes - bennybmn - 09-04-2018
I know this isn't 100% related, but my in-laws had one of those built-in sub-zero fridges that the ice maker hadn't worked for at least 5 years on. After they lost power from Sandy for a week it worked fine. So I always wonder if clogs are just frozen...
RE: PSA - Clogged Freezer Drain Tubes - fixtureman - 09-04-2018
My old fridge would get a clogged drain in the freezer that I would have to thaw out about once every other year.
RE: PSA - Clogged Freezer Drain Tubes - crokett™ - 09-04-2018
(09-04-2018, 07:50 AM)bennybmn Wrote: So I always wonder if clogs are just frozen...
Not in my case. it was clogged about 4" below the bottom of the freezer, on the outside. On mine the drain hole inside travels diagonally back about 3" and then takes a sharp turn down. I couldn't get past that sharp turn. Even if I could the tool I was using wouldn't have reached the clog.
RE: PSA - Clogged Freezer Drain Tubes - EricU - 09-04-2018
I'm pretty sure that line is meant to freeze up until the defrost cycle. I had a heck of a time the first time I cleared the drain, then I hired a guy to do it. All he did was to pour hot water in there. I put in a wire, it didn't always work. I kept meaning to get the kit, it has a formed piece of copper with more surface area than the wire.
Trombone brush will work, except for the p-trap at the top. Running hot water through the p-trap seems to clear it okay.
I watched a youtube where the guy was working on his fridge acting like he was an expert that knew it all until he got to the point where he realized the drain wasn't where he thought it was. I have no idea why he didn't edit that part out, I was mad.