Cleaning the Condenser Coils
The condenser coils at the bottom of the fridge should be cleaned regularly. Not doing so results in higher energy usage and shortened refrigerator life. They can be accessed by pulling off the small grill under the fridge door.
Water Dripping in Fridge
The refrigerators, originally installed at Brava, have a known issue with water dripping into the fridge section at the back just below the freezer. Several residents have reported that the manufacturer is not covering this issue under warranty.
These fridges have a defrost cycle that operates on an hourly basis in the freezer section. When the defrost cycle kicks in the water that melts off the evaporator coils is supposed to drain to the bottom of the fridge through a small drain hole in the freezer.
The flaw with this fridge model is that the small drain hole in the freezer gets clogged with ice over time. When this happens the melt water, during the defrost, cannot drain properly so then drips into the fridge.
One cause is having the fridge and/or freezer section set too cold.
WARNING – If you choose to follow any of the SUGGESTIONS below you do so at your own risk.
FIRST FIX
Purchase two fridge/freezer therometers and put one in the freezer and the other in the fridge near the bottom. Wait overnight and check that they are in the correct range as indicated on the thermometer. If not adjust the controls towards the warmer end and check again another 24 hours later.
Doing this alone may not solve the leak issue as the drain hole and tube may still be clogged by ice. Defrosting the freezer for a full 24 hours may allow the ice clog to melt away.
WARNING – Be very careful defrosting the freezer as excess water may puddle on the floor below the fridge. If you have a wood floor near the fridge it may be damaged.
I’ve witnessed one particular freezer section where the evaporator coils, located behind the back wall of the freezer section, were completely coated in 6 or more litres of ice. That job required warming the back wall with a heat gun so it could be removed and then another hour of time heating the ice and soaking up the water with towels so it did not make it to the floor. Defrosting for 24 hours would not have been long enough to allow all this ice buildup to melt.
SECOND FIX
This fix involves adding a heat conductive wire to the freezer section to keep the drain hole from freezing over. At a minimum this fix costs $150. Doing this job requires that there not be 6 litres of ice frozen to the evaporator coils. If the repair tech finds this you can expect to pay for an extra hour or two of labour just to get to the job of putting in the heat wire.
I would suggest you discuss this with your appliance repair tech and perhaps defrost the freezer for a full 24 hours before his arrival. Putting all your freezer items in the fridge and NOT opening the door too often should keep it frozen.