KitchenAid Built-In Refrigerator in Palm Harbor: A Second, Much Smaller Leak, Found With UV Light
- Symptom
- The refrigerator lost its cooling again a few weeks after a new evaporator went in.
- Cause
- A very small leak in the copper line that runs into the freezer, where the copper had pitted.
- Fix
- We found it over several visits with UV light, pulled the refrigerator out and repaired the line on site.
This is the third visit story for the same KitchenAid built-in in Palm Harbor. It’s more than 25 years old. First we replaced the evaporator, then we did an ice maker and water filter follow-up. A couple of weeks after that, the refrigerator stopped cooling again.
Another leak, but a much smaller one
This time the leak was tiny. A leak that slow is very hard to find. The refrigerator takes about a week to ten days to fully lose its cooling, so there’s no obvious sign of where it’s going.
We checked it over several visits. We connected gauges, and the readings showed the system had run empty.
Then we went looking with UV light. The glow showed where the leak was.
What we found
It was the copper line that goes into the freezer. The copper had pitted, and there was a crater in the line where it leaks very slowly. Soap bubbles formed right on it.
The repair
Getting to it was a big job. This is a built-in, it’s heavy, and we had to pull the refrigerator out and take it apart. We repaired the line on site.
Why we kept at it
The refrigerator is old, but it’s still a very good one. That’s why we kept at it through the extra visits.
If your refrigerator slowly loses cooling and you can’t see why, give us a call. Our refrigerator repair service and high-end appliance repair page cover built-ins like this in Palm Harbor and nearby.
FAQ
Why can a tiny leak in a refrigerator be so hard to find?
When the leak is very small, the refrigerator can take about a week to ten days to fully lose its cooling. Nothing shows up quickly, so we had to check it over several visits, including with UV light.
Is it worth repairing a 25-year-old built-in refrigerator?
Often, yes. This KitchenAid is more than 25 years old and it's still a very good refrigerator, so we kept repairing it.