Refrigerator & Freezer - Drain Tubes

A Refrigerator or a Freezer may have a defrost drain tube. This depends upon the Refrigerator or Freezer being a self-defrost model. The appliance must have the self-defrost feature in order to have a defrost drain tube.

 

Determining If a Refrigerator or Freezer Has a Defrost Drain Tube

Refrigerators

  • Full-Size Models (9 Cubic Feet Capacity or Larger): All full-sized Refrigerators have defrost drains tubes except for some older manual defrost models. The drain tube goes to a drip pan underneath the Refrigerator. Water created by the self-defrost cycle goes into the drip pan where it is evaporated.

  • Compact/Under-Counter Models: These models do not have defrost drain tubes or a drip pan underneath the fridge.

Freezers

  • Chest Freezers: GE and Hotpoint Chest Freezers are manual defrost models. They do not have a defrost drain tube or a drip pan underneath.

  • Upright Freezers: All current GE Upright Freezers are self-defrost models. They have a defrost drain tube and a drip pan underneath. Some older GE and Hotpoint Upright Freezers were self-defrosting models and some were manual defrost models. Manual defrost models will not have a defrost drain tube or drip pan underneath.

  • You can check the Owner's Manual for your Upright Freezer model to see if it has instructions for manual defrosting.

Drain Plug on Manual Defrost Freezers

For manual defrost Chest Freezers, the Freezer has a defrost drain plug. The defrost drain plug pulls out (it is not a screw type plug). On some models, the drain plug has a drain hole and you just pull the drain plug out about an inch (you do not completely remove it). Defrost water will flow out of the drain plug. For other models, the defrost drain plug is completely removed and the defrost water flows directly from the defrost drain.

 

If the drain plug is difficult to remove for the first time, it can help to rub a small amount of petroleum jelly on the plug to assist in removal the next time.

 

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