old refrigerator has water inside (under fruit bins)

[Marc Anthony]

[quote Psurfer]20yr old GE has an inch of water built up inside, at the bottom...
It's the universe's way of telling you to replace an aging, energy ineffecient device. : )

[OWC Jamie]

1. Finding ice where you have does not sound like a good thing.
2. Yes, if yours is like mine that external tube gravity drains to a shallow pan underneath. You might see the pan if you pull the front kick plate off. There should be no water in that vertical tube. It is little more than a downspout (like that on your gutter). I suppose it's posible a foreign object has gone down it.

[DewGuy]

We've got a 19 year old Kenmore that had a similar problem a couple of years ago. Your description sounds very similar to ours. On ours the funnel thing is actually kind of rectangular shaped and actually plugs into a hole in the back panel. On ours you can pull the funnel thing off and see into the hole that it fits into. I didn't see any ice in ours, ours was plugged with gunk. Food particles, hair, lint, etc. Yeah I know disgusting. Using a tweasers I picked what I could out, then I took a spray bottle of water and stuck it into the hole and sprayed to wash out the remainder of the gunk and continued until I could see water running out of the tube in the back. Put the funnel back on and it's been fine ever since. Oh, the tube that runs down the back goes into a shallow metal pan that sits atop the compressor. The heat from the compressor evaporates the water that collects in the pan. Hope this helps.

[Psurfer]

I guess I need to clear the defrost drain hole in the freezer, which I do not know how to access. The closest diagram I could find is for a similar vintage GE (TBF-16DGB) w/what looks like a similar layout, but this still does not tell me enough.

[http://www.appliancepartspros.com/partse..._id=221982]

On mine, there is a slotted fan cover, horizontally mounted, in the center of the back of the freezer (on freezer floor), under that there's a metal hump that protects the fan, rising from the freezer floor. Does the fan have to be removed? --can't see anything back in there without using a mirror.

There's also a vertically standing slotted cover in the back left corner, maybe covering connection for an icemaker (mine doesn't have the icemaker installed)...

[Psurfer]

Thanks to all. I got it now. A few here had the right diagnosis, and DewGuy gets honors for PM'ing me his experience, which inspired me to close all the web pages and just dig in to it.

First, why you can't always believe the "experts":
The admin at ApplianceBlog.com and self-proclaimed " Appliance Tech" told me w/an air of absolute authority, "You will need to take your evaporator cover off (back panel) from inside your freezer. Then you can see your drain hole that goes down. Run some hot water through it."

-Good thing I don't always listen to strangers.
I first pulled the external drain pipe from the back, it was reasonably clear. Then took re-bent wire coat hanger and played plumber, snaking out muck from inside both the external outlet for that ext drain pipe, and up the funnel-shaped thing at the back of the fresh food comprtmnt.
Done.
Had I seriously followed the Admin/Tech's advice, I'd be out $400 for a new fridge, plus a lot of spoiled food while waiting, a bellyache from eating all the ice cream before it melted, and headache for believing everything I read.

[DewGuy]

Psurfer:

From research I did recently on our Kenmore gas stove's digital control panel (a GE component), I learned that GE is notorious for changing parts and specifications on their appliances. Glad to hear that the DIY route worked for you. Also glad to hear that you'll be able to get a little more life out of an old appliance.