Just Needs Paint

How to Fix AND PREVENT Ice Build Up in Your Freezer

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Is it possible to fix AND prevent ice build in your freezer? Does yours look like this with a ice dam on the bottom and frozen coils (and drain) behind the inside panel?

Is it possible to fix AND prevent ice build in your freezer? Does yours look like this with a ice dam on the bottom and frozen coils (and drain) behind the inside panel?

Maybe you have discovered a sheet of ice covering the bottom of your refrigerator freezer…and your freezer is making popping and gasping sounds.

Or maybe you are here because you noticed a pool of water forming on the floor at the bottom of your refrigerator.

Spy a water leak beneath your refrigerator freezer? Maybe your freezer drain has frozen.

Uh oh…

Let’s see if we can prevent you from having to buy a new one AND prevent ice build up in your freezer from happening again!

Time:

2 hours

Tools:

  • Drill / Phillips screwdriver
  • Chisel
  • Bucket
  • Turkey baster
  • Hot water
  • Towels you are OK with getting dirty

Materials:

  • Scrap 14-2 copper wire ← this is where the preventative magic happens

How to fix AND PREVENT ice build up in your freezer:

This advice is based on our own experience with a cat and mouse leak I wanted to imagine wasn’t real. Over the course of a couple months I noticed a little bit of water showing up in the grout lines on the floor below the drawer of the bottom mount freezer on occasion.

When I finally give it a serious once-over I noticed an ice dam built up inside the freezer along the bottom (pictured above). It was caused by a blocked drain for the coils in the back of the freezer.

Let’s get started!

First, unplug the refrigerator and kept the refrigerator door closed in an attempt to avoid dealing with all the cold food for whatever length of time this project is about to take.

The coils in the back are covered with a clip-in / screwed on panel.

The coils in the back of the refrigerator are covered with a clip-in / screwed on panel. You'll need to the remove the service panel cover at the bottom.

You’ll need to the remove the service panel cover at the bottom.

Remove the refrigerator back panel cover to have clear access to the frozen drain line as well as make sure the catch pan does not overflow during this cleaning process.

You’ll want to remove that because you need access to the drain line that is currently frozen.

This is a close up of the freezer drain line and you'll notice the standing water below, which is normally not a problem as the heat from the coils helps it evaporate. However, during a good clean with extra water coming down, you'll want to clean it all up back here. And clean off those dirty coils too!

This is a close up of the freezer drain line and you’ll notice the standing water below, which is normally not a problem as the heat from the coils helps it evaporate. However, during a good clean with extra water coming down, you’ll want to clean it all up back here. And carefully clean off those dirty coils too!

The bigger picture of what you might find behind the back panel on your refrigerator.

The bigger picture of what you might find behind the back panel on your refrigerator.

Once you unfreeze the drain line, you’ll need that panel off to catch the deluge of water you’ll be sending down, clearing the line from all ice and debris. This may overwhelm the catch pan so in addition to clear access, you’ll need a grungy towel positioned back there during this process.

Now it is time to start defrosting everything.

At this point, transfer all of the food (and hopefully plenty of ice and ice packs) from the freezer into ice chests.

Then, take apart all of the drawers and railings to take off the freezer door. In order to have access to the back coils, you need to go through the effort to take off the rails and the door.

Take apart all of the drawers and railings to take off the freezer door. In order to make this operation go faster and have access to the back coils, you need to go through the effort to take off the rails and the door.

Next, take off the cover to the inside coils. Once you’ve assessed the drain line is indeed frozen you can proceed to defrost it.

Yep, this bottom mount refrigerator freezer drain line is frozen solid.

Yep, frozen solid.

VERY CAREFULLY chip away at the ice dam build up at the bottom of the freezer.

VERY CAREFULLY chipped away at the ice dam build up at the bottom of the freezer with a chisel.

Keep a bucket on hand for collecting the freezer ice dam as well as the towels to collect the boiling water from defrosting the coils.

This is where the bucket comes in handy.

In the meantime, boil hot water in order to use a turkey baster to speed up defrosting the coils.

While removing the ice dam from the bottom of the freezer, boil hot water in order to use a turkey baster to speed up defrosting the coils.

The real key was clearing out the ice build-up in the drainage line.

Apply boiling water with a turkey baster to remove ice from the frozen coils quickly.

It’s hard to tell if some bit of food, packaging, dust, or anything started the blockage. The important thing is that it is cleared out so that any further condensation from the coils can drain out freely.

In order to prevent this from happening again we took a spare piece of 14-2 copper ground wire to fabricate a heat element in the drain line. In order to maximize the heated surface the thinner gauge wire is looped and twisted on itself.

In order to prevent ice build up in your freezer from happening again we took a spare piece of 14-2 copper ground wire to fabricate a heat element in the drain line. In order to maximize the heated surface the thinner gauge wire is looped and twisted on itself.

Heat conducting copper hook.

Once copper conduit was ready to go, we shoved it down into the drain line as far as possible while looping at the other end over a coil. The intent is to conduct heat from the coil into the drain line to prevent water from freezing again. So what you’re doing is putting what looks like a copper candy cane into the freezer drain line over a friendly coil.

Once copper conduit was ready to go, we shoved it down into the drain line as far as possible while looping at the other end over a coil. The intent is to conduct heat from the coil into the drain line to prevent water from freezing again. So what you're doing is putting what looks like a copper candy cane into the freezer drain line over a friendly coil. This should prevent ice build up in your freezer from happening in the future.

Last, wipe up any last excess water.

Wipe up remaining excess water in freezer before putting the refrigerator back together.

Clean the coils and sop up the water and debris in the drain pan.

Clean out dust and debris from the back of the freezer.

Then button this puppy back up!

Reattach the freezer door and put the drawers back in place after defrosting the freezer drain line and cleaning out the ice dam.

An additional thought on the process of removing ice build up in your freezer

  • You might not want to chisel away at the ice build up. You might get too enthusiastic and scratch the bottom of your freezer. I don’t have big guns so I opted to use a chisel. An alternative is to pour hot water in the ice dam and grab an extra grunge worthy towel to clean up the extra mess. Speed is key because, let’s be real, no one is going to wait for it to defrost by itself–our frozen food is stuffed in ice chests!

Additional thoughts on the process of preventing ice build up in your freezer with copper

  • My GE refrigerator with a bottom mount freezer is from 2005. I don’t have a lot to lose if this doesn’t work. In all reality, the fridge lasted 14 years before this issue occurred (and it hasn’t had any other problems in the past).
  • The refrigerator freezer ice buildup occurred in March and this post is getting written in October. This also means this preventative fix hasn’t been in place that long. I still have high hopes and it seems like it is better than nothing…waiting for it to happen again.
  • FYI…I am part of a husband/wife team trying to get stuff done and move on to more fun, chic projects around the house. We are not plumber or refrigerator technicians. So if this doesn’t work for you, a call to a service tech or a sexy new refrigerator are still good options. If it does, I’m sending you a virtual high five. I’m thoroughly thrilled you can save that $ for something else. YMMV.

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