Refrigerator drip tray and drain line freeze up

[El Pirate]

All, I have a 2017 Chateau with a Norcold refrigerator. It has worked great for almost two years until the past weekend. The drip tray froze solid plugging up the drain line. The defrosting of the cooling in vanes soaked the floor rug in front of the refrigerator. The temperature switch was set on 4 of 5. The temperature switch was reset to 3 and the tray still froze up. 90% RH outside and in the mid 80's. Is this a potential problem with the temperature sensor on the cooling fins, packing the refrigerator with too much goods that reduces air flow or something else. Thanks in advance for your feedback.

[Long & Winding road]

How long has your refrigerator been on non-stop. Weeks? Sound like you have a lot of ice accumulating on the coils?

If its been a long while I would remove everything from frig/ Freezer (put in coolers) and do quick manual defrost (blow dryer and towels?). At least this would hopefully prevent it from leaking on your carpets again. Perhaps you can even thaw out the drain tube?

Not sure what is causing the problem but at least you can try and minimize the drain issue for now. Hopefully someone else can chime in with anwers that you need.

Do you have a temp gauge for your fridge? If not get one. I purchased a wireless digital (One for Freezer part, one for fridge) works great. Temp readout is mounted outside frig (has magnet or can velcro or screw down). Makes it easy to adjust temps as needed. I might do #2 or #3 at night then #4 or #5 when it hot outside. If I dont things will freeze over night.

I find on my Norcold that it will freeze eveything in my fridge (after 24 hours or so) when its in the 80's outside if I have set on #4 or #5. SO #3 for the around mid 80's and # 4 in low 90's and #5 in high 90's works for me. But I adjust down at night as needed.

Not sure if that will help your situation or not. Good luck.

[javelin]

When thawing things out.....make sure you blow through the drip tray drain tube to make sure it is clear of any obstructions. This means opening up the outside fridge panel (easy) to get to the drain exit end. Might be worth removing the tube to make sure it is clear. We had our drip tray freeze up once and it turned out to be a very small obstruction in the drain tube. Once cleared we have never had another problem......yet.

[Long & Winding road]

There you go. I was hoping it was an easy fix for you. Let us know how it turns out.

I like reading about stuff like this so when it happens to me I think to myself "I wonder if the drain tube is clogged up". Or "What Happens when I touch this hot wire with my bare hand". LOL.

The other day I tried to lower the overhead bunk with the ignition key on (engine off) and it would not move. I thought "Oh Crap, what now"....."something else I will have to fix myself".... then I remember some of the stuff I read on this wonderful forum.

[mtntrek]

Seems I've seen an optional heated wire to prevent this from occurring.
It mounts / connects in the rear equipment side. There is a plastic Tee that fits in the drain hose, and you fish the heated wire up the drain tubing into the offending drip pan. It has a t-stat and uses a small current.

[javelin]

Long & Winding.....sometimes we learn by making mistakes.....hope not the same one twice though. Try your overhead bed without the key in the ignition (even with engine off).....might be a lockout relay keeping your

slides and overhead bed from operating (safety feature).



I had not heard about the heated wire in the fridge drain tube option before. We do not have that but in our case it was completely blocked with a tiny bit of "something". We actually removed the tube and I fished a small gauge wire through the tube to remove the bit. Then re-installed the tube. I could not blow it out.

[SuperD]

Get a battery operated fridge fan and put in the lower left corner of your fridge. Some units freeze up do to a lack of airflow, have air moving may help your problem. My battery fan will run continuously for over a month on two D batteries. There are threads where people have used small computer pancake fans with the wiring run thru the drain tube, they work great.

Either one of these will work just fine, plus your fridge may get colder allowing you to turn down the thermostat.

[El Pirate]

Update, I found that the drip line daylights in a small pan near the burner assembly. The line was plugged with some crud. The fitting at the end of the line has maybe a 1-2 mm hole that is easily plugged. Cleaned out the line, raised the refrigerator temp one setting and case closed. Manufacturer advised the temp in the refer should maintain 40 +/- degrees on the given setting and ambient temp.