Dispenser tray on fridge dispensers

[fan-of-fans]

I may have asked before, but was wondering about the dispenser/drain tray on fridges. It seemed that up through the late 1990s or so, all of these had a plastic grate over the spill collection area. At some point this changed to a grooved tray to catch the water. It seemed to me the grate idea was better, the grooved tray type always seems to grow mildew from standing water and water deposits.

Some recent models by Samsung seem to have no sort of tray at all. Why is this? And, I noticed recent Whirlpool/Kenmore/Amana models have a tray with a slot to drain water underneath, this seems better than the previous grooved design, as the water has somewhere to go. And some new GE high end models seem to have a metal tray with holes to drain the water.

Were the grated models better about not molding, and did any models ever have an actual drain to the condenser pan? Reading GE Americana literature from 1972, it mentions that the area under the grate was heated to speed evaporation - smart idea!

 

[rp2813]

It seems to me that if the tray had a drain, there would be issues with the tubing leading (presumably) to the pan that catches the defrost water.  With the door opening and closing, there would have to be accommodations made for the tubing to flex, and I can only imagine that the whole arrangement would be problematic.

 

I don't think there's enough water landing in the tray to make a drain worth the trouble and extra manufacturing cost.

 

Our 2009 KA Architect SxS has a thin brushed aluminum grate over the tray.  I like it better than the thick simulated chrome plastic types found on older dispenser models.

 

I agree with you about the grooved trays.  The fridge we left behind when we sold our previous house had one of those and it looked cheap without a grate.