how do you unblock a drainhole in a fridge

[ben67]

I have a Hotpoint Iced Diamond fridge. The water at the back of the fridge, as part of the defrosting process, collects at the drainhole but the water does not go down the hole and ends up at the bottom of my fridge. The drainhole must be blocked somewhere, but there is no obvious blockage visible. The blockage must be somewhere at the rear of the fridge.

Any ideas how I can unblock the drainhole?

 

[Diyisfun]

Pipe cleaner, is the best thing..bet you havnt got one.
A piece of wire, push up from the outside to the inside if you can, do it gently do not force it.

 

[ben67]

Thanks for your response.

Are you saying there is access to the drain hole from the outside (at the back of the fridge)?

 

[Burnerman]

The drain hole leads to a small tray on top of the fridge motor, where the general warmth there evaporates the water away.
You should be able to unblock it from the inside - there will be some food gunge in there. If no joy then you can pull the fridge out and try from the back.
I use a length of stiffish thin wire, plastic coated, poked gently in. Some 1mm domestic cable is ideal. Can never find a pipe cleaner, somehow!
John

 

[ben67]

As a matter of interest I have fixed the problem. With the Hotpoint the end of the waste pipe at the rear of the fridge meets a horizontal plastic plate which is screwed to the fridge. From the plate the water drips onto the top of the motor to be evaporated. The problem is that there is not a lot of clearance between the bottom of the pipe and the plate. There was a lot of 'gunge' there which had solidified and caused the blockage. It was easy to remove the plate and clean it, but you need to access to the rear of the fridge.

 

[Nickyortak]

To put a pipe cleaner down the tube does the fridge need to be off?

 

[Leccy758]

No it does not need to be off if clearing the drain pipe. You need to go a bit carefully though so you don't damage the inside of the pipe.

 

[serendipity51]

The usual cause of a blocked fridge drain is debris such as food remains being washed down the drain and accumulating at the bottom of the drain. To remove the nasty residue, pass a length of plastic tubing (about 30 inches long) down the drain pipe until it stops, then squirt water down the tube with a syringe, pump or even an icing syringe and this will bring the debris back up the way it came and allow water to pass freely again.
If you cannot find a plastic tube of the right length and calibre then a piece of unwanted electric cable can be used after first pulling out the internal wires. This worked well for me with a blocked Hotpoint RFA 60