What this usually is on these models
Water around the Alpha Par RD RDTM refrigerator is nearly always the cabinet's own condensate arriving somewhere it should not, rather than a pipe failing. The model record for this family is a single code, RDTM116WE, so everything below applies to one build rather than to a range of them. The first job is deciding whether the water is coming from inside, from the drain path or off a cold outside surface, because those three have nothing in common but the puddle.
What the owner actually sees
- Water standing inside, in the bottom of the cabinet — It has been made where it should be and has failed to leave.
- Drips down the outside of the shell — Evenly spread over a cold panel rather than running from one point.
- A puddle at the front, on the floor — Clear water, arriving slowly, usually worse in warm or damp weather.
- NEAR MISS — the cabinet is also not holding temperature — Work the cooling page for this family first: a seal fault makes both symptoms, and the cooling page ranks them for that case.
What it usually turns out to be, in order
- Condensation on the outside, which is not a leak at all — First. A cold surface in a warm damp room collects water out of the air, and there is nothing wrong with a machine that does it. The distinction is easy: condensation is spread evenly over the outside panels, while a leak arrives at one point and comes from within. The record holds only RDTM116WE, so this check is the whole of the family's exposure to that cause.
- A seal that is letting damp air in — Second. A seal that lets damp air in makes the water that later appears on the floor. It freezes on the cold plate first, so the leak seems to come from nowhere until the cabinet runs its next defrost and the whole lot arrives at once.
- Ice that built up first and melted afterwards — Last. A power interruption, a door left ajar or a defrost that did not complete leaves a slab of ice behind. It melts all at once, and the volume of water that arrives at the floor is far more than the drain was ever meant to take.
- Body: With one code recorded there is no older or newer build here to tell apart. With one build recorded there is no revision history to appeal to, so the first question is whether there is a leak at all: an outside surface that sweats in a damp room produces exactly this complaint and needs no repair.
Check in this order, and why
- Wipe the outside dry and watch where it comes back — Water that returns evenly across a cold panel is condensation. Water that returns at one point, or from underneath, is not. On RDTM116WE that is the whole of this step.
- Test the seal with a strip of paper all round — Anywhere it pulls out without resistance is a leak path. The wet corner of the floor is usually under the loose part of the seal.
- Body: The record holds one code for this family, so the order below is not a model matrix — it is the order in which these causes can be eliminated on the machine in front of you, cheapest and least invasive first.
Safety first
Safety
Water and power do not share a floor safely: unplug the cabinet or switch off its breaker before mopping under or behind it, and before removing any panel — a capacitor can hold a charge after the power is off. Dry the floor before standing anything back on it, and never run an extension lead across a wet patch.
Models this page covers — The one model code recorded for this family.
Reference| Model number | Family key |
|---|---|
| RDTM116WE | alpha-par-rd:refrigerator:rdtm |
When to call a technician
Call when the water keeps arriving after the drain is clear, the seal grips, the cabinet is level and the outside is dry — at that point the water is coming from somewhere that needs the machine opened. Call immediately if the water is arriving at a rate you have to mop, if it is reaching a socket, or if the cabinet has started tripping its circuit.
The rest of this family
Where to read next
Lead Appliance Repair Technician · 12 years experience
Experienced technician with 12 years specializing in washing machine and dryer repairs across all major brands.
