How peculiar is my old GE fridge model PDS18ABMALBS?

[wendy]

My trusty GE bottom-freezer refrigerator, PDS18ABMALBS, has a clogged drain. The backed-up water turns to ice and jams the blades of the evaporator fan. I've been able to clear it for a time by pouring hot water into the channel that leads under the fan; that clears the ice that's blocking the fan blades...for a while. But I'm afraid I really need access to the top of the drain to clear it all the way down.

Does anyone reading this know if to reach the drain line on this model (PDS18ABMALBS) I have to pull the box away from the wall and get to the rear of the unit? Is there a way to get to it from the inside back of the freezer compartment if I remove the freezer basket? Or if I remove the evaporator fan, will I be able to push a flexible wire down through the top of the tube, or maybe give a blast of compressed air from a can, and clear it out?

 

[jetcone]

What you have in the line

Is Ice Mold.  If you can pour water down there then instead pour bleach. Wait 30 mins then pour hot water down there. That should do it, now that the ice mold has come you will need to pour bleach every 6 months.

 

We had to handle Ice Mold from the ice bins at the Bar, every 6 months the drain would back up. 

 

[circlew]

A lot of people think chlorine bleach kills mold, but I was told by the mold remediation company I dealt with that it doesn't. They used a quaternary ammonium based sanitizer to kill it. They said bleach takes out the stain, but doesn't kill the spores

 

[combo52]

Clogged GE refrigerator drain

Hi Wendy, I thought I had already responded to this. You snake it from the bottom take off the back cover. Take some very flexible vinyl tubing or pipe, cleaners or something and clean out the trap at the bottom that’ll do it once and for all for another decade or more, putting a little bit of bleach through is not a bad idea either, but it usually won’t clean the clog.

You need to be sure when you pour water in that the same amount of water is showing up in the plastic pan under the refrigerator that it’s actually clean. It should just go slurping down

John L

 

[wendy]

I guess I'm hoping for an easier way than emptying out all the food, hoping it doesn't spoil, removing all the shelves and drawers, trying to move the box on wheels that are probably jammed tight after all these years, and then trying to fit it into a very small kitchen space.... You get my concern.

The inside back wall of the freezer doesn't come out?

How about if I remove the evaporator fan? Will I see the top of the drain line and be able to clear it from above?

 

[combo52]

You might be able to flush it from inside if you can fit an air pressure hose or maybe even drag the garden hose in the kitchen and give it a quick blast. It’s much more thorough to clean it from behind at this point.

This is not a big refrigerator. It’s only an 18 ft.³ fridge. It’s actually much easier to pull it out. Take the back off and clean the tube from below it’s also a good idea to clean the fan, etc.. It’ll make it run more efficiently. You cannot completely access the drain tube from the inside the back wall of the freezer does not come out on this refrigerator.

John L

 

[wendy]

Thanks much. If I can get to the top of the tube by removing the fan I'll see how a flexible wire and/or a jolt of air or water does. If not, I'll try to pull the thing out from the wall (not optimistic that I can do it without clearing out the entire inside) and access the bottom of the hose from the back of the unit, which I'm sure is the better approach. Anyway, I'll do what I can and eventually report back.Thanks again.

 

[wendy]

Am I doomed not to have a good night's sleep?

The latest problem: I managed to move the GE bottom-freezer refrigerator PDS18SBMALBS out from the wall, took off the lower back panel, and did my best at clearing whatever may have been clogging the drain line by inserting and rotating zip ties from the bottom. Back inside, I poured hot water down the drain and it seemed to flow OK, so I struggled and put everything back together, hoping I taped the Styrofoam sheet properly into position and jamming that annoying hard-plastic bottom of the fresh food compartment into place. Now the two drawers are running at about 30 degrees F. The rest of the fridge--the shelves above--is 40F. Any thoughts on what could be causing the over-cooling of the drawers? Something I did wrong in reassembling? A new issue?