Refrigerator problem - LG

slag

Lifer
Dec 14, 2000
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81
101
About a week ago, we had a small water leak in our fridge door that caused water to spray out into the fridge and pool under the bottom crisper. Got that fixed, and cleaned up all the water and ever since then, things just haven't seemed to be getting cold enough. Finally, last night I opened a new jug of milk and it was chunky.. ok, that's it, time to figure things out.

I took everything out of the fridge and freezer. The freezer portion is working great.. almost too good actually. The condenser fan comes on and circulates air, but I think the bottom vents in the fridge probably have ice in them. I thought they were just drains to the pan under the fridge, but maybe they somehow plumb into the freezer instead? Would make sense since it just started happening since the water flood in the fridge earlier this week.

This image accurately reflects my fridge. The circled holes/vents I thought just took water or liquid down to the drip pan, but maybe they are more for recirculating air? I can't see where or how they would get to the freezer though as there is only one hole from the freezer to the fridge and its in the middle on the back where the blend door/fan is.

NGAte9A.gif


Thoughts?
 

kn51

Senior member
Aug 16, 2012
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Hit those areas circled in red with a hair dryer. Will take quite a while to melt.

As for the clogged drain, it depends on if your fridge section has its own evap coil. If the drain freezes or clogs there is ice buildup, defrosts, water and ice buildup, cooling sucks, etc.

But if you only have one coil in the freezer with a blend door up top...and the freezer is cranking away chances are what you think is the issue is correct with water dumping in from the leak and freezing in the duct work.
 

slag

Lifer
Dec 14, 2000
10,473
81
101
Ok, I did melt the visible ice last night with a hair dryer but I think you've confirmed my suspicions that I didn't do enough. Going to put a small heater and fan inside the fridge tonight and let it warm up for several hours with the doors open.

My fridge section does not have its own evap coil, it uses the one in the freezer. Thanks for everyone's help.
 

Scarpozzi

Lifer
Jun 13, 2000
26,391
1,780
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Ok, I did melt the visible ice last night with a hair dryer but I think you've confirmed my suspicions that I didn't do enough. Going to put a small heater and fan inside the fridge tonight and let it warm up for several hours with the doors open.

My fridge section does not have its own evap coil, it uses the one in the freezer. Thanks for everyone's help.
Ice takes a really long time to melt if it can't get air to it...mainly because the more there is, the more it cools the air around it... Think about when it snows and you sometimes see snow/ice piled for days in the shade. Those drains simply are like the shaded areas with little or no air movement to warm them up.

My fridge froze up because my kids were messing with the controls. It thawed out....I realized they had turned the heat up on the unit, so I dropped it back down to the correct setting....the drains froze solid. We had enough food that I couldn't fix it. The fridge dripped water constantly for months until I gave up and bought a new one. I moved the old fridge to the garage for beer. I let it thaw and it works again. There is a defrost circuit in most of the units that heats up to help keep those lines clear, but it often doesn't extend into the drain tubes. I once read a repair guy's thread where he suggested taking a jumbo paper clip and wrapping it around the defrost coil....and dropping it down the tube. If nothing else, the metal would provide a means for the water to flow more readily....but it'd be interesting to see how the fridge in question is engineered to see if that could be a possible fix. I certainly would have done it with my fridge, but doing so would require taking the back panel off the freezer AFTER removing the ice maker and assembly...just too time consuming when I had no where to put the food while I worked.
 

kn51

Senior member
Aug 16, 2012
704
120
106
Ok, I did melt the visible ice last night with a hair dryer but I think you've confirmed my suspicions that I didn't do enough. Going to put a small heater and fan inside the fridge tonight and let it warm up for several hours with the doors open.

My fridge section does not have its own evap coil, it uses the one in the freezer. Thanks for everyone's help.

Yeah, it will take forever...or it will feel like forever. Good luck but should take care of it. Problem is you probably can't rip out panels to get to it expedite the process.

Ice takes a really long time to melt if it can't get air to it...mainly because the more there is, the more it cools the air around it... Think about when it snows and you sometimes see snow/ice piled for days in the shade. Those drains simply are like the shaded areas with little or no air movement to warm them up.

My fridge froze up because my kids were messing with the controls. It thawed out....I realized they had turned the heat up on the unit, so I dropped it back down to the correct setting....the drains froze solid. We had enough food that I couldn't fix it. The fridge dripped water constantly for months until I gave up and bought a new one. I moved the old fridge to the garage for beer. I let it thaw and it works again. There is a defrost circuit in most of the units that heats up to help keep those lines clear, but it often doesn't extend into the drain tubes. I once read a repair guy's thread where he suggested taking a jumbo paper clip and wrapping it around the defrost coil....and dropping it down the tube. If nothing else, the metal would provide a means for the water to flow more readily....but it'd be interesting to see how the fridge in question is engineered to see if that could be a possible fix. I certainly would have done it with my fridge, but doing so would require taking the back panel off the freezer AFTER removing the ice maker and assembly...just too time consuming when I had no where to put the food while I worked.

There are actually retrofit kits from the manufacturer that are glorified paper clips. They hang off the the defroster into the drain to conduct heat and help keep it melted.

Now if you have a Samsung fridge, all bets are off.
 

slag

Lifer
Dec 14, 2000
10,473
81
101
My fridge.
2dVzMHm.jpg


What I'm doing to defrost it.

uT5CRyT.jpg


Might be here awhile. .
 

slag

Lifer
Dec 14, 2000
10,473
81
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So.. success!?!

I defrosted the fridge yesterday for a good 6 hours with a space heater and fan. Plugged it back in around 9:30, placed a bottle of room temp beer in it, and went to bed. I woke up at 1:30 and checked it with my infrared thermometer. The bottle read 35 degrees and the fridge was set at 34. Went back to bed, woke up at 5 am, and the bottle read 34.5. I'm calling it a success. I put all the drawers, shelves, caddies, etc back in and moved the food from the coolers back into the fridge and left for work. I'm going to leave here around 2 and go home and check it out but I think that the problem is finally solved. /cross fingers.
 

Paratus

Lifer
Jun 4, 2004
17,311
14,966
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Had the same issue on my 20 year old Kenmore. Ice would build up in the drip pan and drain line causing water to drip down into the fridge portion and warming everything in the fridge.

Turns out the defrost heater pops out of its holder after a number of years and is to far away from he drip pan to keep the water liquid. The fix was to simply bend the heater closer to the drip pan and drain.

Your lucky this was your problem. My 2 year old LG counter depth fridge has a brand new high efficiency linear compressor that eats itself every 18 months.
 

slag

Lifer
Dec 14, 2000
10,473
81
101
My lg has that high efficiency linear compressor also but we haven't had any issues with it... yet?