The short answer
On the WF family the usual reason a Criterion refrigerator is leaking or pooling water is supply line or its fitting at the inlet valve, and that is where the order below departs from the brand-generic article one level up: on the plumbed dispenser build it outranks ice maker fill tube or overfill. The check that confirms which build you have is simple — a water outlet in the door means a supply line, a filter head and an ice maker fill, all of which can weep. Meltwater causes are owner work; anything fed by the house supply is not, and the first move there is to shut the valve.
What you observe on these models
- A puddle on the floor at the front — Either the pan below or condensate running forward instead of to the channel.
- A puddle that appeared after a filter change — The one joint the owner operates by hand, and the one most often left proud.
- Ice on the freezer floor or outside the bin — Ice forming where it was not made, which is a fill problem rather than a drain problem.
- Water that returns overnight with nobody using the appliance — A continuous source rather than a cycle-driven one, which points at plumbing.
- Water under the salad drawers — Meltwater that could not reach the drain, arriving well away from where it formed.
- NEAR MISS — water plus a cabinet that is no longer cold — That combination is a cooling fault with meltwater as a side effect, and that page is the right one.
Causes, most likely first on the WF family
- Supply line or its fitting at the inlet valve — Ranked first here: a plumbed cabinet has a supply line, a shut-off and a valve, and every joint in that chain is a candidate. A weep rather than a spray is what produces a puddle that appears overnight and never while anyone is watching.
- Ice maker fill tube or overfill — Second: it belongs on the list because the water arrives in the freezer rather than the fridge, which points away from every drain cause above.
- Drain pan cracked or off its seat — Third: the pan under the appliance is supposed to hold the meltwater until it evaporates. Cracked or knocked off its rails, it puts that water straight onto the floor.
- Blocked defrost drain — Fourth: meltwater from each defrost has one route out of the cabinet, and that route is a small hole that food debris and ice plug readily. Blocked, the water backs up and appears under the drawers, which is nowhere near where it started.
- Cabinet tilted so condensate runs the wrong way — Fifth: these cabinets are meant to sit with a slight rearward tilt so that condensate runs to the drain channel rather than to the door. A unit levelled flat or tipped forward sends it to the front instead.
- Ice building in the drain trough — Sixth: the trough under the evaporator can ice over even when the drain itself is clear, and once it does, meltwater runs off the front of it instead of into the hole.
Check in this order, and why
- Dry the floor, then look behind the appliance after a few hours — A weep at a fitting shows itself as a returning puddle with the cabinet untouched.
- Look into the freezer for ice outside the bin — Ice where it was not made points at the fill rather than at any drain.
- Look under the appliance for the shallow pan — Cracked or off its rails, it puts meltwater straight onto the floor.
Before you open anything
Safety
Isolate the appliance at the plug or the breaker before opening anything, and treat the capacitor as live for a minute after. The door interlock stays connected, always: it stops the fan when the door opens and that is the whole point of it. Stop at once if you see oil at the compressor or the tubing, because the sealed system is open and that is licensed work. Moving a loaded cabinet is a two-person job on a tall unit.
Models in the WF family
Reference| Model number | Family key |
|---|---|
| WF180 | criterion:refrigerator:wf |
| WF90-C | criterion:refrigerator:wf |
When to call a technician
Call when the drain, the seals, the tilt and the pan are all clean and water still returns, and call straight away if the source is a fitting on the supply line rather than anything inside the cabinet. A plumbed joint under pressure is not a hand-tight repair, and the damage a slow weep does to a floor outlasts the appliance.
