How to Unclog a Refrigerator Drain Line 

I have been searching for this video for a couple of days now! I found a lot of videos that wanted me to take everything out of my freezer and take the back off the inside of the freezer, but I remembered that I didn't have to do that to fix my refrigerator 7 years ago! So happy I found it! Thank you so much!!

6 years later, this video is still helping people! Thank you very much for the in-depth tutorial!

Wow, eight years later and I hit the gold mine with this video, I have a much older GE side by side refrigerator with exact same issue and was about to buy a new unit until seeing this video. Going to give it a look see and hopefully resolve my issue as well! Thank you for making this video and sharing. Please RU-vid DON'T take this one down or archive it...

For someone who's impatient, I gotta say you're patient for filming us in tight spot. Thanks for sharing and good job with the video :)!

Thanks a billion for this helpful video!! We have a Whirlpool refrigerator with a french door and we had lived with the problem of a leaky fridge for over six months. During all this time we had a towel under the refrigerator to absorb the water leaking from the freezer. I follow your video and this is my history: 1. Removed electrical power 2. Shut off water supply and disconnected ice maker supply line from refrigerator 3. Removed layers of ice on freezer´s bottom using a plastic spatula and hot water. 3. Removed access cover on back and bottom of refrigerator. Noticed that dripping pan was completely dried and dirty. 4. Vacuumed area, front and rear. Lots of dust, lint, hair, etc. Nasty stuff around coils. 5. Found same rubber grommet (check valve) as shown on your video. It was completely clogged with dirt and gunk. 6. Tried to remove water spout to facilitate removal of grommet. but not a chance. Too hard to disconnect from pan. 7. Removed and cleaned grommet with hot water. 8. Wiped off dirt and dust from under refrigerator using a damp rag. 9. Used a hair dryer to melt ice on condenser. I also poured hot water on condenser drain. Got it to work again. 10. Dried off drained water from drip pan. 11. Re-installed rubber grommet all the way up on the drain tube, flush with the freezer floor. I am not sure if I had to stop at ring. 12. Re-installed access cover. 12. Reconnected water supply. Checked for leaks. 13. Plugged in power cord. 14. Noticed refrigerator's compressor running in the morning after 12 hours of continuous operation. This is normal since a lot of heat had to be removed to reach temperature setting (4). 15. Found a big puddle of water under refrigerator. This time water did not come from inside the freezer. It was overflow water from the drip pan. Lots of water condensation. Si in the morning. Situation continued for the next 24 hours. Had to use a towel under refrigerator to keep floor dry. Could not use sponge to remove water since access to rear was difficult. Refrigerator faces a kitchen island. Hard to move. 16. No more water on my kitchen floor and no more ice on the freezer´s floor!! Bye, bye towel!! 17. Happy wife!!!

Thank you! The only one who zoomed in on the grommet and raised my confidence as to where and how :) nice work, thanks again for sharing!

This helped me tremendously. We have the KitchenAid fridge and we had lived with the problem of a leaky fridge for over 2 months. I would clean out the frozen shelf inside until 8 days later it would freeze over again and leak. I saw your video, planned to do this the next Saturday and viola. Thank you very much for the thorough explanation. Thawing with the hair dryer took 40 minutes and then we heard the nice gurgling sound. All that was left after that was to put on the grommet, close it up and clean the fridge. It looks and works like new. Thank you very much :)

3 years ago I looked this video and solved the same problem of my refrigerator. Today the same problem comes again so I came back. I must say a thousand THANK YOU is not enough to Jim! Your instruction is so clear and easy to follow. I like the way you explain things. It's crystal clear! Thank you!!!

The instruction video was correct, accurate, and it took me 45 minutes to do this repair. I cut the wedge in the bottom of the grommet, and we will be watching to see if this has solved the problem. In the meantime, this instruction video was the best resouce I found to deal with the ice buildup problem in our KitchenAid fridge.

I have had a repairman in but he did not explain why this was happening to my bottom freezer. He took out a part and said it should be fine. He was here for less than 15 minutes and charged me $120. I understand so much more. Thank you, a great job of showing. Appreciated.

Thanks a million. Saved me time and money compared to other videos that included extra unnecessary steps of taking the rear panel off the inside of the freezer compartment. I especially appreciated seeing the shot of the grommet installed before removing it. Tight spot, but I really appreciated that view.

