What this means on these models
On the Criterion CBC refrigerator family a leak is nearly always melt water that has lost its path rather than water under pressure, and the melt path here is a small trough to an evaporation tray at the compressor. This cabinet carries no pressurised water circuit, so a fast arrival of clean water would mean something outside the appliance. Where the water first appears separates a drain fault from a seal fault from a supply fault. This profile generalises over the two codes below.
What you observe on these models
- Water on the floor at the front of the cabinet — Water at the front has come over an interior lip or under the door rather than from the back. Here that points at condensation running off the glass and down the front, which on this cabinet is far more common than a drain fault.
- Damp or mould at one corner of the gasket — One wet corner localises the fault: that is where the seal stands off, and it is usually the corner carrying the most door weight.
- Water pooling at the back of a shelf or running down the rear wall — Melt water that should have gone into the drain is running into the cabinet instead. That is the blocked-drain signature.
- NEAR MISS: clean water arriving fast, not slowly — Melt water arrives slowly and in small amounts. Fast clean water means a supply line, valve or filter head, and the first move is to shut the water off.
Causes, most likely first on this platform
- A door or lid seal letting warm, wet air in — Second, because this platform carries a gasket on a glass door, where any gap shows up immediately as condensation on the glass. A glass door shows a seal fault immediately as misting, which makes this the easiest cause on the list to confirm.
- The defrost drain is blocked or frozen shut — First on any frost-free cabinet. Here the melt path is a small trough to an evaporation tray at the compressor. Once it closes, every defrost puts melt water into the cabinet, where it freezes before the owner sees liquid.
- Room humidity and how the cabinet is being used — This high on this kind of cabinet because a glass door is the largest heat path in the cabinet and the coldest surface people look at, so humid room air condenses there first and runs down the glass. Real, repeatable water with nothing broken.
What to check first, and why in this order
- Find where the water first appears, not where it collects — Dry everything, then watch. Floor-only, compartment-floor and rear-wall water lead to three different causes here. Confirm your own model against the table first.
- Lift out the bottom drawer or basket and look for an ice sheet — A sheet of ice under the lowest basket means melt water froze where it pooled instead of draining away. Clear it fully rather than breaking the surface, because the sheet is hiding the drain you are looking for.
- Test the seal all the way round with a strip of paper — Close the door on the paper and pull at several points. A glass door shows a seal fault immediately as misting, which makes this the easiest cause on the list to confirm. Clean the gasket and its landing before you judge it, because a sticky gasket reads as a good one.
Before you open anything
Safety
Water and electricity share this cabinet, so unplug it or switch off its breaker before putting a hand near a panel; a capacitor can hold a charge after the power is off. Do not pour hot water into a frozen drain to hurry it, and never chip ice off a trough or evaporator with a screwdriver: the tubing is soft aluminium and a puncture turns a drain repair into a sealed-system replacement. Mop the floor first, because a wet floor at a heavy cabinet is the injury that actually happens.
Models in the CBC family
Reference| Model number | Family key |
|---|---|
| CBC115CE1S | criterion:refrigerator:cbc |
| CBC46M3S | criterion:refrigerator:cbc |
When this stops being owner work
The split on these models is not subtle. Clearing a drain, reseating a gasket, levelling the cabinet and emptying the pan are owner work. Call when water is arriving under pressure, when the drain will not clear from inside the cabinet, or when the ice sheet returns within a week, because that means something upstream is re-freezing the trough. On this platform a glass door is heavy and easily damaged, and it is the part that gets broken when a cabinet is worked on in place.
The rest of 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.
