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A Bosch T cabinet that leaks is telling you something about its drain path, not its refrigerant. Refrigerant is a gas in a closed loop and it does not puddle; every drop you can see started as frost on an evaporator or as mains water at a fill valve.
Symptoms on this family
- Dripping heard behind the rear freezer panel after the compressor stops — Normal in small amounts at the end of a defrost; a fault when it continues for many minutes or runs down the back wall.
- NEAR MISS - water dripping down the outside of the door — That is condensation on a cold surface in a humid kitchen, not a leak. Check the seal and the room rather than the drain.
- A sheet of ice growing across the freezer floor — Each defrost adds a layer because the water cannot leave, so the ice arrives before the puddle does.
- A wet patch behind the cabinet rather than in front of it — That is the fill line, the shut-off or the pan itself, and it means the floor at the front stays dry while the wall behind stays damp.
- Water appearing only after the ice maker fills — The timing ties the leak to the supply side rather than to the defrost cycle, and that is the single most useful observation you can make.
The ranking that applies to this platform
- Door seal failing so warm air condenses on the liner — Not a leak at all but it reads as one. Humid air on cold plastic makes water where none was plumbed, and the cure is a seal rather than a drain.
- Base drain pan cracked or shifted off its seat — Common after a slide-out on an uneven floor: the pan rides the levelling foot, tips, and empties its contents toward the front of the machine compartment.
- Evaporator drain heater open circuit — Last, because it is the only cause on this list that needs a meter to confirm, and because it presents exactly like a blocked drain until the drain has already been cleared once.
- Drain trough misaligned after a shelf or panel refit — Ranks high wherever a previous repair went in. The trough is a friction fit on these cabinets and it does not click, so a panel put back a finger-width out sends the water past the port entirely.
The diagnostic order for these models
- Look at the back of the freezer floor for a rim of ice around the drain port — One look separates the commonest cause from every other one, and it costs nothing but emptying a drawer.
- Dry the floor completely and lay paper towel in three places — The one that wets first tells you the direction the water travels, which is the only way to work backwards to a source under a full cabinet.
- Time the puddle against the ice maker — Switch the ice maker off for a day. If the floor stays dry, you have moved the fault to the supply side without opening anything.
- Pull the cabinet out far enough to see the base pan — Do this second because it takes two people, but it settles the pan, the fitting and the shut-off in one look.
What to do before you start
Safety
Switch the breaker off before you open anything behind the liner. The sealed system is not an owner-serviceable circuit: refrigerant work is licensed work, and a tube nicked with a screwdriver ends the life of the cabinet.
Models in the T family
Reference| Model number | Family key |
|---|---|
| T18IF905SP | bosch:refrigerator:t |
| T30IB905SP | bosch:refrigerator:t |
| T30IR905SP | bosch:refrigerator:t |
| T36IT905NP | bosch:refrigerator:t |
When to call a technician
Owner territory ends where the diagnosis needs a meter. If the checks in the order above leave you with a component you would have to test electrically, that is the point to stop and let somebody with the schematic take it.
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Lead Appliance Repair Technician · 12 years experience
Experienced technician with 12 years specializing in washing machine and dryer repairs across all major brands.
