Top 10 Kenmore 64802 Top Freezer Refrigerator Questions & Answers

Without knowing a bit more about the black fluid it is hard to guess where it could come from - in a fridge there should be no black fluid and the only oils are mixed in with the refrigerant so the fridge will not be working if any noticeable amount is leaking out, as the gas will leak out as well. As you mentioned, the most likely liquid is water from inside the fridge or condensation from inside or outside that has bacteria growing causing the blackness. this sort of water may usually only be in the water tray at the back but there are many possibilities of it leaking out somewhere else - only way to check is to get the fridge running, up on four chairs or a VERY strong glass table so you can see where it is comning from. Another possibility is that there is some insect, plant or rodent factor - the moist warm space under a fridge is quite popular and they can produce their own liquids and also especially rodents cause unpredictable holes and damage all over the place. also can only be checked by looking very closely at the source of the liquid. The last possible cause i can think of is some sort of corrosion - i have not heard of this type of corrosion with a fridge, but it is quite common on steel ships - salty humidity and chemicals (cleaners/cargo etc) reacting strangely with the paint or steel are normally blamed - just think if you get too many strong cleaning products near the bottom of the fridge and look for general condition of the paint/metal underneath you should be able to see it easily if the black fluid was in any significant quantity - there would usually be a sort of rusty look to the fluid, but not always depending on the combination of chemicals present. Where you describe the fluid coming from, sounds like it could be from the door insulation - maybe leaking through the bottom hinge holes - check that nothing is leaking into the door from inside, although condensation can easily happen in the door body itself if the insulation has separated slightly from the "skin" of the door inside. Last thing to try is to investigate the fluid itself a bit more closely - get some on a piece of kitchen paper towel or a coffee filter and then wet the paper with water also just next to the fluid- the parts of the liquid should separate out a little as the water soaks through the paper and you may just see something that looks familiar. If you get no luck post back and try to describe exactly what the fluid does smell like, without trying to imagine smells like "oil" which means nothing as they are all different and in particular fridge lubricants are relatively odourless. think of things you actually know the smell of and try and describe it in those terms - if you feel brave then it may be worth tasting the liquid - just taste a tiny tiny bit on a cotton bud/Q-tip dabbed on a few different areas of your tongue and then wash your mouth out with mouthwash straight after instead of spitting or swallowing - I know it sounds dangerous and disgusting but it is the way that many professionals identify unknown substances as taste has a much more specific "database" in the brain than smell has. just be sensible. Hope this helps - post back if not - photographs may help if you have a digital camera, especially of the coffee filter test if you get round to it :) Good luck

I HAD LEFT THE DOOR AJAR ON MY KENMORE DPOUBLE DOOR WITH TOP FREEZER AND IT FROZE UP NOT ALLOWING THE WATER FROM THE NORMAL AUTOMATIC DEFROSTING PROCESS TO GO DOWN THROUGH ITS NORMAL DRAIN. THE ACCUMULATED WATER THEN DRIPPED INTO THE REFRIGERATOR UNDER THE FREEZER AND HAD TO BE SOAKED UP DAILY. THE SOLUTION--I REMOVED THE ADJUSTABLE
THATBOTTOM PLATE HAD AN UPWARD CURVED PORTION AT THE REAR. WHEN RE-MOVED, YOU COULD SEE FROZEN ICE ACROSS THE BACK UNDER THE VERTICAL COVER THAT COVERS COILS(?).
IN THE FAR BACK BOTTOM THERE WAS A FULL LENGTH, APPROX 1 1/2" WIDE DRAIN AREA WITH A HOLE IN THE CENTER THAT WAS PLUGGED WITH ICE.THAT WAS PREVENTING THE NORMAL DRAINING PROCESS.
A HAIR DRYER AND ABOUT 15 MINUTES MELTED THE PLUG, I THEN POURED A GLASS OF HOT WATER INTO THE HOLE AND IT DRAINED RIGHT DOWN LIKE IT SHOULD.
I HAD THE SAME FREEZE UP & DRIPPING PROBLEM A COUPLE YEARS AGO AND IT COST ME $100 FOR A SERVICE MAN TO FIX IT BUT IT'S REALLY A SIMPLE PROCESS TO FIX.

between the door and freezer is very hot, and the refrigerator is not that cold and the freezing is freezing but not that well, ice cream is soft but meat freeze and ice is not melting. Also behind the fridge at the bottom is very hot.

5' 6" Tall
32 1/2" Wide
28" Deep

I bought that old fridge at a garage sale for cheap. It's been enjoyed for me for just over a year. :)

my freezer is over freezing and my fridge is not cold. I have a whirlpool where the freezer is on top and the fridge is on the bottom. I need guidence in trying to figure out the problem.

Hi Packer,

Q: "OK. So, if the icemaker supply line has a leak @ the fitting, how is that water going from the freezer to underneath the fridge into the pan."

A: Only in the weirdest circumstance can this happen. There would have to be a crack in the valve body perfectly positioned so as to spray water directly into the drain pan and not any where else (like, the floor for instance). You'd also be able to see such a leak with your eyes and since you haven't mentioned it, I assume a bad valve or loose fitting is most definitely NOT the problem.

Q: "Problem seems to be worse in the spring and summer months when warmer."

