Whirlpool owes a free replacement drain tube to some owners of Whirlpool and Maytag bottom-freezer and French-door refrigerators whose freezers ice up, but the offer runs only through December 31, 2026. It comes from a class settlement in Corzine v. Whirlpool, a federal case in San Jose, California, where Judge Beth Labson Freeman approved the deal in 2019. Eligible owners get the part at no charge when the ice-up happens within five years of purchase. Brand and model year are not enough to qualify, because the serial number has to appear on the settlement’s list of covered refrigerators.
The practical question is whether a particular refrigerator is on that list and what to do when ice starts to collect on the freezer floor. The settlement names one route: call Whirlpool’s special service line at 1-888-900-7957 within 90 days of the ice-up to report it and schedule a technician. The model and serial number, which a settlement summary says sit on a sticker inside the fresh-food compartment, are matched against the eligible list at FreezerSettlement.com. The covered units were made from 2009 through 2018.
The drain-tube offer ends December 31, 2026, and it runs on three separate clocks: five years from purchase, 90 days from the ice-up, and the year-end cutoff. The Settlement & Refund Recovery System explains the four-date rule for reading a settlement notice and gives a claim log and payment tracker for the call, the repair and the reimbursement.
How a clogged drain tube turns a freezer into an ice rink
The defect at the center of the case is a drain tube that clogs. According to the settlement’s long form notice, a blocked tube can let ice build up on the floor of the freezer compartment and, in some instances, let water leak out. The settlement calls that a Freezing Event, and the remedy is tied to it. A freezer that simply runs warm, or a refrigerator that fails for some other reason, is not what the program covers.
Judge Freeman’s final approval order, dated December 31, 2019, describes the deal as effectively an extended warranty program. Whirlpool agreed to keep its existing Special Project open for several years and to widen it to cover labor costs and additional refrigerators. Julie Corzine, the lead plaintiff, received a $5,000 service award, and class counsel were awarded $1,823,394.75 in fees. No pool of cash was set aside for owners, so the benefit arrives as a repair rather than a check.
A figure of $21 million circulates for the case, but a legal summary at RecordingLaw describes it as an estimate of the settlement’s overall value, not money held for claimants. Claims for earlier ice-ups are closed. The long form notice set January 22, 2020 as the deadline for events before the September 5, 2019 notice date, and the settlement website says distribution for those earlier events has concluded. Only the forward-looking program remains open.
Group B, five years of coverage and the serial-number list
The settlement splits covered refrigerators into two groups, and the group decides the deadline. The long form notice gives Group A a free-part cutoff of December 31, 2021, which has passed. Group B runs to December 31, 2026, and the settlement website says eligible owners may receive a free replacement drain tube part through December 31, 2026 if the Freezing Event comes within five years of purchase. The class covers people who bought a covered refrigerator new, got one with a home purchase or remodel, or received one as a gift.
The five-year clock cuts deeper than the model years suggest. A covered refrigerator made in 2018 and bought new that year passed its fifth anniversary in 2023, so the free part now mostly reaches owners who acquired a covered model more recently, such as buyers of a home that came with one or recipients of a gift. The settlement website does not state how many refrigerators remain in the program, and the long form notice excludes Whirlpool’s own officers and employees, insurers and sellers of extended warranties.
What Whirlpool pays for the repair
The part is only half of a repair. The long form notice sets a sliding reimbursement for labor and parts based on how old the refrigerator is when the ice-up happens: all parts and labor in the first three years, all parts and 65 percent of labor in year four, and all parts and 50 percent of labor in year five. The total is capped at $150 per refrigerator, and any money Whirlpool already paid for the same Freezing Event comes off the amount.
The cap matters more than the percentages. A technician visit that costs more than $150 leaves the owner paying the difference, and the notice does not raise the ceiling for pricier repairs. The settlement website adds that a Whirlpool service technician can report the Freezing Event on the owner’s behalf, in which case Whirlpool pays for the replacement part and reimburses the repair service, a route that keeps the 90-day report window from depending on a separate call.
Calling the settlement line before the year ends
The settlement website is the starting point, and Angeion Group, the settlement administrator, runs it. Reports of a Freezing Event go to 1-888-900-7957, while reimbursement questions go to 1-833-456-8243, and RecordingLaw lists Claims@FreezerSettlement.com as the email contact. Filing costs nothing, and no real settlement charges a fee to report an event or request the part, so any caller or site asking for payment is not the administrator.
Four items speed the call: the refrigerator’s model and serial number, the purchase or move-in date that starts the five-year count, the date ice first appeared, and any earlier payment from Whirlpool for the same problem, since that reduces the reimbursement. A technician’s invoice also matters, because the $150 ceiling applies to the repair service and the final amount depends on what the bill shows.
One timing question has no answer on the settlement website. The part is available through December 31, 2026, and a legal summary says the Freezing Event must occur on or before that date, but the website does not say whether an ice-up in late December that is reported in January still counts. The 90-day window and the year-end cutoff overlap for any event after October 2, and only Whirlpool’s line at 1-888-900-7957 can say how it treats those reports.
Three clocks run on one drain tube
The tube offer ends December 31, 2026, the report window is 90 days, and the coverage window is five years from purchase. The Settlement & Refund Recovery System, a 50-page guide, lays out the four-date rule for reading a settlement notice and adds a claim log and payment tracker, so the call date, the repair date and the reimbursement stay in one place before the year-end cutoff.
This article was prepared with AI assistance from cited public sources and reviewed before publication.
