Water Under the Crisper Drawers in a Frigidaire Refrigerator

You pull out a crisper drawer to grab celery and find a film of water on the shelf below, or a shallow pool at the back of the cabinet floor. Sometimes it is clear and sometimes it carries a little ice. Occasionally the vegetables sit in it and turn slimy. The first instinct is to blame the drawer, but drawers are rarely the source. Water ends up there because it has travelled from somewhere else, and in a Frigidaire refrigerator that journey usually starts in one of three places.

Read the water before you chase it

Where the puddle forms and what it looks like narrows the search before anyone opens a panel.

• Water gathered at the back of the compartment, often with frost or ice nearby, suggests the defrost water is not leaving the freezer the way it should.
• Water spread along the front edge or near a door suggests humid room air getting past a gasket.
• Water that keeps arriving even when the door stays shut, and that tastes clean and cold, may come from a supply line to the ice maker or water dispenser.
• Water with a smell, or water in a drawer that only holds produce, may simply be moisture from washed vegetables stored wet.

The defrost drain, the usual culprit

A frost-free refrigerator builds frost on the freezer evaporator and melts it on a schedule using a heater. That meltwater runs down a small drain, through a tube, to a pan that evaporates it near the compressor. When the drain freezes shut or fills with food debris and ice-cream residue, the meltwater has nowhere to go and finds the next lowest path. That path leads through the back panel into the fresh-food side, where it collects under the drawers. You can often see a sheet of ice at the rear of the freezer floor. The cause is not always the drain itself: a defrost heater, a sensor or a board that no longer starts the defrost cycle will let frost build until it overwhelms the drain even though the drain was clean.

Gaskets, humidity and warm food

San Francisco fog and rental kitchens with poor ventilation bring a lot of damp air into a home. A gasket that has lost its seal draws that air in each time the door opens, and it condenses on the coldest surfaces inside. If the water forms mainly in the door bins and along the glass shelf, run a clean finger around the gasket and check for gaps, folds or a torn corner. A door that sits slightly open because the unit is unlevel lets in more still. The same cause shows up as beads on the outside, which we cover in condensation around the doors.

A leaking water line

If the refrigerator has an ice maker or dispenser, a small weep at a fitting behind the unit, in the door hinge area or at the filter housing can run down inside the cabinet walls. This is usually a slow trickle. Check whether the water appears more after the ice maker has filled, or after you have used the dispenser. If it does, read why a Frigidaire ice maker overfills or leaks.

Checks you can do from the outside

1. Take out the crisper drawers and the glass shelf, dry everything, and look at the back wall for frost, ice or a drip line. Do not remove any panel.
2. Look at the bottom of the freezer, if it is accessible, for a sheet of ice or a block of frost on the floor.
3. Check that the front of the refrigerator sits level, tilted very slightly back so the doors close themselves.
4. Wipe the gasket with warm water, dry it and see whether the door seals snugly against the cabinet.
5. Dry produce before putting it into the drawers, and do not seal wet vegetables in tight bags.
6. Close the water supply valve if you suspect a line leak, and mark where the water first appears.

What not to do

Do not run a hair dryer or heat gun at the back of the freezer to melt ice, and never poke a wire or screwdriver into the drain opening. The lines behind the liner carry refrigerant and are easy to puncture. Do not siphon the water out with the refrigerator running and the drawers loaded, since it will simply return. And do not leave a wet cabinet unattended if the floor beneath is wood; an old flat with a leaning kitchen floor can pool the water against the baseboard without anyone noticing.

When to book a visit

If frost returns after you have cleared it, or the water comes back within a day or two, the drain, defrost heater or defrost control is likely involved. That work happens inside the freezer liner and needs the right tools. Our Frigidaire refrigerator repair service begins with a diagnosis, followed by a written estimate, and no repair goes ahead without your approval. The Frigidaire refrigerators guide lists the lineup and where the model label usually sits, and our pages for FFPE3322UM and FFHT1822UB show how we write up individual units. A temperature display message such as code H alongside the leak is worth mentioning when you call.

Frequently asked questions