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My Roper Refigerator Is Leaking Water From the Freezer to the Refrigerator

Lee Morgan

Your Roper refrigerator is not unlike other brands of refrigerators in the way it produces cooling for your perishable food storage, and it is also similar in terms of problems that can occur. If you have noticed water leaking from the freezer compartment at the top of your unit into the fresh food compartment below, there are a few reasons this might happen. To prevent future leaks and the mess that results in the refrigerator below, identify the cause and correct the issue.

Defrost Drain

The most common reason you’ll find for water leaking from the freezer into the refrigerator is a backed-up defrost drain. Self-defrosting Roper refrigerators use a small heater located near the evaporator coil to warm the coil from time to time to clear it of accumulating frost. When the frost melts, the resulting water drips into a drain below and is funneled away through a tube that leads it outside the refrigerator to evaporate naturally. When the drain becomes clogged or iced over, the water will overflow and drip into the refrigerator below. You should use hot water to melt the ice dam that has formed over the drain or otherwise clear the tube of the obstruction.

Spills

There are dampers between the freezer and the fresh food area where cold air generated at the evaporator coil can be circulated by a fan into the rest of the unit. If you spill a liquid, perhaps from ice trays or other containers, it is likely to find its way through the dampers and drip into the refrigerator compartment below. This should be a one-time issue that requires a simple clean-up.

Ice Maker Leak

When the water that supplies the ice maker in your freezer reaches the end of the supply line, it filters through a small screen. Over time, mineral deposits in the water can build up on the screen and make the water spray in the wrong direction or with too much pressure. The result is water that misses the cube molds entirely and could end up on the floor of the freezer. When this happens, assuming it doesn’t freeze before it drips farther, the water could leak through to the lower compartment and pool in the refrigerator. This could be a secondary cause of defrost drain clogs too, because the water might freeze over the drain.

Water Supply Line

A water supply line feeds ice makers and water dispensers in Roper refrigerators from your home. It is not uncommon for loose connections in these lines to form leaks. Also, the line could be ruptured or pinched, causing damage and a resulting leak from the line that ends up dripping into the fresh food compartment of your refrigerator.