Any appliance experts here?

[SilentStalkr]

I’ve got a GE French door deal with freezer on bottom, less than 4 years old and for whatever reason, the bottom part of the refrigerator is freezing crap and the top part is like 60 degrees and keeps ruining my meat. Any ideas? Freezer part is fine.

 

[DarnYankeeUSMC]

Anything blocking the air pass through vent?

 

[_Windrider_]

Start by cleaning the coils. There is one guy here that works for GE/Whirlpool.

 

[Ravenworks]

Have you cleaned the coils?
Take the back carboard panel off along with the one on the floor to look in there to see how dirty it is.
Freezing up is low on refrigerate

 

[Mike Casselton]

Anything blocking the air pass through vent?View attachment 7693689

This is usually the cause. Otherwise the fan might not be working

 

[Im2bent]

What those guys said. The fridge get cooled by air from the freezer. If the freezer is freezing your fridge is good. The vents usually get clogged with ice or something is blocking it or the fan is dead. Find the air passage from the freezer to the fridge do you feel cold air blowing out of it?

 

[TheBigCountry]

I’ve got a GE French door deal with freezer on bottom, less than 4 years old and for whatever reason, the bottom part of the refrigerator is freezing crap and the top part is like 60 degrees and keeps ruining my meat. Any ideas? Freezer part is fine.

You more the likely have a bad evaporator fan motor based on what’s happening. I work on these for a living, so if you got a model and serial number I can steer you to a diagnostic and a fix.

 

[Threadcutter308]

Agree with all of the above. Good coil cleaning and total defrost. Clear out the cold air passages from the freezer to the fridge. They're probably blocked with ice.

 

[TheBigCountry]

Have you cleaned the coils?
Take the back carboard panel off along with the one on the floor to look in there to see how dirty it is.
Freezing up is low on refrigerate

Not necessarily. If it’s a dual Evap model, the Evap fan not running will cause the issue.

 

[Lightning8]

We had that issue with a Samsung and the fan was dead. The fan moves the cold air from freezer into the refrigerator portion. We keep a spare fan on hand now.

 

[TheBigCountry]

We had that issue with a Samsung and the fan was dead. The fan moves the cold air from freezer into the refrigerator portion. We keep a spare fan on hand now.

Some of those GEs are made by Samsung and share the same parts.

 

[SilentStalkr]

Anything blocking the air pass through vent?View attachment 7693689

Not that I’m aware of but I’m fixing to go look.

Start by cleaning the coils. There is one guy here that works for GE/Whirlpool.

Fixing to do this to.

What those guys said. The fridge get cooled by air from the freezer. If the freezer is freezing your fridge is good. The vents usually get clogged with ice or something is blocking it or the fan is dead. Find the air passage from the freezer to the fridge do you feel cold air blowing out of it?

Didn’t know this! Good info.

You more the likely have a bad evaporator fan motor based on what’s happening. I work on these for a living, so if you got a model and serial number I can steer you to a diagnostic and a fix.

Model GFE28HSHFSS

Serial # SF515957

 

[SilentStalkr]

nothing blocking any vents. Fan is either sucking it blowing air from freezer.

 

[TheBigCountry]

nothing blocking any vents. Fan is either sucking it blowing air from freezer.

With your doors open, you should’ve able to press and hold the door switch(s) and wait and see if you hear the Evap fan come on. If it doesn’t come on, usually within the first 10-15 seconds, that’s the problem.

Your model has the fan mounted directly on top of the Evap and is known to go out, causing the temps to go up and the stuff in the bottom near/under the crisper drawers to freeze up. It’s an easy fix if that’s what’s going on; here’s the part:

 

[DarnYankeeUSMC]

And the Hide comes through again.

 

[NoDopes]

Mine is doing this. I think my defrost heater element was broke, so it never defrosted, iced up, and stopped flowing air to fridge. If I manually defrosted freezer, it was fine for about 3 weeks. Just swapped it out today. We'll see it it fixes it.

 

[SilentStalkr]

With your doors open, you should’ve able to press and hold the door switch(s) and wait and see if you hear the Evap fan come on. If it doesn’t come on, usually within the first 10-15 seconds, that’s the problem.

Your model has the fan mounted directly on top of the Evap and is known to go out, causing the temps to go up and the stuff in the bottom near/under the crisper drawers to freeze up. It’s an easy fix if that’s what’s going on; here’s the part:
View attachment 7693725

You got a manual for this thing? Cause I have no idea how I get access to this but the deal at the very top of fridge is certainly not blowing. Just moved everything to downstairs fridge.