Mate, this is amazing. Many other searches I did ended up with disassembly of the front of the freezer, so I took it all apart, swearing and punching, until my partner re-searched and found your video. I almost had the back plate (from the front) pulled out, having removed the entire drawer, cages, multiple bits of plastic. I was ready to get out a bigger hammer when my partner found your video. We had it fixed in 10 minutes and then I had to put back together an assembly of smashed bits from the front....it worked in the end and you did saved us a lot of time but I wish I could condemn the advice I found from other sites. Wicked, mate. Thank you.

I've never seen anyone make a video trying to get to such precise locations AND have it lit up. I'm amazed by you man. You're awesome! Thank you 😘

I had this problem for months --even had a tech out...I did this myself and it took about 10 minutes...thanks a ton

Just saved me $$$. My Maytag refrig is identical, and after 5 years the grommet was all gunked up. We also took the front door off, removed the drawers, took out 2 inches of ice, removed the back panel, blow dryered the top to remove ice from top of drain tube. Voila! No more leaks.

My sincere thanks! This excellent video identified my problem and provided easy to follow comprehensive instructions on how to resolve the issue. When I made my repairs, it was exactly as he described in the video. Thank you.

Thanks very much Jim. I have a 4 year old Samsung fridge (model SRL449EW) with a bottom freezer that was leaking water underneath at the front and the freezer was getting so iced up that I couldn't move the trays. Been struggling with it for months. Then I found your video. I managed to follow your instructions and understood your explanations so could apply them to my fridge. It was a bit of a 'fumbling in the dark' exercise but I managed to find the tube with the grommet fairly easily, and cleaned it out like you said. Now my fridge is fixed and I feel like Superman. You've saved me lots of hassle and money. Much appreciated.

Thanks for the vid man! I bought my KitchenAid fridge 12 years ago and just started having this problem, other videos weren't of a similar model. This one was exactly like mine. Cleaned out the grommet, used a blow dryer and hot water and bam, started draining again, and a plus is my freezer looks sparkling clean!

I'm fairly handy in a basic way but fixing appliances isn't in my wheelhouse. This tutorial was great and made this fix really easy to do. Freezer no longer leaking!

I have been dealing water leaking since three years. I called handyman to do the Job. He had no clue what to do. I showed him this video. now I will do by myself. Thanks so much for sharing this video.

Thank you so much for this video. You're the man!! I have this same problem. I have a Kenmore. I cleaned the ice and water and thought I had solved the problem. I thought maybe we weren't getting the freezer door closed all the way and sweating was occurring. The pan in back was dry. I cleaned the dust all off the fan. I was happy until two days later the ice was there again. So off to youtube I went and first thing there you were. I was so happy. Now I have to go fix the drain tube. Thanks you, thank you, thank you for helping me with my refrigerator and saving me from buying a replacement refrigerator. Great detailed and understandable video. Love how you showed everything on your video.

Whirlpool has a kit ( part number W10619951 )that eliminates the duckbill grommet and replaces it with a trap type tube. If you just clean the duckbill grommet it will clog again. Seems the heat from the compressor dries the grommet and it looses its flexibility and wont open up when water enters it. Also you REALLY need to remove the evaporator cover and get rid of ALL the ice buildup IN the evaporator drip pan and UNDER the drip pan. Just shooting hot water through the slots on the evaporator cover is a half ass fix. The easiest way to fix this problem is to put your food in a spare refrigerator and then turn off the refrigerator with the leaking problem for 24 hours with the freezer door open. This will melt ALL the ice buildup . Then you got to the back and remove the duckbill grommet and clean it and re-install it if you want to be cheap or do it right and buy the kit BEFORE you start this project and replace the grommet with the kit. If you can't turn off the fridge for 24 hours because you don't have a spare fridge to put your food in then you will have to remove the evaporator cover and use boiling hot water and a turkey baster. Use the baster to shoot hot water everywhere you see ice until it's ALL gone. Alternatively you can use a hair dryer to melt the ice but since the freezer walls are made of VERY THIN plastic you must be careful not to stay in one spot too long because you could warp or even MELT the plastic. Don't even think about using a high temp heat gun unless you absolutely feel confident that you can melt the ice without melting any of the plastic in the freezer.

The poster of this video is 100% correct. Please save yourself time and money by defrosting your freezer for 36 hours(to be sure) first. Also check your drain plug for clogs, and for good measure clean it out as well. This was all i did and problem was solved.

