Why is there water under my refrigerator?

Why that is usually the answer

Either the defrost drain has frozen shut, so melt water backs up inside the cabinet and eventually finds its way out under the door, or a fitting on the line feeding the ice maker or the dispenser has let go. If what you are wiping up is clear and sitting near the front, suspect the plumbing. If it is cloudy and there is ice on the freezer floor, suspect the drain. Both are small repairs, and neither one improves by being left. In a dry inland house you often find the second one late, because the water evaporates off tile and leaves a mineral ring rather than a puddle.

Where it usually turns out to be

That last detail deserves more attention than it usually gets in Escondido. A coastal house shows you a leak as standing water. Here, on a hot dry afternoon, a slow drip under a built-in can evaporate nearly as fast as it arrives, and the only evidence is a chalky outline on the floor or a dark line along the toe kick. By the time anyone sees actual water, the leak has generally been running long enough to reach the subfloor and the back of the cabinet. If you have found a mineral ring under the unit and no water at all, that is still a leak and it is still worth a call today.

What we check: the defrost drain from the evaporator down to the tray, flushed and cleared rather than poked at; the drain heater where the model carries one; every fitting between the shutoff and the inlet valve, saddle valves included where an older installation never got a proper stop; the inlet valve body itself for weeping; and the door seal, because condensation forming at a gasket leak looks identical to a drain problem once it reaches the floor. Flooring is the reason to move on this one quickly. The repair is small and the hardwood is not.

If that matches what yours is doing, say so when you call — it decides which parts come on the van.

Questions

Frequently asked questions