The short version
On the Arctic Wind AUFSS refrigerator line, a water leak is worth working through in a set order: an overflowing or cracked drain pan, or a cabinet tilted forward first, then the water supply line, its fitting or the inlet valve, and only after those does the sealed system enter the picture. That order is written for a single-model line and sequenced for how these models are put together, which is where it departs from the brand-generic article.
What the machine is doing
- A puddle that appears a few times a day and then dries up — Intermittent water on a cycle is the defrost pan, not a pipe.
- Water on the floor behind or beside the cabinet, with a dry interior — Dry inside and wet outside means plumbing rather than drainage.
- NEAR MISS — the ice maker has also stopped making ice — Then the supply side is the common cause and the ice page carries the checks in a better order.
What it usually turns out to be, in order on the AUFSS line
- An overflowing or cracked drain pan, or a cabinet tilted forward — The first thing to suspect: the drain pan under the machine is meant to evaporate what the defrost cycle delivers, and a pan that is cracked, dislodged or simply sitting under a cabinet tilted the wrong way tips its contents onto the floor a few times a day.
- The water supply line, its fitting or the inlet valve — A supply fitting weeping behind the cabinet puts water on the floor while the inside stays dry, which is a useful split to make early.
- Condensation from a door seal that no longer seals — A seal that has lost its grip turns humid room air into water inside the cabinet, which is why the paper test comes early.
- A blocked or frozen defrost drain — The drain is still the first thing a technician looks at, so clearing it before the visit saves everyone time.
- An internal fill tube, the ice maker fill or the evaporator tray — Last here, and the only cause on this list that is not owner work — a fill tube overshooting, a cracked internal reservoir or a split evaporator tray is reached behind a panel, and on a plumbed cabinet the supply must be isolated before anything is opened.
The order of checks, and the reason for it
- Look at the pan under the machine and check that the cabinet leans very slightly back — A cabinet tilted forward drains its pan onto your floor. Done first because it separates the likeliest causes before any tool is needed.
- Shut the water off, pull the cabinet out and dry every fitting, then watch them — Second: it confirms or dismisses what the first check suggested.
- Close the door on a strip of paper at several points and pull it out — Third, once the two checks above are clean.
Safety first
Safety
Unplug the appliance or switch off its breaker before pulling it out or removing a panel; a capacitor can hold a charge after the power is off. Deal with the water on the floor first — an appliance standing in a puddle and a socket at skirting height are a bad combination. Shut the supply off at the valve before disturbing any plumbed fitting.
Models in the AUFSS family
Reference| Model number | Family key |
|---|---|
| AUFSS210ETH-LK | arctic-wind:refrigerator:aufss |
When this becomes a service call
Call once you have flushed the drain twice and it blocks again within a few weeks, because a drain that re-freezes points at the defrost system rather than at debris, and that is behind the freezer panel.
Related pages of the same kind
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