Ice Under Freezer Drawer In Refrigerator – How To Fix?

Question: I have an ice sheet in the bottom of the freezer compartment on my french door refrigerator. The ice slowly builds up every month. To remove the ice we have to remove the freezer drawer and melt the ice away. The refrigerator is 6 years old and made by Samsung. How do I fix this issue?

Solution: Ice under freezer drawer means ice and water is coming from a blocked defrost drain. Think safety and unplug the refrigerator, dissasemble the back panel inside the refrigerator. The clogged drain should now be visible and can be defrosted.

Fixing Samsung Fridge Ice Buildup

If ice is building up at the bottom of the refrigerator/freezer, this is most likely due to a blocked defrost drain.

To access the defrost drain on your particular refrigerator, unplug the refrigerator and check the refrigerator manual or go to YouTube and find your model refrigerator and ice at bottom. On most refrigerators, you can get to the defrost drain by removing the drawer at the bottom and removing the panel on the back of the refrigerator (to access the area).

Once the drawer is removed, there should be a cover on the rear panel of the refrigerator/freezer. Remove the panel at the back of the refrigerator. This area contains the blocked defrost drain and drain tube. Locate the blocked drain. Once you have accessed the drain, remove as much ice as possible. Use a hair dryer if needed. Pouring hot water into the drain and down the tube will remove any ice that may be blocking the drain.

Once the ice has been removed, replace the panel, put the drawer back in place and run the refrigerator as normal. If the ice is gone, the refrigerator will run normally and the ice will stop forming under the drawer.

Ice still forms under the drawers after defrosting ice:

TIP 1: If ice build-up in your refrigerator constantly happens, try setting the temp in the freezer a few degrees higher. Samsung refrigerators and freezers default to -14°F in the freezer when producing ice cubes.

TIP 2: Using a large amount of ice all day makes the icemaker run constantly and will spend a long time at the coldest temperature. The drain tube runs behind the freezer and will sometimes freeze up if it’s too cold for long periods.

TIP 3: Sometimes the rubber component on the end of the ice maker fill tube does not sit correctly. This creates water dripping down onto the floor of the freezer. When this happens some of the water is funneled into the ice maker. This is the reason your ice maker is still working properly. Be sure the rubber component that sits above the ice maker is sitting correctly. This rubber component may be compressed and causing this issue of ice under the drawer.

To fix the drain system permanently on many refrigerators involves checking the defrost system, modifying the evaporator shield, reposition the a sensor, or a new drain assembly.

Have questions about ice forming under freezer drawer? Let us know your issue below and we can help.