THANK YOU! 50 year old single female here and you probably saved me $150 bucks minimum. GREAT Video

Thanks for this video - we had the same problem, followed your steps, and it totally fixed the issue. We did it quickly enough so that the fridge didn't defrost - in order to do so we had to pour a LOT of hot water down before it would break through the freeze/clog. Ended up pouring maybe 8 total cups (using a lipped measuring cup) of hot water - and nearly gave up - before it broke through and leaked down to the proper tray. Dried the tray out with paper towels, quickly put everything back and closed everything up, plugged it back in and saved all the food. Not a drop of water leaking since the fix. THANKS!

difficult to film while working but you did such a great job of it. And thank you for using terms along WITH descriptions, not just the terms as if everyone knows.

Excellent in all regards. Thank you. Warning Sharp Object: I found that the panel had not been deburred on the edge and had a sharp edge which cut my thumb. Be aware that you may face the same thing.

Wonderful video, thanks a ton! This not only was exactly what my fridge looked like in both the freezer and the back but you did a great job explaining it. Thanks !

Thanks for an excellent explanation to the water problem. Thanks also for going to the trouble of getting an excellent, well lighted video shot showing the position and replacement of the rubber gasket which was the source of the problem.

I HAVE THE SAME FRIDGE WITH THE SAME PROBLEM! I'm so psyched I searched for "unclog fridge" and this was the first video I found! :D

You are so kind to provide this demonstration if a fix, in a tight spot. Difficult to film and give great info. An annoying situation I will address. Success certainly possible now I've been enlightened. I thank you very much!

Worked like a champ! This tip alone saved me $200-$300 in repairs!

Thanks for the video it was extremely helpful explaining the problem to me. I used a hairdryer to defrost the freezer and then tested the drain with some hot water. Unfortunately, the water did not drain so I ended up using a fairly large zip tie to clean out the drain hole from inside the freezer. A subsequent hot water test completely drained so I think I'm good to go. I'll let you know if the problem persists. Cheers

hey brother thanks for the vid. got a Whirlpool newer fridge with the topside freezer compartment's floor iced up. wish I had turned to your vid first cause I spent a lot of time in the freezer with a hair dryer and then pop bottles of boiling water trying to deice the drainage tube. got tired of watching the standing water persisting and took a break, got a coffee and watched your vid. convinced that a dirty check valve was my next move I returned to the freezer only to find it completely dry. guess the hot water flushed out the valve enough to permit the drain tube to finally relieve itself. will be gettin to the check valve tomorrow to insure it's clean. thanks again

Excellent video. My grommet was completely clogged shut. Hair dryer did the trick for me to thaw the drain. I had lots of water come out when I thawed it so it took 2 large towels in the bottom of the freezer to soak it all up. Thanks for the help!

I have the exact same refrigerator you rock thank you thank you I’m in the process of doing everything you just did right now. I’m so excited. I figured it out. I thought it was the icemaker that failed. It was overflowing so I can eliminate that issue. You’re the best. Thank you.!!!

WOW! Are you a teacher, You should be! Very clear step by step. Thank YOU!

Great DIY video! Your instructions/concept worked great on my GE bottom freezer model and saved me over $100 to get a service man out here. GE has a curly que white tube that the defrosted water drips down into - found a major clog at the bend in the tube - cleaned it out, took a blow dryer to the freezer compartment, towel and air dry after that and viola! It works great! Thanks so much!

One of the best fixit videos I've seen. You got the viewer right down to business. Clearly explained. Thanks.

Thank you for such good verbal and visual explanations of how to correct this issue. Thank you also for showing that it is also necessary to defrost inside the freezer itself to assure that the drain is able to drain. Just completed the work, and now know how to perform this maintenance with little challenge.

THANKS!!! Seeing you remove the black valve on the overflow drain helped a lot. Looks like this freezer design needs to be cleaned every 4-5 years.

Following the steps in this video solved the problem I was having (ice build-up in bottom of freezer). Thank you for posting!

That was a great tutorial to follow. I had no problems figuring this out and my fridge/freezer is back up and running! Thanks so much.

You are The Man! This was exactly my problem and, by following your instructions, I solved it very easily. My problem was not only the formation of ice at the bottom of the freezer, but also in the ice-cube drawer. I am confident that both problems will be resolved after having unclogged the grommet. Many thanks!

This video is excellent! You saved me a bunch of cash from having to call a repair person. THANK YOU!

