Water was pooling under the crisper every couple of days. He pulled the back panel, found the drain trough frozen solid, cleared it and fitted the drain clip so ice does not bridge across it again. No more puddle.
Symptom · leaking water
Sub-Zero leaking water
Where the water shows up is not where it comes from. Inside the cabinet points at the drain; on the floor points at the supply. The two get diagnosed differently.
Water on the floor? Call dispatch (669) 338-4601 Someone picks up at any hour. Same-day slots open and close through the day, so the dispatcher will tell you what is actually free when you call.
Supply line and shut-off at the base of the cabinet · the first place a floor leak is traced to
01 Trace it
Two leaks that look identical and are not
A built-in has a drain system taking meltwater out and a supply system bringing water in. Deciding which one is failing takes about a minute and changes the whole job.
| Where the water is | Usual cause | What we do on site |
|---|---|---|
| Water under the crisper drawers | Drain trough iced over, so defrost melt backs up into the cabinet | Trough cleared, drain line flushed through, drain clip fitted so ice cannot bridge it again. |
| Puddle on the floor at the front | Drain overflowing at the rear, or the drain pan cracked or displaced | Unit drawn forward, drain path traced end to end, pan inspected and re-seated or replaced. |
| Water at the back, near the line | Compression fitting weeping, split line, or an inlet valve leaking past its seat | Line and fittings pressure-checked, valve tested, damaged run replaced with a properly routed line. |
| Wet inside the door, glass sweating | Door gasket has taken a set and is drawing in humid room air | Gasket seat tested all round, gasket replaced, door re-squared to the cabinet so it seals evenly. |
| Water only after making ice | Fill tube overshooting the mould, or the inlet valve dribbling after it closes | Fill volume and alignment checked, valve seat tested for pass-by and replaced if it leaks closed. |
| Damp under the cabinet run, no visible source | Long-standing slow leak behind a built-in that has been tracking under the floor | Unit pulled, floor and substrate inspected, source found before anything is replaced. |
Do this first Put a dry paper towel on the floor at the front and another as far back as you can reach. Which one wets first tells the technician whether to start at the drain or at the supply, and that is worth a real amount of diagnostic time.
02 The drain
A frozen drain is a symptom of something else
The drain trough sits under the evaporator and catches meltwater from every defrost cycle. It only freezes when water is sitting in it long enough to freeze, and that happens when the drain line is partly restricted or when the compartment is running colder than it should.
So clearing the ice is the start, not the finish. If the line is restricted it gets flushed. If the drain heater or clip is missing or failed it gets fitted. And if the compartment is running cold because a thermistor has drifted, that gets corrected too, otherwise the same puddle comes back in a month.
The gasket is the other half of the story. A seal that has taken a set lets humid room air in continuously, which means more frost, more meltwater and more load on a drain that was already marginal. That is why a leak call and a cooling call often turn out to have the same root.
03 Reviews
Leak calls, in their words
Wine column was sweating inside the door. He found the gasket had taken a set on the hinge side, replaced it and checked the door was pulling square against the cabinet afterwards.
The water line to the ice maker had been kinked behind the unit since installation. He fixed the routing, fitted a proper shut-off I can actually reach, and the ice has been right since.
04 Questions
Leak questions
Water keeps appearing under the crisper drawers. What is that?
A blocked drain trough. Defrost meltwater is supposed to run out of the cabinet through a small drain; when ice bridges across it the water backs up over the lip and runs into the compartment instead. Clearing the trough and fitting the drain clip solves it.
There is water on the floor in front of the unit. Same fault?
Not necessarily. Floor water usually means the supply line, the inlet valve or a drain that is overflowing at the back rather than inside. Pulling a built-in forward to look is part of the visit.
Should I turn the water off?
If you can reach the shut-off and the leak is getting worse, yes. A lot of Bay Area kitchens have an old saddle valve under the sink that no longer closes properly, which is itself worth replacing while we are there.
The floor is wood. How urgent is this?
Urgent. A slow leak behind a built-in can sit under the cabinet run for weeks before it shows at the edge, and by then the substrate has taken it. That is a reason to call the same day rather than wait.
Tell the dispatcher the model number and what it is doing
It is stamped on a plate inside the fresh-food compartment, usually on the upper left wall or behind the top grille. With the model in hand the van gets loaded with the parts that unit actually fails on, which is the difference between one visit and two.