The short answer
Water around the AFU refrigerators comes from one of three places: the defrost drain, the supply side, or condensation that never was a leak. On these models an overfilling ice maker is the first thing this page would have you rule out. Most of the causes below are owner checks; the last of them is not.
What you observe on these models
- A sheet of ice under the bottom drawer — The same fault caught before it reaches the floor.
- Water at the back of the cabinet rather than at the door — The back is the pan and the supply; the door is the drain.
- Water in one drawer and nowhere else — A closed humidity slide and wet produce will do this on their own.
- NEAR MISS — the water keeps arriving with the appliance unplugged — That is plumbing rather than the appliance.
Causes, most likely first on this family
- Ice maker overfilling or the fill tube misaligned — A fill that runs long puts water over the mould, and it freezes where it lands until there is enough of it to run. It leads because it is the likeliest of the set on these cabinets. One design carries every cabinet size in this family, so it holds across the line.
- Condensation from a leaking door seal — The water runs down inside the liner and collects in the bottom of the compartment, so it reads as a leak from within. Second: common enough on these models to come before anything below it.
- Drain trough behind the evaporator blocked — Clearing it properly means taking the freezer rear panel off, which is where this stops being an owner job on most designs. Third on the list, where the likelihoods start to fall away.
- Water inlet valve or its fitting weeping — A compression fitting that was disturbed and not re-made leaks slowly enough to evaporate for months before it shows. Last of the set listed here, and the least likely of them on this family.
- Body: The departure here is airflow, up: one design stretched across several cabinet sizes asks most of the air path in the biggest of them, so airflow faults lead on this family.
Check in this order, and why
- Look at the mould and the shelf under it for ice that is outside the cavity. — It comes first because it matches the cause ranked first above.
- Look for beads of water on the inside of the liner along the door edge rather than under the drawers. — Next in order, following the ranking rather than convenience.
- Note how long the leak stays away after the drain is cleared: a few weeks means the trough, not the tube. — Last of the set, and only worth doing once the others are clean.
Disconnect before you open it up
Safety
Unplug the appliance or switch off its breaker before removing any panel; a capacitor can hold a charge after the power is off. Never bypass a door switch to keep a part running while you look at it. Dry the floor before pulling the appliance out, and keep water away from the electrical parts at the base of the cabinet.
Models in the AFU family
Reference| Model number | Family key |
|---|---|
| AFU1504** | amana:refrigerator:afu |
| AFU1505** | amana:refrigerator:afu |
| AFU1567AW | amana:refrigerator:afu |
| AFU1567BW | amana:refrigerator:afu |
| AFU1704** | amana:refrigerator:afu |
| AFU1705** | amana:refrigerator:afu |
| AFU1767AW | amana:refrigerator:afu |
| AFU2004** | amana:refrigerator:afu |
| AFU2005** | amana:refrigerator:afu |
| AFU2067** | amana:refrigerator:afu |
| AFU2067AW | amana:refrigerator:afu |
When to call a technician
The drain, the pan, the feet and the filter head are owner checks. The trough behind the evaporator is not, because reaching it means taking the freezer rear panel off with the cabinet loaded.
The other faults covered for this family
Lead Appliance Repair Technician · 12 years experience
Experienced technician with 12 years specializing in washing machine and dryer repairs across all major brands.
