Today we fix the ice buildup issue in my GE refrigerator. Improve the efficiency of your fridge and stay away from costly repairs with this simple fix.
Thanks Eric. We had the same problem. Two hours start to finish. We used a hair dryer to speed up the ice removal and we were able to move the entire ice sheet at the bottom as well as clearing the ice under the drip tray. Now I know to check that drip tube.
Thanks a lot, I was under the impression I had to keep removing ice every month on the bottom as I couldn't find the drain plug. Great video and now I know how to fix it! You are da man and may God Bless you and your family for helping others save money 🙏🏾
Thank you so much my friend! I hope you can get it fixed easily. Let me know how you make out. May God bless you and your family as well! Thanks for watching!
This was great! Super helpful. I wouldn't have caught the ice under the metal tray in the freezer without your help. I did find using an aluminum pan (long flat baking one) was even more helpful than the bowl. It caught almost all of the ice. Thank you for posting this. We will definitely follow you!
Thank you so much! I really appreciate the feedback and I’m so glad that it helped you fix the issue. A sheet pan is a great idea for catching the ice. Hopefully others see this comment too! Thanks for watching and the sub!
I'm glad I found this video. I purchased an entire kitchen worth of GE profile appliances. I have been removing the ice at the bottom of the freezer almost on a monthly basis and twice we have had repair come out to unplug the drain but now it is no longer under warranty. Never in my life have I had a refrigerator that required you to constantly unclog a drain every couple of months. We've also had to replace the dishwasher when it was only 5 years old and the microwave. Knowing this I will probably just automatically check that hose in the back every 6 months instead of waiting until my kitchen has water all over.
Yeah that’s a good idea. Stay ahead of it and you should have no problems. I also have a house full of GE appliances and I have already had to replace the washer, dryer and water heater as well as multiple repairs to my dishwasher and fridge. GE is not what it once was 😞. As they die they are being replaced by other brands. Thanks for watching!
Outstanding!! Clear, concise, well lit, straightforward. This was by far the BEST step by step on the web. Not only did it show how to fix the issue, it covered the pitfalls to avoid. HIGHLY RECOMMEND! Thank you SO much - it saved a $$$ house call!
Thanks. I have the same issue with my KitchenAid refrigerator bottom drawer freezer. I have had the back off my unit several times but never checked the drain tube. I think you have pointed me in the correct direction.
@@dadfixdit It was a clogged black rubber drain valve that blocked the drain tube. I was able to clean it and reinstall. It did take a couple of hours since the evaporator coils, and the drain system were solid ice. Once I got rid of all the ice, ran a few cups of hot water threw the system to make sure is was clear, it all went back together. No parts needed. Just my time. Now I will put that on the preventive maintenance list about once a year. This is a 12 year old refrigerator that has never had that valve cleaned. BTW it is a Kitchenaid model - here is what I wrote for my neighbors who have the same model. If you have a KitchenAid French Door - bottom freezer drawer - Model KFIS20XVMS11, you may have found water dripping on the floor from the freezer drawer on occasion. When you look into the freezer there is no apparent source of water - just a sheet of ice on the floor of the compartment. There are apparently a couple of possible sources. One being a failed drawer gasket allowing humid air into the freezer causing frost and ice. I now know what a more common cause of the ice buildup and water leak is. It is caused by a plugged freezer evaporator coil and fan drain system - located behind a panel in the back of your freezer drawer. Also the problem drain pipe and rubber valve that drains into an evaporator pan in the bottom of your refrigerator - access panel at the back an bottom of the unit. When your freezer goes into defrost mode it melts accumulated frost and ice on the evaporator coils and the water is supposed to drain (drip) through the pipe rubber drip valve where it will just evaporate into the air. When that drain, pipe, and/or rubber drip valve get clogged the water stay in the drain, freezes when the defrost cycle ends and builds up. All it should take to solve the problem is to remove the lower back panel of your refrigerator (1/4” nut driver), hand remove the gray drip slide/tube, pull off, the rubber drip valve from the pipe and clean it. That is all you have to do as “preventive maintenance”. Put it back together and you are good to go. A 20 minute job. If however. you have gotten to the point where the pipe and system has already been blocked with ice, then you will have to get the accumulated ice out. One option is to just turn off the refrigerator freezer for sever hours and let it melt. Or you can do what I did and take the freezer compartment apart to clean it and remove all the ice. That was a 2 hour job with a hair dryer. Here are some photos that help explain the process. Now I know way more about the operation of a refrigerator/freezer than I ever wanted. But I also don’t need to buy a new one or pay for a couple of hours of a repair person.
