The short answer
On a commercial cabinet the drain carries far more water than a domestic one, because the door is open all service and the air coming in is warm and wet. Ranked first on this platform: A blocked defrost drain. The checks below follow that ranking, and the first of them need no tools and no panel removed.
What you observe
- Water under the crisper drawers, and a wet patch at the front of the floor — Water inside before it is outside means it started in the cabinet, not at a fitting.
- Water running down the outside front of the cabinet, worst in humid weather — Outside water in humid weather is a frame temperature problem.
- Water at the door line, with condensation or frost around the same part of the seal — The wet patch marks where the air is coming in.
- NEAR MISS — the outside of the cabinet is wet rather than the floor under it — That is condensation on the shell, which points at a door seal or at humidity rather than at a drain or a supply line.
Causes, most likely first on this platform
- A blocked defrost drain — Every cabinet that defrosts itself has to send the meltwater somewhere, and it all goes through one small drain hole into a pan underneath. It ranks first on this platform because a reach-in cabinet in a working kitchen condenses a remarkable volume of water out of the air, and the drain that carries it away blocks with debris from the same kitchen — so this fault is a maintenance interval rather than a failure.
- An anti-condensate heater not doing its job — Frames on cabinets that have to stay dry carry a small heater in the mullion or the door frame. It ranks second here because the door frames carry anti-condensate heaters and self-closing hinges, and a hinge that has lost its cam leaves the door standing a finger-width open all service.
- Humid air entering past a door seal — A seal that is not sealing lets room air in continuously. That air is humid, it meets a cold surface immediately, and the water it drops runs down inside the liner and out under the door. It comes third in the order — a genuine cause here, behind the ones above it on frequency alone.
Check in this order, and why
- Take the drawers out and look for standing water in the floor of the compartment — It places the leak inside the cabinet in one look and costs nothing. It leads because it tests the top-ranked cause.
- Feel the door frame and mullion: they should be slightly warm to the touch — A cold frame on a humid day is the entire diagnosis. Tests the second-ranked cause.
- Run a slip of paper round the door seal and note where it pulls out freely — It maps the failure round the whole door in a couple of minutes. Tests the third-ranked cause.
What an owner can safely check
- Clear the drain hole from inside with warm water and a soft flexible line — Warm water first; anything stiff enough to punch through ice is stiff enough to puncture the tray.
Tools: warm water, turkey basterAbout 30 min
- Wash the gasket with warm soapy water, dry it, and repeat the paper test — A gasket glued open with spilled food often reseals once it is properly clean.
Tools: clothAbout 20 min
- STOP at the first panel that needs a tool, and write up what you found — A technician who arrives knowing which checks came back clean spends the visit fixing rather than repeating them.
Before you start tracing it
Safety
Unplug the appliance or switch off its breaker before removing any panel or reaching into the base — a capacitor can hold a charge after the power is off, and water plus a live compartment is the one combination to take seriously.
When to call a technician
Call once the water is coming from behind a sealed panel, from the sealed system, or from a drain that will not clear from the cabinet side.
Nearest pages of this class
What this page does not cover
This page is written for the Migali refrigerator as a class, not for one family or one model line. Where a family- or model-specific page exists for your unit, that page is the more specific answer and the one to read first. Deliberately not here: part numbers, wiring colours and disassembly order, which differ by family.
Lead Appliance Repair Technician · 12 years experience
Experienced technician with 12 years specializing in washing machine and dryer repairs across all major brands.
