How To Clean The Refrigerator Drain Tube In A Kenmore Refrigerator

Things Needed

  • Foot length of wire

  • Turkey baster or cooking syringe

  • Pint container

  • Bleach

Tip

For Step 4, a short length of electrical wire is perfect for running through the drain. It's fairly strong, yet flexible enough so that it won't damage the plastic drain pipe.

Warning

Don't reuse the syringe or turkey baster in Step 5 for cooking again.

Kenmore has been manufacturing appliances for Sears since the early part of the 20th century. They have a number of makes and models, but no matter what futuristic devices might be present, all Kenmore refrigerators work in the same way: the food inside is cooled by means of an evaporator coil which draws humidity out of the refrigerator. As the air cools, moisture is drawn out and eventually finds its way through the refrigerator drain tube. These tubes can occasionally become clogged with debris and mold. Cleaning the refrigerator drain tube on a Kenmore refrigerator should be done about once a year to keep your appliance running at its most efficient.

Step 1

Unplug the refrigerator or turn off the electricity to the circuit where the dishwasher is installed. To turn the electricity off for the circuit, locate the circuit breaker for your house. There should be a circuit map or other indication of which rooms are on which circuit. Find the appropriate one for your kitchen and flip it to the off position.

Step 2

Drains tubes are sometimes inside the refrigerator or in the false door beneath with Kenmore models. Look inside first.

Step 3

Locate the drain tube inside your Kenmore refrigerator. This will depend on your specific Kenmore model. Some of the Elite models, for example, have the drain placed beneath the false floor of the unit. In this case you will have to remove the false floor before proceeding. Check Resources, below, for information on recent Kenmore models.

Step 4

Insert a length of wire (about a foot is good) into the drain. Carefully probe through the drain with the wire to dislodge anything that might be blocking the drain.

Step 5

Mix one teaspoon full of bleach in a pint-sized container. Using a turkey baster or cooking syringe, dispense a squirt of the bleach/water mixture into the drain. Allow it to run into the drain pan beneath the refrigerator. Repeat several times until the water in the drain pan is clear.

Step 6

Empty out the drain pan. Replace the refrigerator floor if it was removed. Restore power to the refrigerator.

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