 

[TheBigCountry]

You got a manual for this thing? Cause I have no idea how I get access to this but the deal at the very top of fridge is certainly not blowing. Just moved everything to downstairs fridge.

That is pretty much it in a nutshell. Drop me a PM if you need anything.

 

[SilentStalkr]

That is pretty much it in a nutshell. Drop me a PM if you need anything.

Dude! You are the man. I’m pretty sure that’s it. It looks a wee bit different than mine but 98% the same. I’ll give it a shot! Thanks again. Prolly take a few days for the part to come in.

 

[SilentStalkr]

That was it. Working like a charm even tho the parts guys pissed me off. Made the mistake of sending my wife this morning to pick up the parts and the dude gave her the wrong damn parts. The box numbers were wrong and to add insult to injury the parts inside didn’t match the numbers on the box and had clearly been opened. So around 11ish we high tail it back down there calling on the way to have them hold the correct parts they claim they now have. And it cost me twice as much. $161 for the part and the update module. But it’s done and didn’t have to wait 3 days or pay someone the $600 it likely would have been to come out. I figure it’s $200 minimum for a tech, $160 for the parts and then likely would have charged a couple hours labor so yeah $600 probably about right. Was super easy. Thanks for your help gents!

 

[SilentStalkr]

Well I hope that was it. It was cooling and then kind of stalled out at 50 degrees.

 

[TheBigCountry]

Well I hope that was it. It was cooling and then kind of stalled out at 50 degrees.

Give it some time. I usually tell my customers 24 hours for it to get back to temp. You don’t want to push the system to hard and something else gives. Always set your temps a little higher, say around 42ish degrees, and let it hit that, then set it back to 37 for your fresh food section (37 degrees and 0 degrees are the factory spec’d temps).

Also, what is the “update module” they sold you??? All you needed was that fan I attached here.

 

[Zuul]

If that doesn’t fix it it’s most likely the defrost temp sensor (silver colored bottle cap size, 2 wires into top, clipped onto copper line by coil).

 

[SilentStalkr]

Give it some time. I usually tell my customers 24 hours for it to get back to temp. You don’t want to push the system to hard and something else gives. Always set your temps a little higher, say around 42ish degrees, and let it hit that, then set it back to 37 for your fresh food section (37 degrees and 0 degrees are the factory spec’d temps).

Also, what is the “update module” they sold you??? All you needed was that fan I attached here.

Well and that’s the thing. Seemed to be running fine when I just put the fan in, but the video showed and update module plugged in via Ethernet and once parts guy got the right parts he confirmed that GE says you need this updated software module with the new fan.

 

[NoDopes]

Those fans run PWM, and there could be new code for variable speed and/or different PWM frequency on the "new" part.

PWM is pulse width modulation - short bursts to run at various speeds by increasing the burst width.

 

[Bringtherain]

I just did this two days ago. Evaporator fan just like thebigcountry said. GE french door fridge with the freezer on the bottom. Works great now!!

 

[SilentStalkr]

Mine won’t seem to drop below 40 without turning TC on. It’s been at 40 for about 3 hrs. Certainly a hell of a lot better than 70 but it makes me wonder if it’s still not working correctly. Guess I’ll wait till tomorrow and see what’s up.

 

[Jefe's Dope]

Didn't read all the post so sorry if it's been mentioned already. You need to get all the ice off the condenser coils in the freezer. Pull the bottom freezer open and start chipping.

It's a condensation issue with these fridges.

 

[Engineer260]

when I had this issue on my GE I replaced all of the temperature sensors, 2 in the freezer and 2 in the fridge. One of them had gone bad and the multimeter confirmed it.

 

[Rthur]

These guys don't know shit.
I can turn a dishwasher into a snowblower.

R

 

[SilentStalkr]

Didn't read all the post so sorry if it's been mentioned already. You need to get all the ice off the condenser coils in the freezer. Pull the bottom freezer open and start chipping.

It's a condensation issue with these fridges.

Now I didn’t do that!

 

[Sean the Nailer]

These guys don't know shit.
I can turn a dishwasher into a snowblower.

R

But can you pull an espresso at the same time?

 

[NoDopes]

Use a hair-dryer to melt the ice.

Is it possible you installed the fan upside down? Sucking instead of blowing? Is your crisper frozen over? Just guessing here.

 

[SilentStalkr]

Use a hair-dryer to melt the ice.