So helpful. Bought a used kenmore that was sold to me for cheap because of this problem. I can't wait to get home and fix it now! very annoying problem, with such a simple solution.

Awesome! I found that I couldn't remove the back panel due to all the hoses, but thanks to your excellent video I didn't even need to see what I was doing. I could reach in, remove the grommet, and discover that it was indeed clogged. Now I just need to defrost and I should be good to go. Thanks a bunch.

Different model, but exact same configuration, fixed, thanks!. I laughed when I took off the duck bill and cleaned out the hairball. It'd been serviced years ago by a Sears tech for the same problem, and he'd notched the valve as temp fix. Another video showed replacing the duck bill with a p-trap, which might be a long-term solution.

My old garage refrigerator thanks you... 8 years after your original post. Cheers!

THANK YOU! Great advice and instructions. We just spent our Saturday evening fixing our fridge leak without needing a repair person. We appreciate your help.

Very helpful and clear procedures. I didn't replace the grommet this time as I wanted to try some dry silicone lubricant on the grommet after cleaning it to see if that reduces the surface tension and retention of the dust.

Thank you; it gives you so much more confidence when you see exactly how it's done.

Thanks so much for the tips. I had the exact issue, same rubber gromet. The first time it happened the repair main didn't know why the evaporator was not doing it's job. I repaired mine at $0 cost.

Your video is right on. Hardest part was getting all the food out. Cutting a V in the drain great idea.

This was a great video for me. Had the water leak and puddle problem with a 10 year old Kenmore. I recognized the back plate in the video - so the setup was very similar on my model. I found the grommet, which was a first generation I think, cleaned lots of gunk out, and put a small v-nick in the base of it to help drainage, and reinstalled it. Poked a wire up the drain pipe, which was otherwise inaccessible, and let everything defrost for a few hours (plus some hair dryer warmth).

Thank you! I was able to figure out why the bottom of my freezer had ice and why there was water under my fridge all the time, and I was also able to fix it because of this video.

Thank you my fridge is also a kitchenaid and you gave me the confidence to successfully unclug the drain 😊

Perfect, a job not done every day, great reminder. I am very lucky that I own automotive trim removal tools. A life saver for this type of job. The freezer tray I have has automotive type clips which are very easy to break. I heated those up first to avoid snapping. Alcohol helps a lot to melt ice in tube faster and does not hurt to kill stuff that has settled in tube.

This video was a great help. We were panicking when we saw all the water on the floor.

Thank you so much. Exactly what I needed. Same grommet problem. I defrosted the fridge overnight and water was still not draining. So I opened up the back and found the grommet was completely clogged.

My husband and I are stoked! We can fix this frozen freezer drain ourselves! Thanks so very much for doing this, teaching us! Saved us a lot of money on a Sears Service call! My husband can handle this! hah!

THANK YOU! I've been dealing with this issue for weeks and didnt know what to do! Your video helped me fix it! Mine was filled with lint and rocks!

Had the same problem and I live with it for years until now. Thanks.

Good vid for a DYIr, advice from an appliance tech is that you remove back panel in freezer and thoroughly remove all ice build up in drain pan. normal defrost will not likely overcome the problem permanently. Use a steamer if possible and also replace duckbill with part# W10619951

Thanks, this was the best video I've seen on how to unclog the defrost line. I had to remove the inside back panel of my freezer to get to the drain hole. Also found a huge chunk of ice in the upper right around some tubes/gauges.

Just fixed my fridge without spending a cent thanks to you! Much appreciated.

This information was 100% correct, bravo to the person who made it.....

I appreciate the tips. I have a GE with a similar problem, there was water on the kitchen floor and ice on the bottom of the freezer unit. Your video was generally helpful, but the drain line is MUCH LONGER than what you might think. I couldn't get it out and had to clean it in place instead, but it's now back together and seems to be working..

Loved the video! You made it look easy, lol! (Except for the working-in-tight-spaces part) After watching your video, I am confident that I can do this.

Thank you so much! I have the exact fridge as yours. Instructions was clear and easy to follow. I managed to locate the “ thing” and clean it. My husband who is completely handymen adverse was so proud of me, not to mention your instructions also save us $$$- thanks so much!!!!

Exactly the same fridge we have, experiencing exactly the same condensation issue... time to do some work at home... fortunately we have a backup fridge to use in the meantime. Thanks a lot, it really helped!

