[terrikaye]

My kitchen aid refrigerator is not keeping food cold. The temp stays between 55 and 60 degrees. The freezer section is over freezing everything. There is a small amount of frost on the shelves and ice maker door. I removed the racks in the freezer to take off the back cover and check the evaporator and fan. The fan ran fine and hardly any frost on the coils. I had a large amount of ice in the bottom of the freezer....so I assume that my drain is clogged. The plastic tube that sends air to the diffuser and into the fridge is full of frost, clogging it up. I guess my question is, Would the defrost drain being clogged lead to the frost build-up in the tube or is it two separate problems? Thanks.

[woodchuck]

That's two separate problems. When you have frost build up on surfaces other than the coil It's freezing the moist air to those surfaces. Excess moisture can come from the fridge side because of more frequent open of door. Bad door gaskets on either side. They should be tight enough to hold a dollar bill securely. Blocked air flow through the vents into and out of the fridge. Air should be able to circulate through the vents at bottom of cover over the coils to the evaporator fan.

Just a coincidence on the stopped up drain plug. Either problem can happen by itself.

[jimwong]

Originally Posted by terrikaye

My kitchen aid refrigerator is not keeping food cold. The temp stays between 55 and 60 degrees. The freezer section is over freezing everything. There is a small amount of frost on the shelves and ice maker door. I removed the racks in the freezer to take off the back cover and check the evaporator and fan. The fan ran fine and hardly any frost on the coils. I had a large amount of ice in the bottom of the freezer....so I assume that my drain is clogged. The plastic tube that sends air to the diffuser and into the fridge is full of frost, clogging it up. I guess my question is, Would the defrost drain being clogged lead to the frost build-up in the tube or is it two separate problems? Thanks.

I have the exact problem and after three sevice calls and four incidents, I got Kitchenaid to replace the refrigerator. The new replacement was having exactly the same problems but it took over a year to see and by them the one year warranty expired. I now manually defrost my entire refrigerator every 6 weeks. I gave up on repairing it and may buy a new non kitchenaid brand..

any thoughts..

[Icehouse]

Yes the drain line clogging will cause a build up of ice. Since the water cannot get down the drain, it backs over the trough on the bottom. This is where that "ice ball" happens preventing the proper air flow into the fresh food compartment. I am surprised that "Kitchen Aid Service" did not install a drain-tip heater.

[jimwong]

thanks I think that is exactly it..
is the drain hole accessed via the freezer section on a side by side.. I see a small hole behind a panel at the bottom of the freezer section and normally iced up when this problem occurs. is this the drain hole.

someone else suggested I can do this repair myself and wrap a 14 guage uninsulated piece of wire around the calrod heater, and put the other end of this wire into the drain hole.. when the refrigerator defrosts, the heater will heat this wire and the wire will keep the drain hole from freezing up ..

so how do I get access to this drain hole?

[Icehouse]

Originally Posted by jimwong

thanks I think that is exactly it..
is the drain hole accessed via the freezer section on a side by side.. I see a small hole behind a panel at the bottom of the freezer section and normally iced up when this problem occurs. is this the drain hole.

someone else suggested I can do this repair myself and wrap a 14 guage uninsulated piece of wire around the calrod heater, and put the other end of this wire into the drain hole.. when the refrigerator defrosts, the heater will heat this wire and the wire will keep the drain hole from freezing up ..

so how do I get access to this drain hole?

The panel is removed by taking out the screws, or if no screws by carefully bowing. i prefer the drain tip heater rather then the bare wire as the wire may melt any plastic. The tip heater would be wired to the fan circuit, this way the drain stays warm during refrigeration cycle.
Available through any parts supply.