Gladiator Fridge / Freezer drain ice defrost questions

[JT_Bak]

Greetings all,

I'm trying to think through this process, and see what others may have done to resolve the problem.

My story continues similarly to the story of other Whirlpool Gladiator owners.  I purchased mine 4-5  years ago for a great price secondhand locally (Bakersfield , CA) Within a few months it started to ice up again.  Model # GAFZ21XXRK02, August 2008 manufacturing date.

Started with the copper wire wrapped around the defrost heater trick... Seemed to help, but then over time lost efficiency.  Inspecting, it has started to corrode and was about 1/2 it's initial diameter in spots.

Removed that and installed the official Whirlpool kit (819043)... Still freezing up. 

 I live in a pretty arid region - we average about 6-7" of rain annually, and it is rarely humid.  On my short list of things to check are the door seals and the defroster operation (I did check the resistance when I put the kit in, and it was within spec).

My question:  I see there are drain defrosters available for other makes and models, why couldn't this be added to my unit? Thinking through the possible issues, they might include:  additional element may draw too many amps through that circuit, and would have to have a separate AC circuit (And relay(, and of course finding a drain heater that will work for this application (narrow enough to fit down drain, doesn't heat to the point of melting the drain tube).  So suggestions on an appropriate part would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[citizenX]

There are add on drain heater kits just for this problem. This one is a Supco SH201 but there are others. Google search "defrost drain heater kits."  You can wire it into the evap fan motor circuit so it is only on when the fan is running. If you needed, you could wire it to be on all the time if there is a constant 120v available. I think these are all like 10-15 watt low wattage heaters so I doubt you'll ever melt anything, and they don't require a relay. 

https://www.supplyhouse.com/Supco-SH201-120v-15watt-Drain-Heater?utm_source=google_ad&utm_medium=Shopping_HVAC&utm_campaign=Shopping_X_HVAC_X_SSC_ClassB/C&utm_campaignid=21633352527&utm_adgroupid=164986448125&utm_targetid=aud-754990415661:pla-2352433400835&utm_product_id=SH201&utm_matchtype=&utm_keyword=&utm_adtype=pla&utm_category=HVAC&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIwpuUys3IiwMV1wGtBh0bGhlQEAQYAiABEgIwf_D_BwE

Edited February 16 by citizenX

[JT_Bak]

That is actually a great idea. I had thought about doing that before, but not being of the appliance field, wasn't sure if that was the proper application for that sort of heater. 

A couple of weekends ago I put it in, using the same circuit as the defrost heater. I did see a small icicle a couple of days later, but now a couple weeks on and so far it looks okay. 

So I have a separate issue I'd like to ask for help with. And it may be correlated, or I might have a faulty memory, or? 

I have this refrigerator attached to a energy monitor that logs its information to my Home Assistant setup.  It seems like the unit has been using a lot of energy, so got back out in the garage today to look at a couple things. 

Condenser fan seems okay, but what I did observe is as soon as the unit is plugged in, both compressor and condenser started up immediately.

I was going to cycle the freezer thermostat off and on to trigger a defrost, but first turn off the thermostat and then looked up the procedure to do so.  I noticed it was drawing about 400 w or a little more, even with the compressor and condenser fan off.

 

It did so for a few minutes, and I heard the evaporator fan turn on a few times.  Then after 7 or 8 minutes the amperage draw dropped to 0 ish.

My other observation or comment- when I put in The drain defroster, I did take the time and remove all the ice from that area and the drain, but had to get things going so my frozen food wouldn't spoil. I've noticed that in the very center of the fridge in the back, I would describe it as the partition between the upper and lower compartments, it is very cold from the outside and condensation does leak out a little bit. Almost as if there was some ice buildup? 

I don't want to fire the parts cannon at this... Appreciate any help you can provide.

I'm going to attach a few charts that show energy utilization in Watts over a few different time periods. Take today with a grain of salt, because obviously I've been goofing around with it. 

Thank you, Jerry

 

 

[JT_Bak]

Oh, here's a pic on how I connected the drain heater.  These Scotch taps are not my favorite, but they seem to be an okay way to get this done without having access to other connectors, etc. I did wrap them both with silicone tape to improve their corrosion resistance and provides some additional safety.

[citizenX]

Ok, looking at your wattage charts, that looks about right to me. It looks like that unit probably has an 8-hour defrost timer so every 8 hours it's going into a defrost cycle, which is the higher 900-1000ish watts peaks. I am assuming that since that unit is built for a garage, it probably has another heater installed somewhere that is coming on with the defrost heater (not the one you wired in but a factory installed one, unless the heater you got is a really high wattage). If you look at your chart, it is showing a draw around 500 watts just prior to the defrost cycle then it spikes to 1000ish watts. That is probably the secondary heater and the main defrost heater together, which will only run when the compressor and fans are off. The length of the defrost cycle depends on how much frost is built up on the evaporator coil and how long it takes to heat things up behind the panel, so once it heats up enough the defrost thermostat will cycle the heaters off. Also, the compressor and fans are what is drawing the 200ish watts line and that is normal.  

As far as the cold area you are feeling that was dripping - that could possibly be the reason the drain is freezing. If moisture has gotten into the insulation in-between the liner and the cabinet, that could most definitely be causing it. Not much you can do about that unless you can identify and seal up a crack in the liner somewhere in there. But if the drain continues to freeze up even with the drain heater you just installed, you may want to re-wire that drain heater so it is on all the time (or most of the time) as opposed to only coming on when the unit goes into defrost. If the defrost cycle is only 10-20 minutes or so which is typical, that may not be enough time for that low wattage drain heater to do it's job. You can wire it into the evap fan motor or wire it to be on all the time if there is a constant 120v somewhere in there. 

[Budget Appliance Repair]

@citizenX I not totally sure but it looks more like it might be running constantly trying to get to the correct temp but never satisfies the cold control and the big spikes to 1000 Watts is the start-up surge of the compressor after it comes out of a defrost cycle, (on the first chart that spreads out over only two days you can see every day, 3 startups that spike to 1000 Watts - one defrost every 8 hours of compressor running constantly over a 24 hour periods makes 3 defrost and restart each day).

The way I'm seeing it is that the about 500 watt spike is it going into defrost then when the defrost stops before the defrost time of 21 to 30 minutes runs out it goes to ZERO Watts then shortly when the defrost timer clicks back to run you get the 1000 Watt startup surge.

I would like to see a temp recording chart to go with that wattage chart or at least what kind temps are being recorded.

[citizenX]

You may be right. I was focusing on the wattage and wasn't even thinking about the cooling cycling. I saw an additional heater on the parts lookup and assumed that was the added wattage draw. If that unit has an issue where it isn't cooling properly then the compressor could indeed be running continuously except for defrost. That might also explain why he noted the apparent defrost cycle was only eight minutes, as it just wasn't that cold in the evap area? On the other hand, assuming the unit is cooling properly, if the cold control is stuck closed then it could be getting way too cold which could also be causing the drain freezing issue. OP needs to take some temp measurements and also see if anything is freezing in the fresh food section. Good catch. 

[citizenX]

It's hard to tell though from that chart if that 1,000 watt line is a quick spike from the compressor startup or if it's a sustained event. Not sure how weighted that graph is