The short answer
Water around a VF cabinet is almost always ice that has melted somewhere it was not meant to, not a burst pipe. An upright sheds its defrost ice as sheets, faster than any drain was designed to take. 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 2 numbers in the table below share the construction this ranking is built on.
What you observe on these models
- A sheet of water arriving at once rather than a trickle — Manual defrost releases its ice in slabs.
- Water under the front of the cabinet near the drain plug — The plug is the only deliberate hole in a chest and it is the first thing to check.
- The outside of the cabinet is beaded with water in a humid garage — Sweating shell, dry interior: not a leak at all.
- Water on the refrigerator compartment floor with ice in the freezer above — The meltwater is made upstairs and travels.
- NEAR MISS — water appears only after a long power cut — That is the load thawing, not a leak.
Causes, most likely first on the VF family
- Defrost meltwater beating the channel and the drain — First on this platform: on a manual-defrost upright the ice lets go as sheets and arrives faster than the drain can take it.
- A blocked drain hole or channel at the back of the cabinet floor — Second: freezer debris plugs it, and then the water runs forward under the bottom basket.
- 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.
- Door seal letting humid air in at one corner — Last: the same leak that builds the frost puts the water on your floor.
Check in this order, and why that order
- Ask when the water appears — All at once after a defrost is the platform working as designed; daily and steady is a drain or a seal.
- Clear the drain hole and channel with warm water — Never a wire: a punctured liner ends the cabinet.
- Find out whether the water is inside the box or under it — Inside is defrost water; under, with a dry interior, is condensation on the shell.
- Check the drain plug at the front of the cabinet — It is the one part of the water path unique to a chest, and it is either not closed or not opened at the right moment.
- Run a hand round the lid seal — The same leak that admits humid air builds the ice that becomes the water.
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. Do it before the first panel rather than before the difficult one: the live parts are not where most people expect them.
Models in the VF family — The numbers this page covers.
Reference| Model number | Family key |
|---|---|
| VF108K0W | avanti:freezer:vf |
| VF306W | avanti:freezer:vf |
When to call a technician
Clearing a drain, closing a plug, levelling a cabinet and fitting a gasket are all owner jobs on a upright freezer. On these models the line falls at the refrigerant circuit, which no owner tool can safely open. Call without working through anything at all for any burning smell, or water that has reached the machine compartment.
Nearest pages of this class
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