Kitchen Aid Refrigerator, repeated problems with coolant leak

[IDG]

My Kitchen Aid refigerator KBRC36FMS is about 8 years old and had a problem early on where the thin copper tubing that heats the water in the drip pan and the compressor had to be replaced. Now, we are having the same symptoms (cant maintain freezer temp and sometimes fridge as well) and the diagnosis is the same. It seems that the tubing corrodes, leaks coolant, then moisture gets in and destroys the compressor. So I was wondering, what if I drill a hole in the drip pan, connect tubing to run the water down to the french drain in the basement and possilbly place some 40mm USB fans to blow air over the tubing that sits in the drip pan. This way the copper tubing wont be sitting in water and will not corrode and leak coolant. Also, the fans would help cool the copper tubing off.
Would this work? Will the refrigerator function correctly without the copper tubing being directly in the water? Any thoughts appreciated.

[Dan O.]

The refrigerator doesn't need the water in the drain pan to operate properly. If you can get rid of the water elsewhere it shouldn't create a problem with the refrigerator.

But do make sure the condenser coil is kept clean! It will need to deal with the little extra heat the water helped eliminate.


BTW. Such a modification would NOT be advisable on window/wall air conditioner. The moisture evaporated on those devices plays a much larger factor in the unit's cooling ability as there is so much more water produced to be used in the refrigeration process.

JMO


Dan O.
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