Thanks Eric, same fridge (7 years old) same problem. First we discovered water on the floor and ice under freezer bin and cleaned it out then after finding your great video realized our work wasn’t done. Used a hair dry to assist in the job also discovered I’m not the only one in America that cleans the coils under the fridge. Great video thanks..
This video helped out tremendously. I have the exact same fridge with the same problem. Had me scratching my head wondering why so much water was building up at the bottom of my freezer. Especially since I don't have water hooked up for the ice maker or water dispenser. I'm glad you made this video. It was more helpful than anything I could find on the GE website. Thanks for taking the time to show us uneducated, public school taught, Dads lol 😆
Thank you so much for this! Just completed the same fix after watching your video. Used the hairdryer to speed things up and read the comments about removing the ice maker that we have. So extremely helpful
Can’t thank you enough for your thorough and informative video. Saved me a lot in a service call as well as having to wait days for help and likely more loss of food. Thank you so much!!
You da man! I have watched several of these videos from other people trying to fix this issue and yours was the one that gave me the confidence to tackle this repair. I followed your step-by-step video and it worked!! Thank you for saving me the $300.00 service call.👍
I had the same issue within two weeks of buying a ge fridge. I took it apart after watching all the you tube videos and read the manual. Two things: my first problem was the leveling of the fridge. The manual clearly says the fridge needs to tilted about 10-15 degree backwards for the condensation to drain properly. Although I had it professionally installed the installers never did this. The fridge comes with leveling feet at the front. You have to raise the front of the fridge by turning those feet to make it higher so it is slightly tilted backwards. In my case leveling the feet was not enough since our kitchen floor is slightly sloped inward. I had to put some wedges underneath the feet to make it tilting backwards. The second problem was the drip tube as the maker of this video pointed out. My drip tube is “J” shaped and comes with a lot of gooey stuff to hold it in place from the manufacturer which eventually gets clogged. I cleaned up all that gooey stuff and put a wedge underneath to hold it in place (probably didn’t have to). Problem solved. No issues for a year so far.
Thanks for the advice! My particular model calls for the fridge to be completely level but others may need a tilt and definitely something to look out for. I know most of us don’t want read manuals anymore lol. Thanks for watching!
I DID IT! Thanks to your video. I did run into some issues though as my freezer has an icemaker. I literally had to take EVERYTHING that was attached (icemaker, shelves, slides, door frame, etc.) out of the freezer in order to access that back panel, but I managed it. :) Thanks again for posting.
Man you saved my life! Perfect video for this problem. Followed step by step and problem gone. Have a reminder on my phone to check tube every year. Thank you!
So happy to hear that it helped you out. Yeah, definitely check it. A subscriber reminded me to check mine a few months ago. Thankfully it was still clear. Thanks for watching!
Thanks a ton for this. I have this same problem. Did the whole removal of the back "wall" and unclogged the tube. After some time - over a year or 2 - the floor started icing up. I hated the project so much, I just de-ice the bottom w/ hot water and scraper to lift it. But it's getting more frequent. I didn't know about the back access and will try that next. I just can't understand why GE makes such flawed products. Our entire set has had issues pretty early on.
@@billshadel8550 GE has gone too long on just its established reputation. It’s truly a shame. They don’t seem to innovate any more and are happy with producing a mediocre product. I hope you are able to get this fixed. Keep me posted and thanks for watching!
