Ice buildup under bottom drawer in fridge, leads upward on left side to a vent...and the freezer also gets an ice build up coming from the icemaker. also icecream popsicles etc are not staying frozen. any self checks, clean drains etc we can do before calling for service?

The most common cause of this is a poorly fitting and or damaged fridge door seal. The humidity in the air freezes turns to ice.

If you have water build-up on the floor of the food compartment, or ice buildup on the floor of the freezer compartment, you are probably suffering from either a frost problem or from a clogged defrost drain.

Remove everything from your freezer, including all food and any shelves. Do not remove the icemaker (if installed.)
Look at and feel the panel covering the bottom or back of the freezer compartment. Is it thick with frost?
On top freezer models, are the holes in the top of the food compartment that lead to the evaporator choked with ice?
Is there ice forming on, or lots of water on the ceiling of the food compartment?
If the answer is yes to any of these questions, there's probably a defrost problem.
If you suspect a defrost problem, first remove any icemaker that may be installed. You will see a removable panel covering the entire back or bottom of your freezer compartment. There may be 6 to 10 or more screws holding it on. In some units there is a light socket attached to the panel; you'll see this arrangement most often in side-by-sides.

If you start to get an unusual buildup of ice in one particular spot in your freezer, especially beneath the icemaker, check for water leaks.
Water leaking onto the kitchen floor not traceable to one of the problems in Chapters 4 or 6 may be from a leak in the icemaker or door dispenser water system. Icemakers have a water solenoid valve mounted on the back of the fridge, usually behind the back bottom panel, and a water tube that leads straight up the back of the fridge to the icemaker. Door dispensers have a similar water solenoid valve with a water tube that leads beneath the fridge and into the door through a hollow hinge. If your fridge has both features, it's usually a dual water solenoid valve. It can be simple or not-so-simple to fix, but basically it's just a plumbing job.

Locate and check the valve that feeds water to the icemaker.

The problem with your refrigertor is that the defrost drain is plugged up. After you get the ice buildup out of the freezer section you will have to locate the drain system. It is in the back of the freezer at the very bottom.It needs to be cleaned out. Hope this at least leads you in the right direction.

Hi,
Here is a tip that I wrote about the reasons why ice makers do not work.

Ice Maker Problems and Ice Maker Troubleshooting

heatman101


bmbmm,b

Hi, this problem is going to be with the running thermostat. (cold Control). It has gone bad and stays open which in turn will keep the compressor running continually and will cause the fridge to get colder and freeze food. It can normally be located in the control panel inside the fridge (it is the control that has wires, the other is the damper). Locate the thermostat and replace it. If you have any other questions or concerns please feel free to comment again. Good Luck!! Mike

Hello.

If you remove the bottom drawer in the freezer you will be able to see the back of the freezer. You will notice a large build up of ice in the bottom of that panel. If this is the case, you will need to empty the freezer up to the icemaker bucket. There is a panel with several screw in it that you will have to remove. Once removed you will want to defrost as much of the ice as you can with a hair dryer. Once you get the ice down to the hole you will want to heat some water up in the microwave and pour it into the hole repeatedly until it clears the line and drains on its own. This will remove whatever bug of ice particle that blocked it. Put everything back together and you will no longer have this problem.

There shoud never be ice built up in the bottom. The problem is thatthe defrost drain water is not getting to teh pan underneath. If it were coming from the icemaker you would have a colum of ice from the icemaker area down the back wall... like a stalagtite. It still sounds like you just need to clean the tube that goies from the inside bottom of the freezer to the drain pan with a turkey baster and hot water

"Fuzzy Ice on the back wall" yep, this sounds like a defrost system problem. You say you cleaned this fuzzy ice but, the real ice is behind that wall. I would get it fixed but call several service people and get a price. My guess is that once the defrost system is working then the Ice maker will work. If the freezer is not getting cold enough then the Ice maker won't work.

Now, the drain can cause a problem too but this is an easy fix. Pull out the bottom drawer in the freezer, look in the back under the cooling coils and you should see the drain hole. Keep this area clear of Ice and any thing else. Some tubing with a little air pressure will usually clear any blockage. A little hot water down that drain won't hurt. The water should drain to the a plastic pan under the Ref. Take the front grate off at the bottom of the Ref, look in the pan to make sure it went through.

This should be checked often, once a month or so.

I have a Fisher and Paykel E442B upside down, which is a very similar model, and I just fixed the same problem (temperature was around -4C even though I set the fridge temperature as warm as possible).

The cause of my problem was excessive ice build up on the side of the evaporator coil (which is in the back of the freezer compartment behind the rear plastic panel). I had the same problem around a year or so ago, so I expect it to be a regular occurence. To defrost the coil, I removed all the drawers in the freezer, and the plastic insert by pulling out the bottom of the panel out and rotating it upwards until it released at the top. There are a couple of snap-in tabs holding the panel in, so with a bit of pulling they released. The tabs are either side of the slot at the bottom of the panel.


I then supported the panel horizontally on the top shelf so that I didn't have to disconnect the thermostat wire and the circulating fan wire.
With a small fan heater set on low, aimed roughly at the ice buildup on the left hand side of the evaporator coil, I defrosted the ice built up. This took around 2 hours or so. Then put it all back together and it worked fine.

I'm not sure why the ice build up on the side caused the problem, but presumably it interferes with the proper flow of cold air to the fridge compartment.

If you don't seem to have ice build up like I did, then it could be a thermostat problem, or a fan problem (a symptom of which would be fridge being colder at the bottom than at the top).