Is it possible you installed the fan upside down? Sucking instead of blowing? Is your crisper frozen over? Just guessing here.

Fan only goes one way. Crisper drawer is fine.

 

[Jefe's Dope]

Was it making noise when the fan would kick on? This is the fan hitting the buildup of ice around the fan.

 

[SilentStalkr]

So it edged down to 38 overnight but that’s as low as it goes and it quickly climbs back up once the door is opened. I feel like something still ain’t right. Everything seems fine, no ice build up, no weird noises, fan runs smooth as far as I can tell when it runs. Ice is being made, water isn’t all that cold tho and it just don’t seem to be getting cold like it was and for this reason I have not put anything back in it.

 

[TheBigCountry]

So it edged down to 38 overnight but that’s as low as it goes and it quickly climbs back up once the door is opened. I feel like something still ain’t right. Everything seems fine, no ice build up, no weird noises, fan runs smooth as far as I can tell when it runs. Ice is being made, water isn’t all that cold tho and it just don’t seem to be getting cold like it was and for this reason I have not put anything back in it.

I have an idea but I’m gonna bounce it off another one of my guys. I’ll PM you.

 

[SilentStalkr]

Shit. It’s back up to 50 degrees now. GE repair guy coming out next week. I’ve done all I know to do.

 

[supercorndogs]

I dare you to try and find a subject that someone on this sight is not an actual expert in. I am never short off amazed at the depth of knowledge held by the membership here.

 

[johnnyvw]

I had a similar problem with my fridge. The damn coils kept icing up. And it was nearly impossible to get to them so I ended up cutting the sheet metal louvers with tin snips. Had to totally defrost and DRY everything, if there was any leftover moisture it would just ice back up, No problems since I took the drastic measures. I think the improved airflow with a big hole instead of the louvers has helped prevent a repeat

 

[TheBigCountry]

I dare you to try and find a subject that someone on this sight is not an actual expert in. I am never short off amazed at the depth of knowledge held by the membership here.

I just dropped him a PM. My next thought would be a blockage in the return and/or supply air vents, followed by testing the temp sensors for continuity. I don’t think he has a sealed system issue since his freezer is staying cold. Those GEs are pretty straight forward, and pretty easy to fix.

 

[SilentStalkr]

I just dropped him a PM. My next thought would be a blockage in the return and/or supply air vents, followed by testing the temp sensors for continuity. I don’t think he has a sealed system issue since his freezer is staying cold. Those GEs are pretty straight forward, and pretty easy to fix.

Well at least there is some positive to it lol. I appreciate the help guys but I decided to call in the pros. Some other repair place said they could be out tomorrow so we went with them. Will cancel GE guy.

 

[SilentStalkr]

Yeah kind of pissed lol. Guess I should have started with the cheapest part. It’s the temp and defrost sensor and bulb, that’s it. It’s literally a $15 part. And of course the repair guy wanted $328 to replace it, that includes the service call but damn. And of course my wife paid the man. And they can’t fix till next week. I was furious with her. Yes, the service call would have still cost me $139 but I’m basically paying him another $200 to replace a part that I could do myself in 5 minutes and have it fixed this afternoon. Parts place has 22 in stock. I know cause I checked yesterday. Argh. Oh well, I guess it’s a done deal now. Women.

I appreciate everyone’s help regardless.

 

[Maggot]

These guys don't know shit.
I can turn a dishwasher into a snowblower.

R

But can you turn a sewing machine into an A 10 Warthog? That would impress me.

 

[Im2bent]

Yeah kind of pissed lol. Guess I should have started with the cheapest part. It’s the temp and defrost sensor and bulb, that’s it. It’s literally a $15 part. And of course the repair guy wanted $328 to replace it, that includes the service call but damn. And of course my wife paid the man. And they can’t fix till next week. I was furious with her. Yes, the service call would have still cost me $139 but I’m basically paying him another $200 to replace a part that I could do myself in 5 minutes and have it fixed this afternoon. Parts place has 22 in stock. I know cause I checked yesterday. Argh. Oh well, I guess it’s a done deal now. Women.

I appreciate everyone’s help regardless.

Can't you call the guy say cancel get a refund for the difference and still diy?

 

[SilentStalkr]

Can't you call the guy say cancel get a refund for the difference and still diy?

Sort of. Once my wife paid with cc the parts were ordered. They have a restocking fee for parts they don’t even have. So I would have to pay them to cancel the order basically which is BS. Might as well leave it alone at this point.