non-governmental leaks

On a slow news day -- and Saturday usually is -- I tend to go with local topics, and this one is about as local as you can get.

My refrigerator leaks, or rather, the landlord's refrigerator in the apartment I rent does. Sometimes when I wake up at five and stagger out to the kitchen to put up water for coffee, I first have to mop up a puddle that formed overnight which I have just stepped in.

The refrigerator works and the seal is good, so this is a repair job rather than a malfunction which makes this an appliance that needs to be disposed of. And as if on cue, AOL this morning ran an article from the website DIYlife.com on how to repair a leaky refrigerator.

The first thing I learned is that the problem is either with the ice maker or a frozen drain in the automatic defrosting system. This machine doesn't have an ice maker, so that narrows down the possibilities to one.

There is a tube which runs from the freezer to a condensation pan in the bottom of the unit. Most likely it's clogged. I'll have to move the machine from its nook and unplug it, take the cover off the back, disconnect the tube, and put something through it, probably a high-pressure jet of water from a garden hose. That should do it.

Sunday is my idle day, and now I have a useful activity to fill it. I'll keep you posted. Anyone out there with a leaky refrigerator, take note, and check the link. This is apparently a very common problem, although I've never encountered it before.