Fridge condensation trouble

[Irie]

Our fridge has a little tray under the evaporator designed to catch water dripping and drain it. It’s not draining.

Often the water freezes, often it appears the whole fridge is defrosting. No idea what is going on. Took off the panel outside and the drain hose sits in a little bowl. The bowl doesn’t drain anywhere and it too was full.

What’s going on?

[RAurand]

Originally Posted by Irie

Our fridge has a little tray under the evaporator designed to catch water dripping and drain it. It’s not draining.

Often the water freezes, often it appears the whole fridge is defrosting. No idea what is going on. Took off the panel outside and the drain hose sits in a little bowl. The bowl doesn’t drain anywhere and it too was full.

What’s going on?

Check the drain tube that runs out the bottom of that drain pan. Something is blocking the water from running down that tube.

[Irie]

The tube ends in a bowl that doesn’t have a drain. And that bowl was full of water.

[RogerR]

Your fridge may have bad door seals and is overwhelming the condensation drain.


Put a strong flashlight or lantern inside it at night and turn off all the lights. If you can see light somewhere on the seal it is gotten old and stiff or otherwise gone bad. You may have to move a flashlight around it you don't have a good lantern. (much more comfortable than climbing inside to see if any light gets in)

[Irie]

I’ll try that tonight but it’s a 2017...

[onsite]

My drain pan in the rear had no way to let the water out as well ,Cup would fill to the top. So instead of going in and empty it all the time,I removed the pan completely and purchased a brass L shape 1/4 inch fitting to extended the hose outside the cover . I placed the hose away from the hot flame area and ran the hose out side of the lower right existing hole in the white access cover. Have not had any issues since.

[Grumpy]

The water in the metal pan is supposed to evaporate with the heat in the rear compartment.

[onsite]

My pan in the back was plastic. 24B model

[onsite]

Sorry I was talking about the bowl in the back where the hose runs to is plastic , not pan inside of the refrigerator
After you remove the outside cover it sits on the bottom, Plastic bowl fills up.

[onsite]

Removed the bowl --That's where I extended the hose outside with the 1/4 inch L fitting

[Jim Davis]

My drain hose simply goes out through the.plastic grill and sticks out about two inches, no bowl.

[pward]

Originally Posted by Jim Davis

My drain hose simply goes out through the.plastic grill and sticks out about two inches, no bowl.

Yep. I have the little plastic tray also.

[JFlightRisk]

The water in the plastic tray will evaporate some, from the heat behind the fridge. I've never had more than an ounce or two in it, and that was after emptying the fridge and shutting it off, after a trip. There's nothing wrong with extending it out the access door, and letting it drip on the ground.

[drmike961]

Originally Posted by JFlightRisk

The water in the plastic tray will evaporate some, from the heat behind the fridge. I've never had more than an ounce or two in it, and that was after emptying the fridge and shutting it off, after a trip. There's nothing wrong with extending it out the access door, and letting it drip on the ground.

That is what I had to do as well. In very humid climates that plastic pan will overflow, it is worthless and should be drained straight out on to the ground.

[che57vy]

I extended mine also just drips on ground easy to do

[RAurand]

Originally Posted by Jim Davis

My drain hose simply goes out through the.plastic grill and sticks out about two inches, no bowl.

I route mine out thru the plastic grille slots as well. That way the water don't run into the plastic bowl. It runs outside and drips to the ground.

[Tunce the traveler]

When you run it out the grill don’t remove the plug in the end as it has 4 slits in it to keep the bugs out. I put duct tape on the ends of the grill because I lost one on the highway.

[Camper_bob]

I re-routed mine outside as well. After a trip to the coast, the fins get quite a lot of buildup because 97% humidity. Now I don't have to worry about that silly little tray filling up. I can see how much water comes out that hose after those trips, and that silly little tray would fill quickly.

This is a must-do modification IMO.

Check the fridge seals as previously mentioned, but if there's lots of humidity, you're going to get some drainage no matter how well the fridge is sealed. If you're using it, opening and closing can introduce enough humidity for quite a lot of buildup in extremely humid environments. After a weekend at the coast, my freezer will accumulate well over a cup of water after the ice melts when I shut down.

[Irie]

Thanks all. Looks like it’s time to reroute the hose. Plastic bowl filled up again after a couple of days. Yes, it’s high humidity (TX coast).

[Camper_bob]

Originally Posted by Irie

Thanks all. Looks like it’s time to reroute the hose. Plastic bowl filled up again after a couple of days. Yes, it’s high humidity (TX coast).

Yup, I camp FREQUENTLY on the TX Coast, and the humidity is significant. It's especially bad in the winter time because you're not running the AC which draws moisture out of the air. It has gotten so moist inside the camper, we've had to wipe down the windows a couple times a day before. Never in our MH, but it used to get pretty bad in the TT...

I've walked by and that hose has "spurted" its contents out and scared the mess out of me!! Most of the time it just dribbles out. Makes me happy because I know it's working as designed, and all that water has no chance of spilling inside that fridge compartment.