The short answer
Water in a KEG draught cabinet usually comes from the beer side or from condensation, not from the refrigeration: a drip tray that has filled, a fitting weeping, or moisture condensing on cold lines and running down into the base. Check the tray and the fittings before anything else.
What you observe
- The drip tray is full or overflowing — The commonest source by a wide margin, and it is not a fault.
- Water on the base under the lines — Condensation running down cold lines and fittings.
- A fitting that is wet to the touch — A weeping connection rather than a refrigeration leak.
- NEAR MISS — water and warm beer — Read the page for a cabinet that will not cool.
Causes, most likely first on a KEG refrigerator
- Drip tray, tap or a weeping fitting — Id: tapdrip — A tray that has filled, a tap that drips between pours, or a fitting that weeps puts liquid in the base of the cabinet with nothing wrong in the refrigeration. First on a draught cabinet: it is the commonest source and the easiest to confirm — empty the tray and watch.
- Condensation from humid air — Id: condensation — Second: warm humid air meeting a cold surface leaves water. In a damp room this is a daily event and it is not a fault in the cabinet at all.
- Door not sealing, so humid air keeps coming in — Id: doorseal — Third: every bit of warm air that gets past a tired gasket arrives with moisture, and that moisture becomes the water you are mopping up.
- Drain hole in the compartment blocked — Id: blockedhole — Fourth, and less common: small cabinets drain condensate through a single hole at the back of the compartment. A label, a crumb or a plug of ice closes it and the water runs forward instead.
Check in this order, and why
- Empty the drip tray and watch what refills it — It separates a tray overflow from anything mechanical. First because it is the top-ranked cause above and costs nothing.
- Note whether it happens only in humid weather — That timing identifies condensation without any other test. Second because its cause ranks second above.
- Close the door on a strip of paper and pull — It should drag everywhere; where it slides free is where the moisture comes in. Third because its cause ranks third above.
What an owner can safely check
- Empty the drip tray and watch what refills it — A tray overflow and a weeping fitting look identical until you do this.
Tools: clothAbout 10 min
- Move it somewhere cooler for a day and compare. Get a second person before you pull the cabinet out or tilt it. — A few degrees of room temperature change what a small unit can hold.
About 30 min
- Dry every fitting and run a pour — Wet returning to one fitting names it without any tool.
Tools: paper towelAbout 15 min
- Check the door seal and the base drain hole — Condensation has to leave somewhere, and a blocked hole keeps it in the base.
About 15 min
- STOP HERE if the next step is a panel off with the power on — That is where owner checks end and a service call begins.
Before you open anything
Safety
Water and electricity share this cabinet: switch it off at the breaker before mopping anything behind or underneath it, and never reach behind a wet panel with the power on. Close the supply valve before touching any water fitting. Clear a frozen drain with warm water only — never with a sharp tool, which will puncture the liner and turn a free fix into a new cabinet.
When to call a technician
Call for a leak that survives an emptied tray, dried fittings and a cleared drain hole. Deal with a weeping gas or beer fitting the same day, because a line that drips into a cold cabinet grows mould before it grows a bill. Tap, line and regulator parts come from draught suppliers; refrigeration parts come from the seller of the cabinet.
Nearest pages of this class
What this page does not cover
This page covers KEG refrigerators as a class, not one family or model line. Where a family- or model-specific page exists for your unit, that page is the more specific answer. Not here: drain routing diagrams, part numbers and fitting sizes. It is draught cabinets built around a keg, a gas bottle and a tap tower rather than around shelves.