Gold star -- five stars! Best of all the video's on this issue. thanks for taking time to get your cell phone back there. Best of all, for me, is that before tackling it, I just called Lowe's and the extended guarantee I bought will cover fixing this! "Don't try do it yourself, this is a known issue, and requires a technical fix -- they have a lot of experience with this, just let them do it."

Unbelievable thank you very much last time I used the 15 minute video where it take apart the entire front of the freezer. It took me the better part of 3 hours and a few swear words involved. This method worked way better but I strongly suggest that you keep using the hot water until you see water in the trip had because the first time I did it I did not see water the drip pan. Again thank you very much

Thanks for adding to my refrigerator/freezer general knowledge. I'm going to fix my clog. Thank you.

My is a kemmore and used your instruciones and is working perfectly. Thank you .

Thanks! Managed to get it cleaned and thawed with a hair dryer using your video. Very helpful.

Still fantastic how-to! Saved my impatient wife from spending thousands on a knee-jerk new fridge. Keep them coming!

Thank You, finally did this after 5 years, the reason is it took an army to defrost in the wall, but it's done. Next time I will remove the inside plate. Big Thanks.

This is a great instructional video. I just finished unclogging my whirlpool refrigerator drain. Thanks for your help, it was so easy.

Boil a pot of water, put a towel down in the freezer section and put the pot of boiling water on top of the towel and close the freezer door. It will help defrost it faster. That's how it was done before frost free fridges. (Of course, make sure your fridge is unplugged). Thanks for the tips. our drain line is frozen over and needed to be defrosted and cleaned.

excellent video, clear and i enjoyed unmounting front and back of the fridge to unclog the drain and see everything like in the video

Excellent video. Fixed mine in under 15 mins. Thank you!

Thanks for the video. Just had the same problem with ice under the freezer drawer. Cleaned the black grommet and hopefully all is well.

thank you for this. just completed the repairs with the help of your video.

The best and the easiest way to solve a common problem. Thank you so much.

Very helpful video. You save people money by not having to call an appliance repair technician. DiY 👍

Very informative video. I have a Jennair, but the principle of a clogged drain is the same. Cleaning all the water from the ice buildup was the hard part. I'm glad I have ceramic tiles on a concrete floor so there was no damage.

Huge help, thank you!. My rubber grommet was filthy.

Thank you for this video.the grommet clog fix was spot on.

This was the most instructive, detailed and helpful fix it video I've seen. Kudos to you for managing to produce, direct, film and host the whole thing.

This was indeed the reason my fridge kept peeing all over the floor. Checked out the grommet and it was full of caramelized onions. Oops. Thanks for the clear instructions!

Just followed the instructions from your video and it worked like a charm -- thank you so much for sharing this DIY method!!!

Extremely useful video. I have this model refrigerator and followed the steps outlined in the video and I fixed the problem without much effort. Very well done. THANK YOU!

Thank you so much for this video, it was a huge help. I only wish I had seen it BEFORE I took the whole thing apart from the front! Never did find the drain from that side...

Obviously, this is a common problem, based on half a million views for this video. This is a good walk through, which was fairly easy to follow. However, I was disappointed when I still couldn't get the drain to operate after a good defrosting. All approaches recommended then pulling the refrig out and working at it from the back of the unit. Since my fridge is built in pretty tight (did the contractor put in the cabinets after the refrig was in place?), I needed another solution. Someone suggested using a piece of coaxial cable to free up the grommet from inside the freezer box. After all it is a rubber doohicky that is just gunked up. I ran the piece of coaxial down the drain and felt it open up the rubber grommet. I did it a number of times and could see the gunk on the cable. This allowed water to drain. This may not be a long term fix, but it appears to work for now. The ultimate solution is to replace the drain assembly from the rear, since the grommet is problematic.

Its April of 2024. Just did exactly this last week. Saved a pricey service call. So easy too. 😊

my fridge is KitchenAid. This video shows how to clean the drain line hidden in the back. If you do not take this step and just clean the ice in the freezer. It is not done properly. Excellent. Thanks

What a great video! The grommet on my KitchenAid fridge was extremely clogged. Hopefully all works well now. Thank you so much!

Thanks for the great explanation and solution to the ice sheet in my freezer!!!

Thank you thank you thank you. I used a ton of hot/warm water to remove the ice build up where it is supposed to drain down, but I couldn't find the drain plug itself. I will try this soon!