The short answer
Water around an AV cabinet is almost always ice that has melted somewhere it was not meant to, not a burst pipe. All of the water on this cabinet is made in this compartment and has to travel to leave it. That makes this one of the better faults to work through at home, provided you establish where the water starts before you move the cabinet. The 7 numbers in the table below share the construction this ranking is built on.
What you observe on these models
- Water on the refrigerator compartment floor with ice in the freezer above — The meltwater is made upstairs and travels.
- Frost concentrated at one point on the seal — That corner is where the humid air is getting in.
- Water appeared after a power cut — Thaw and refreeze, not a fault.
- The floor is wet only in humid weather — Condensation, which is weather-driven where a blocked drain is not.
- NEAR MISS — water appears only after a long power cut — That is the load thawing, not a leak.
Causes, most likely first on the AV family
- Defrost water from the freezer compartment finding the wrong route — First on this platform: all of the water on this cabinet is made upstairs and has to travel past the refrigerator compartment to leave.
- The drain channel and hole at the back wall — Second, and the narrowest part of the route.
- The cabinet has been moved — Third: moving disturbs the levelling, the tray and the drain in one action, and a leak the week after a move is usually one of those three.
- Meltwater from a power interruption — Fourth: a cabinet that thawed and refroze leaves water in places the drain was never meant to serve.
- The drip tray on the compressor, full or knocked off its lugs — Last: it carries the water from both compartments.
Check in this order, and why that order
- Work out which compartment the water started in — It is made upstairs and travels, so a wet refrigerator floor usually begins in the freezer.
- Clear the drain channel and hole with warm water — The narrowest part of the route and the part that blocks.
- Establish whether the water is inside the cabinet or under it — Inside is defrost water; under, with a dry interior, is a sweating shell.
- Pull the cabinet and inspect the drip tray — It carries water from both compartments and fills sooner than people expect.
- Level the cabinet — Tipped forward, it leaks at the door rather than draining.
Before you open anything
Safety
Unplug the appliance or switch off its breaker before removing any panel. A capacitor can hold a charge after the power is off. On this platform there is no check worth doing that cannot wait the thirty seconds it takes to isolate the machine properly.
Models in the AV family — The numbers this page covers.
Reference| Model number | Family key |
|---|---|
| AV1081VFK0W | avanti:freezer:av |
| AV160VFK0W | avanti:freezer:av |
| AV170VFLJM#** | avanti:freezer:av |
| AV210VFLJM#** | avanti:freezer:av |
| AV2121VFB0W | avanti:freezer:av |
| AV230VFLJM#** | avanti:freezer:av |
| AV701VFB0W | avanti:freezer:av |
When to call a technician
Clearing a drain, closing a plug, levelling a cabinet and fitting a gasket are all owner jobs on a freezer compartment of a two-door cabinet. On these models the line falls at anything behind the rear panel of the machine compartment. Call without working through anything at all for a lid or door that no longer closes at all, which turns a repair into a loss of the load.
Nearest pages of this class
Lead Appliance Repair Technician · 12 years experience
Experienced technician with 12 years specializing in washing machine and dryer repairs across all major brands.