Thanks for the video Same issue and this was a great help. If I can just add 1 thing for those with the ice maker. Removing it was 1 screw which was clearly visible. Then the part that took me 10 frustrating minutes To figure out is that it slides forward on these plastic pins which slide into the ice maker . Thanks again greatly appreciate the time and effort you out in to make these.
Thanks for the great feedback! Also, thank you for the addition. My ice maker is up top so I don’t have any experience with the style you have. Hopefully it will help someone else out. Thanks again!
After thinking my KitchenAid French door with a lower freezer drawer just needed a new gasket, and that didn’t work. I found out what you are finding. I did take out the evaporator/fan panel in the back of the freezer drawer and took about an hour to melt all the ice and frost. Then I took the back panel the rear of the unit to explode the evaporator drain pipe with the black rubber grommet/nipple. It was plugged. This refrigerator is 12 years old and that part was never checked or cleaned. Once I learned from these videos how easy it was to fix. Problem solved. Thanks. The toltal job took about 2 hours but most of that was just working with a hair dryer and getting rid of ice in the system.
Excellent video. Thanks. I'm going to tackle the problem on my fridge after watching the Lions play SF. I will check the small fan at the same time for issues and replace if needed. Thanks.
Thank you and this is helpful, but my GE Profile French Door, extra drawer, bottom freezer unit is 6 MONTHS OLD... and it's the THIRD fridge they've brought to my house because of various defects/problems. I have thick ice on the bottom of the freezer DRAWER, not the floor of the freezer. My question is ONE: Why should you or I or anyone have to do this to the freezer, and TWO: WHY should I have to do it to a 6 month old fridge/freezer. I WILL NEVER BUY a GE product again.. and I live in Louisville, KY, where once upon a time, GE was king.
It’s sad what GE has become. It used to be one of the American giants that lead the world in developing all kinds of technologies. Now it’s no better than any other mid level brand. I also despise GE appliances and the only reason I have them is because they were in the house when we bought it. I feel your pain and I would go with another brand if you have the option. Thanks for watching!
Brought one and in six months I had to called them to get it repaired, it was repaired a little less than months ago, I had to call them again, lots of frost on the door and inside. They need to fixed the problem or stop selling them. It’s really frustrating, coming home and not sure your refrigerator will be working. GE was one of the best. I don’t know what happened.
So happy to hear that you got it fixed! Great job! Thanks for watching. And please check out my latest video, get subbed up and comment for a chance to win a multimeter set to celebrate 1k subs.
I think typically there is a delay. I’m guessing it’s until the system begins producing cold air. If it never kicks on you might want to just check your connections.
Hi, very helpful! I completed the steps. I notice there is freezing in the refrigerator (GE CAFE). Would this be related to the freezing in the freezer? thank you.
Thank you! I hope it helped you out. As far as the freezing in the fridge portion I think it could be due to a number of issues. Check to make sure a door gasket isn’t leaking, make sure no vents are blocked or frozen shut and make sure the temp isn’t set too low. Thanks for watching!
@@charlies9344 I suppose it could be. I’m not an appliance tech so I wouldn’t swear to anything I haven’t put my hands on myself. Definitely go through the obvious stuff. If the freezer seems to be freezing properly and you don’t have any excess moisture then it could be a blocked return. But I dunno, anything is possible with these things. Let me know how you make out.
It shouldn’t, but if you have a bottom ice maker the cause of your ice accumulation could be an issue with the ice maker supply line which would in turn cause problems there. You would need to verify the lines going to the ice maker and also make sure nothing is obstructing the little fill spout or that no ice has accumulated on it.
You’re welcome! The people who owned our home before us actually had the wall cut away so that the fridge would fit flush in its spot. It’s only the stairway to our basement so it worked out, but yes it’s not typical. Thanks for watching!!
Thank you - great video! I was able to follow along even with a slightly different model. But despite taking everything apart, and fully defrosting the glacier, I still can't get water to drain through the drain in the refrigerator interior (at back middle, the small metal hole). I can feed a plastic wire (a drain cleaning tool) down the hole ~18", but no more, and any hot water I try to put through doesn't go anywhere. Any ideas??