A: This kinda leads me to think that you may live toward the south eastern part or extreme north west of the US where spring and summer humidity is notorious. As temp's outside rise in this part of the country, the air is able to absorb much more moisture than cold or cooler air can. Each time you open the freezer door, cold air "dumps" out (stand in front of the fridge with bare feet and open the freezer door... you'll feel the cold air dumping). When this happens, warm (moisture laden) air rushes IN to fill the void left by the escaped cold air. When you close the freezer door the warm air is trapped inside and the freezer does its' job by promptly removing the heat from it. When the heat is removed (at the evaporator coil), the moisture in the warm air condenses out and forms as frost on the coils.

Every 8-12 hours, your fridge will go into its' defrost cycle to remove/melt the frost from the coils. The defrost cycle lasts for ~20 minutes or until the evaporator compartment reaches 55 degrees, whichever comes first. The melt-water flows through the drain, down a drain tube and dumps into the condensate pan where it is left to once again evaporate right back into the air from where it came. (Kinda like the whole "cycle-of-life" thing, right?) The drain pan is in the bottom of the fridge for a reason. It utilizes the heat in this area to more rapidly evaporate the water in the pan.

Now to tackle your situation. I have to be completely honest... I really don't know why your water isn't evaporating quickly enough. These drain pans are DESIGNED for "worst case scenario" amount of evaporator frost run off and should be able to keep up with it.

Q: "So, do you think it's just a matter of making sure the coils are clean for proper airflow to evaporate the water. If not, junk it?"

A: Yes to the coil and airflow question and No to the "junk it" part. I'm going to recommend as a solution to your problem an after-market part installation that is designed to fix just this situation. It's called a "Condensate Pan Heater". These are used frequently on high-end residential and commercial refrigeration units that generate A LOT of evaporator frost run off. The part I'm going to direct you to is a 15 Watt heater designed to be submerged in water (like an aquarium heater is).

OK, please follow this link to see what I'm talking about. First look at #1 and #2... you'll notice that they look like heating elements in an oven. You'll also note that they are a MUCH higher wattage than #3. The first two heaters are used in large, commercial equipment, whereas #3 is used as an after market residential "add-on" pan heater. It works by simply heating the water in the pan to facilitate a faster evaporation process thereby eliminating the overflow problem... simple, huh?

All you'll need to do to install it is to wire it in parallel with the condenser fan motor and place the heater loop in the pan. That's it!

If you require additional info on the exact steps for wiring this heater in, just let me know.

OH!!! I almost forgot 2 very important things. The first one is that when you install the heater, make sure that you HAVE THE REFRIGERATOR UNPLUGGED!!! The second thing was where you can order the heater... Follow this link to a vendor.

There ya go, Packer. If this solution was satisfactory, please don't forget to rate it as "FixYa".

SG

Hi, Look that model # up again please. The problem you are having is the defrost drain is plugged. Remove the rear panel inside the freezer and melt all the ice. Locate the drain hole and flush it out with hot water. Some modles need an after market drain heater kit. Get me the model # and I can look this up for you.

Vic

Hi,
The drain for the water to get away when defrosting is frozen shut...
Checkout this tip to help you..

Water Running in Refrigerator from Freezer
http://www.fixya.com/support/r3780310-water_running_in_refrigerator_from

heatman101

Good day,
Turning the thermostat to a warmer setting should not have caused the machine to quit cooling. Actually, the engineers give you far less leeway than you might think.
The controls are more in a class of fine tuning, otherwise people would be getting themselves into trouble. The manufacturers simply design the warm and cold parameters in a fairly narrow range.
The best setting is normal. When away, the machine will run far less simply because of no door openings. Opening a door lets in large amounts of air every time it's done, which is where your cost to run it exists.
Two things. One, if the temp in the kitchen exceeded 90 degrees for any length of time, you are operating it beyond it's design range, however two, it sounds as if the thermostat hung up, causing your issue. You may want to have it replaced, but it would be useless to call anyone when it's performing normally.
There is no test on thermostats other than by observing their action when the machine is not operating properly.

I have a Whirlpool Top-mount refrigerator. Whirlpool also manufactures many of the Kenmore refrigerators.

A few weeks ago I noticed a puddle of water on the top right shelf in the refrigerator section. I figured out that it must be the water that forms during the defrost cycle and normally drains down through a tube in the back into an evaporator tray beneath the refrigerator. Something was preventing the water from draining away and instead it was dripping through the overflow holes from the freezer into the refrigerator section.

I emptied the freezer and took off the back panel. It actually wouldn't come off at first because all the water beneath the defrost heater which should have been draining out the drain hole was frozen into one solid block of ice. I used a hair dryer to melt the ice (took a while - be patient) and then took off the panel.

To melt all the rest of the ice in the drain tube I used the hair dryer. To clear out the ice in the drain tube, I used a turkey baster and kept putting down hot water until I heard water making it down to the evaporator tray beneath the refrigerator.

The following mod is "try at your own risk" (I wouldn't do this if you still have warranty coverage - call a tech instead):
I made this modification to prevent the problem from recurring (at least that's the hope): Wrapped a piece of wire (unbent a large paper clip) around the defrost cycle heater and stuck it into the drain hole. The theory is that the wire will heat up every time the defrost cycle runs and will keep the drain hole from freezing shut.

One thing I noticed during this repair concerns the drip pan beneath the defrost heater in the freezer (this is the pan that collects the water that is melted off the coils during defrosting). The drip pan does not seem to be angled properly so that the water will drain normally towards the drain hole. I guess water could remain behind then freeze later. I reported this to Whirlpool.