I’ve got an old Whirlpool refrigerator, which I aquired when I bought my house. It’s sort of built in. There’s a cabinet above it, which is supported by wood walls on either side of the fridge. There’s about an inch clearance between the top of the fridge and the cabinet. There’s essentially no clearance between the sides of the fridge and the walls. (Heat is exchanged through a vent on the bottom front.)
Here’s the problem. For about a week, there’s been excessive condensation/dripping inside the refrigerator compartment. I’m pretty sure that the problem is a blocked drain line. (It’s a frost-free unit, which means that the freezer has a periodic hot cycle that melts the frost on the freezer walls. The melted water collects in a channel, which is drained via a drain line to a drip evaporation pan above the motor.)
If I could access the back of the unit, I’m pretty sure I could fix the problem. But if I try to use a handtruck/dolly, there’s not enough clearance to tilt the fridge and pull it out. And If I try to pull it straight out (I haven’t tried yet), I risk gouging the hardwood floor.
¼ plywood in front of the fridge and a couple buddies?
If you have 1 inch of clearence you may be able to tilt it up just enough to slide the plywood in (with felt, a sheet or something between the plywood and finished floor) and apply some muscle.
One other thing…
Are you sure it’s the drain? I have some experience with refrigeration (a little), but a fair amount with air conditioning; which shares many engineering similarities.
Are you sure you don’t have a gasket leak? With the little you’ve described I would guess that (moist) air is infiltrating the inside of the cabinet and condensing there.
Most fridges I have seen that are newer than about 25 years old will have wheels on the bottom allowing them to be rolled in and out of spaces just like you are talking about. Have you tried pulling the fridge out?
[QUOTE=the raindog
Are you sure you don’t have a gasket leak? With the little you’ve described I would guess that (moist) air is infiltrating the inside of the cabinet and condensing there.
Food for thought…[/QUOTE]
I’ll give it another look, but I don’t think that’s it. In addition to the gasket appearing okay, the problem came on very suddenly, the quantity of water is fairly significant, and appears all at once. In other words, if I open the door 5 times over the course of a day, I’ll have nothing 3 times and significant water the other two times. (I blot up the water with a towel when I see it.)
Thanks to both of you for an idea that seems like it might work.
I haven’t, but I did pull off the grate over the vent on the lower front part of the unit, specifically looking for wheels, and didn’t see any. While I don’t know how old it is, I would bet it’s at least 15 years old. It could be older. (I didn’t get a manual from the people that sold me the house, and I did get manuals for just about every other appliance, leading me to believe that it was already there when they bought the house.)