Common fault
Why is there water under my refrigerator?
Short answer
The water itself tells you which of the two faults you have, and it takes about a minute to read. Clear water pooling at the front while the appliance has been sitting quiet points at the plumbing: the supply line, the saddle valve, or a compression fitting on the feed to the ice maker or dispenser. Water that looks cloudy, arriving alongside a sheet of ice across the freezer floor, is the opposite fault. There the drain below the evaporator has frozen shut, so every defrost cycle sends its melt somewhere it was not meant to go and it finds its way out under the door. Both repairs are small. The damage underneath them is not, and on travertine, stone or hardwood laid over slab it overtakes the cost of the repair within days.
The drain side is the more common of the two here, and San Diego water is part of the reason. The supply is largely imported and it is not soft. Mineral scale collects at the inlet valve screen, in the fill tube and along the drain path, and a drain that is already partly restricted freezes closed the first time a defrost cycle runs slightly long. Clearing it is straightforward. Leaving it is not: the trough overflows every cycle, and the water that reaches the subfloor is the part nobody sees until the flooring lifts at a seam.
Second homes are the expensive version of this fault. A house in Del Mar, Rancho Santa Fe or Coronado that sits empty for a season still has a refrigerator running the whole time with nobody in the room. A weeping compression fitting or a blocked drain then runs unattended for weeks. If you own a property that is unoccupied for long stretches, two things are worth doing: have the drain path and the water fittings checked between stays, and know where the shutoff for the refrigerator line actually is before you need it.
What we check, in order. The fitting at the inlet valve and the shutoff feeding it, because a slow weep at a compression fitting looks identical to a drain problem from the front of the cabinet. Then the drain trough and the tube down to the evaporator pan, flushed and confirmed flowing. Then the door gasket, since a seal that has lost its magnet lets humid coastal air into the cabinet all day and produces condensation that has nowhere to go. Then the pan itself, which on several built-in series sits over the condenser and evaporates the water off, and which quietly stops working when the condenser fan does.
If you are calling about this today, close the water off to the refrigerator at the valve behind or below it, lift whatever is on the floor, and get a fan moving air under the cabinet run. None of that fixes the appliance, but it stops the expensive half of the problem while we get to you.
If that matches what your appliance is doing, say so when you call — it tells us which parts to bring, and most of these are finished in one visit.
The visit, step by step
Nothing here is unusual — it is simply what a proper diagnosis on built-in equipment looks like, and it is worth knowing so you can tell the difference.
- Symptom first. What it is doing, when it started, and whether anything changed in the kitchen — a new filter, a power cut, a door left ajar.
- Panels off. Grille, kick plate or rear cover, depending on the unit. Readings at the coil and the fan, water pressure at the inlet where the fault involves ice or water.
- Quote. One figure, parts and labour, agreed before work starts.
- Repair and re-test. The unit is brought back up and verified before the van leaves.
What it costs
The call-out and diagnosis is a flat charge, quoted when you book. What that pays for is a technician who tests the component instead of reading the symptom and guessing — which is the difference between one visit and three.
The repair price comes after the diagnosis, as a single figure for parts and labour, and it is agreed by you before the work starts. Factory-approved parts, priced openly. No surcharge for evenings or weekends.
Andrei did a fantastic job repairing my washing machine! He was punctual, polite, and very knowledgeable. He explained the problem in detail and fixed it quickly. I was impressed with his professionalism and the reasonable pricing.
My refrigerator stopped cooling right before the weekend, and I was panicking. Thankfully, Dmitry arrived the same day, diagnosed the issue quickly, and had all the parts needed. He fixed it on the spot.
Bill was on time and very professional. He quickly analyzed and fixed it at minimal costs. He also looked into another potential problem on an appliance for free. I will use his services for all of my appliances.
Appliance down in San Diego?
Tell us the brand and what it is doing — we can usually name the likely repair before we arrive.