Have you removed the back panel Of the fridge to access the drain pan and tube that feeds down to make sure there isn’t a blockage? Some of them also feed Into a little pan that sits on top of the compressor and the drain line almost acts like a “j trap” and those can get clogged. Trace the line at the back and I think you will find your problem. Good luck! And thanks for watching 😊
Quick question! When i plugged back in my fan, after I then plugged in my fridge, the fan didn’t turn on right away. Is that normal/ok? Does the freezer fan only turn on at certain points?? This vide was sooooo helpful . Thank you!
I wouldn’t worry about it not turning on right away. They are usually thermostatically controlled so the compressor may have to run for a while first before it calls for the fan. Just check on it periodically. So glad it helped you and thanks for watching!
@@ARamzze thank you so much, thanks really generous of you! I don’t have Patreon or anything but there should be a button for SuperThanks under the video if you wanted to do that but please don’t feel any obligation to. If you don’t see it could you let me know because I have been noticing some glitches today with RU-vid. Thanks again!
@@dadfixdit try to keep u updated. I figure the reason the drain hole initially froze was because that little rubber drip coupler got clogged and backed the whole system up
That’s a great question. I’m now running into the same problem. If you pull your drawer out you may see ice buildup on the left side towards the back. I need to investigate and figure out how to fix it. Keep an eye out for a new video if I figure it out
So same process I found for the refrigerator bottom drawer. It was Frozen solid. However I did find after the fact the fridge/freezer can defrost itself then all you’ll need to do is flush the line to make sure it’s free of obstruction. There is also a diagnostics menu you can access on main panel to which can display a code to let you know what’s not working. 👍 googled model and diagnostics👍
Yes, I believe that’s how it works on most refrigerators and freezers. Typically they are near the compressor or a fan that warms/blows on the water to help it evaporate
Gee, you found and even showed the problem more than once. How about instead of ‘…keep the drain plug…’ clean, you make those small slits LARGER? I had this problem last year and made those slits bigger. Now, that sludge like material (probably from hard water deposits) has no time to build up and clog those slits. Or, in your case, pull that refrigerator out periodically (ideally before the slits clog off again) and clean those slits again. I preferred to fix the problem one time.
I agree with you that it’s a poor design but I try not to recommend too many modifications on RU-vid because I don’t want people to break things worse than they were. Thanks for watching!
@@dadfixdit for clarification, I intended to take that plug out to my shop and drill two neat little 1/8” holes. But when I grabbed the end of that plug, the end just cracked off. I figured that the holes were now large enough and there was no harm seeing if it worked. One presenter posted a replacement part that had one single hole about 3/8’ or larger in the middle. That’s what inspired me to make the problematic slits larger. I guessed that those slits were only to inhibit ambient air infiltration, but it dawned on me that opening the door allowed more ambient air in than that little opening. Since the first one was so brittle that it cracked, I ended up doing the same thing to the other tube. I’m 77 with one leg that won’t bend more than 90 degrees so getting on the floor is a chore. Doing that ‘fix’ one time was fine with me. Leaving those slits small only requires one more task for your periodic maintenance schedule. Just don’t forget and hope the sediment doesn’t build up faster than before. Take Care.
@@feversol I completely understand and get why you’d want the once and done approach. Makes total sense. And thanks for reminding me, I do need to check into it again and make sure it’s not clogging. Don’t stop fixing things and thanks for watching!
Did you pour a little hot water down through the drain to make sure it’s not clogged with some crumbs or something that may have fallen in there? Also check your seals to make sure you’re not getting humid room air circulated into the fridge/freezer. Thanks for watching.
If memory serves, which sometimes it doesn’t lol, there are clips at the front that release it from the slides and you can pick it up and out. If that doesn’t work let me know and I’ll do mine again.
Thank you so much! That means more to me than I can tell you. I hope the video helped you out. You should be proud of yourself for fixing it. Thanks for watching 😊!
