I’ve had this problem the last year or two and I can’t seem to figure out what the issue really is. I have a Beveridge Air fridge with a triple tap ontop. I can fit 3 cornys in there plus my 5# tank. I keep getting water accumulation on the floor of the fridge on the inside. It gets to be so much that it seeps out of a corner of the door and onto the floor. Underneath the fridge there is like a drip pan of some sort. It’s always empty and I have never seen water in it. I feel like something is clogged somewhere but I don’t know where. I haven’t been brewing a lot so it sits sometimes (plugged in) but it always seems to gather water. The door seal seems fine, when I pull on it it seems like it’s got a good seal. I do have a drip tray up top which is an open hole into the fridge because I don’t have tubing hooked up to it. The tower is insulated also so I don’t think air is really getting in that way. I’m in desperate need of some guidance. I was just in there wiping up water and 2 of my disconnects have mold on them which is not good. I need to now take that all apart and clean it. I don’t see any sort of drain inside the fridge itself that leads down to that drain underneath but I guess it has to be used somewhere. I’ve attached some pics of the water on the inside for reference and a pic of that pan underneath. I appreciate any replies.
If the drip tray is an open hole, then I would expect some of the moisture comes in through there. If your taps are leaking, that could lead to moisture, so you should check that by putting a container under them for a day or so and see if anything drips into it. Then, I would seal off the open hole so moist air doesn’t enter the fridge that way. Finally, most people use a dehumidifier or damprid or something inside the kegerator to keep it dry. I’d get some form of dehumidification in there. Various homebrewing websites carry such things.
I have a '70’s Beverage Aire kegerator (woodgrain and all) that looks pretty similar. However, mine has a hole in the center of the floor that leads to the pan. The drain always gets clogged and when I open the door, I have 1/4 to 1/2" of water accumulated that pours out. Totally accumulated from humidity since this is in my garage and our summer has been really humid. My taps sweat up all the time, etc.
I will try the damp rid stuff. I use some electrical tape overtop the drain hole in the drip tray last night to try to seal that up a little bit. I don’t have a spot inside the unit where it looks like water can go, it’s really strange. This weekend I may unplug the beast, clean it all out and turn it on its side and underneath see if that plug above the tray may be clogged. I think what should happen is water drains down in that pan during cycles and then with the heat from the compressor it evaporates out. I’ve never seen water in there though. This problem has been going on for a couple years.
I guess it’s possible my door seal isn’t really making a good seal all the way around. I don’t know a good way to check that other than to remove the seal and put a new one on. I fear I’d make the problem worse if I did that though.
[quote=“ruinah69”]I will try the damp rid stuff. I use some electrical tape overtop the drain hole in the drip tray last night to try to seal that up a little bit. I don’t have a spot inside the unit where it looks like water can go, it’s really strange. This weekend I may unplug the beast, clean it all out and turn it on its side and underneath see if that plug above the tray may be clogged. I think what should happen is water drains down in that pan during cycles and then with the heat from the compressor it evaporates out. I’ve never seen water in there though. This problem has been going on for a couple years.
I guess it’s possible my door seal isn’t really making a good seal all the way around. I don’t know a good way to check that other than to remove the seal and put a new one on. I fear I’d make the problem worse if I did that though.[/quote]
I would bet money that the system is designed to have the water in the pan evaporate. There is a lot of heat down there. How old is your unit? If it is old, maybe someone put a new floor in it and covered up the hole. I cannot believe that yours does not have a drain of some sort. Is the drain at the top, below the taps intended to go to the pan? That would just make a mess when it evaporates and be a sticky mess and get moldy fast.
As far as the door seal, been there and done that. Again, not sure how old yours is, but mine was so old that the Beverage Aire factory had no records of the model number and or parts. I have ended up replacing the evaporator motor and fan as well as the gaskets. My gaskets were so old that there were clearly gaps. BUT it took me 3 tries to get a gasket that would work. It was totally trial and error because of the age of the unit. It is better now, but not perfect.
On the other hand, it is a great unit, holds 4 corny kegs with Co2 outside and does a great job. It is a work horse.
awesome info, thanks. The unit is about 13 years old. I have upgraded the tower to a triple tap with Perlicks over the years. I can fit 3 cornies inside plus the tank. It’s a tight fit but it works. What is an easy way to check the door gasket? I’m not sure how I would go about doing that. I am the original owner of the fridge so no mods have been done other than the tower upgrade. Everything else is stock. I do need to take the back apart and vacuum the coils. I am wondering if the evaporator fan is either dead or not functioning. It’s not really humid in my basement, the AC is on and it’s about 70 degrees in the room I keep it. How hard is that assembly to take apart inside to check the fan? I assume the fan I see at the back of the fridge on the inside is the evaporator but not sure. Pretty sure it runs though.
I fiound out where the water is coming from tonight. I have attached a pic below. It looks like the vinyl tube that is a “drain” must be clogged somehow. The water is coming from just to the left of that drain from a small crack I guess in the metal housing. It’s pooling up inside and dripping down at a fairly good pace. I checked in the back of the unit and I see the end of that tube underneath above the drip pan. How in the heck do I get that line off there to clean or replace? I was thinking maybe a coat hanger from the bottom up maybe. I don’t want to break that white coupler in the picture there. Wasn’t sure if I needed to take the whole evaporator housing off to get to it or not.
Edit: broke the coupler, luckily was able to find a replacement part online so that should be here in a few days. I tried the coat hanger and I was able to go all the way through so now I’m wondering if that wasn’t the issue. It certainly had gunk in it and I sent some PBW down there to clean it out a little bit. Wondering of the metal housing is bent or something and not pitched correctly to get the water to collect where it should. I couldn’t get that whole housing off, I took the 4 screws off so it came apart but it was still being held on by something. The rest of the fridge is fine, it cools well, thermostat works, etc. I just need to fix the water issue.
Edit to the edit: So in the pic below there are some rust looking spots. That’s where the water is coming from. There are pinholes in that metal in a couple places. I guess I need to seal that up somehow and then maybe the drain would start working again.
So all refrigeration takes moisture and humidity out of the air. Somehow your drain got clogged and the water sat in the upper pan and either over flowed or started the rusting process that you are seeing. Unless you found the clog and cleared it, the problem is probably not solved yet. There could be lots of gunk in that upper pan blocking the condensate from getting to the drain.
The good news is that you have found the problem. The bad news is that you might have the figure out how to take that upper pan off to really fix it. Anything you do to the bottom of the pan will be a temp fix at best. If the pan just comes off with some screws, you might be able to buy a new one from Beverage Aire.
by some miracle I had a reply on another forum that directed me to a site that stocks just the housing. I do agree I need to clean that line out and I will get a pipe cleaner the right size and do just that. It certainly could still be clogged. I’m just happy this may be a $50 fix and not a new unit all together.
