Refrigerator | Drain Hole Blocked

Your fridge isn't broken. It just has a stuffy nose. Give that drain hole a quick clean, and you’ll be back to dry, cold storage in no time.

Probably not. In 90% of cases, that puddle is caused by a tiny, often overlooked component: refrigerator drain hole blocked

If you see ice covering the hole, do not chip at it with a screwdriver (you can puncture the plastic lining). Instead, use a hair dryer on low heat held 6 inches away, or press a towel soaked in hot water against the ice until it melts. Your fridge isn't broken

Look at the back wall of the fridge, near the center bottom. You will see a small slit or hole (about the size of a pencil eraser). It might be covered in a thin layer of ice or gunk. Probably not

Here is everything you need to know about why it clogs, how to fix it, and how to prevent it from happening again. Every frost-free refrigerator has a defrost cycle. Several times a day, the fridge warms up its cooling coils just enough to melt any frost. That melted water (condensation) has to go somewhere.

You open your fridge to grab a drink and see a small puddle of water on the bottom shelf or glass crisper drawer. Your first thought might be, “Is my fridge dying?”

It drips down a channel, through a small hole (usually located on the back wall inside the fridge, just above the bottom shelf), and travels through a tube to a drain pan underneath the appliance. Once there, the room temperature air evaporates the water away.