Hi, I have a Kenmore Elite (cold spot 106 53602201) that is accumulating ice at the bottom of the freezer. It is a side by side unit. The left side is the freezer which I have cleaned out twice. The last time I took all the food out, broke out all the ice, and cleaned out the drain hole of any ice. I ran hot water through the unit until I could hear the hot water trickling into the pan. I have done this twice. The last time I did it was about 3 weeks ago. The reason I started looking into this was because I noticed the temperature in the refrigerator section was not as cold as it use to be. Once I started looking around the unit, that’s when I noticed the ice in the freezer. I guess the two are related. I am not sure how the drain hole keeps freezing up as I can clearly see water draining and can also hear it hitting the pan. Any help provided would be much appreciated.
Thanks for the quick reply. Do I have to remove the cover in the back of the refrigerator or in the front on the bottom? It looks like it has a filter in the front. Also, where are the condenser coils? Would this affect the temperature that much? I put a food thermometer inside the refrigerator and its reading 60 F. It should be at around 37 F. Also, inside the fridge where the cold air flows in from the freezer side, there are small icicles on the vents. Don’t know if that means anything but I thought I would let you know.
The cover is on the back. You should see the condenser coils as soon as you will remove it. Dirty condenser coils will cause the compressor to overheat and, as the result, much warmer temperatures in both compartments.
About icicles - make sure both doors always closed properly and not being open for long time. Check the door gaskets.
The freezing has occurred again. I have again broken up all the ice, ran hot water through it and made sure that water was running down the drain hole. I also pulled out the refrigerator and checked the drain hose from the back after removing the rear cover. It is clean, there is nothing blocking it. I could see the remaining water draining from it after I pulled the rear cover. Any other suggestions?
If the defrost heater in your refrigerator is 3" or less from the drain hole, you may want to instal the drain heat probe. It comes with the installation instructions.
Thanks for the update. I will order and install the part and see how it goes. Just wondering, why does this freezing happen? I am just worried that this is a quick fix for a bigger problem down the line. Thanks again. Appreciate the help.
I woke up this morning to find out that my refrigerator is not working at all now. I dont hear any noise. Luckily I have an old fridge in the garage which I have moved all my food to. As I said before, I noticed that the temp was not as low as it used to be for a couple of months now. Maybe a part showing signs that it was ready to fail? Any ideas on where to start now?
After turning it off for a few hours, I turned it back on and it appears to be running now. I have not received the the probe yet but will install it once it comes in. I hope it helps.
I installed the probe today and it appears that it is not freezing ice at the bottom of the freezer anymore. The temperature in my fridge section is still warm though. I place a food thermometer and its at 80C. It use to be at 60 but now it seems worse. Can you tell where else I should start investigating? I can hear the fan in the evaporator running. The freezer seems cold enough with a light layer of frost on the evap coils. I can feel the cool air coming into the fridge, just not cold enough i guess. Can you please tell me what else I should look at. Much appreciated.
Hi Gene,
I think I might have jumped the gun. After more than a week with the new part installed, it looks like the refrigerator is now cooling as it should. Thanks for your help.
Well the fridge is back to its old ways. The temp is rising again. Its starting to ruin my food. Its strange, it will work fine for a while then the temps will rise. The heat probe is doing its job. There no more large build up of ice at the bottom of the fridge area. There appears to be a build up of condensation in the fridge area. There is even a build up of water at the bottom from the condensation running down the walls. Could it be the box that lets the cold air in from the freezer area? It seems to be moving very little air in. Appreciate your help.
I set the freezer to 0F and the fridge side to 33F. When I take measurments via the thermometer the freezer is at 0F but the fridge is at 70F. There is a lot of water coming out of the vent in the fridge (air diffuser). Its coming out the bottom and rolling down the wall. Any thing tests I can conduct. I really need to get this thing fixed.
Can you tell me if the number 1 is a pass or fail. This is what shows up on my water filter status indicator. I cant tell from the attachment what the figures are for pass or fail.
Gene, I did a quick experiment. When the refrig side door is open and I put my hands on the diffuser, there is no airflow. But as soon as I open the fridge side door, there is good airflow. I had heard this meant the return duct was clogged up. So I proceeded to run hot water down the return duct and it did appear to be clogged. Once the water broke free and ran down the drain hole in the freezer section, then I could feel good airflow in the fridge section. So it looks like I’m back to square one on why this is getting plugged up. The freezer section is not icing up like it used to so I dont understand it. Let me know what you think. Maybe I can post pics later.
As you can see from attached air flow diagram the air return is very important for proper air flow between both sections. Make sure there is no any food blocking return on both sides. You may want to remove the rear panel in the freezer and the air duct in the top of the freezer and clean every thing for the frost.
I’m starting to think it might be the computer board not running the defrost cycle for long enough. I think even with the heat probe, it’s still building up ice slowly to plug up the return duct. How can I test if the computer board is doing its job right? For example, can I run diagnostic mode, step 6 and time how long the defrost cycle runs?
How difficult would it be to replace the computer board? As always, thanks for your help.