GE French Door refrigerator freezing in refrigerator area

[WalterBoyd]

Model Number: PGSS5NFXASS
Brand: GE
Age: 6-10 years

I'm having an issue with items freezing in the refrigerator section. I keep the coils cleaned on a regular schedule.
Thus far I've replaced the Damper, the refrigerator area Thermistor and the temperature setting/ control board in the top of the refrigerator where the two lights screw in place. As a side note, all doors seals have been replaced and are tight with no air leaks. The freezer is working without issue, ice functions, defrost as it should. The compressor comes on and goes off without noise or other issues. I've got a cup of water with an HVAC analog thermometer setting on the lowest shelve in the fridge. The temp gauge never seems to match the set temp as set by the temp control board.

What next? The system main board?

[denman]

What is the freezer temperature as it will effect the fresh food section.
Should be around 0 degrees F.

Also the fresh food thermometer you are using should be near the thermistor location.

[WalterBoyd]

Freezer temp is a 0 degrees F. I've set the cup of water with the analog HVAC temp gauge near the thermistor I replaced in the upper left of the fridge. The cup of water when set in the lowest section of the fridge region reads 30 to 32 F. when the refrigerators built in gauge reads 38 to 40 F.

These are the parts I've thrown at it so far:
WR55X10956 - Main board
WR55x10684 - ASM Temp Control Board
WR55x10025 - Thermistor
GEWR17X12456 - Damper

Lot's of patience.

I was wondering if the WR49X10283 Inverter Control Board might be playing a part with the refrigerator region freezing.
Any advice would be appreciated.

[denman]

The inverter should have no effect with theses symptoms.

[WalterBoyd]

That's what I was getting from my online research but was not absolutely sure and honestly don't know what part to replace next. When the issue first started there was water and ice under the pull out meat and cheese drawer and both vents on the bottom had ice in them, I've corrected that issue and water now flows all the way to the bottom pan as it should. A local repair guy I paid to take a look suggested that I keep the refrigerator set temp higher than the suggested 37°F, I now keep it a 39°F, but a glass of water sitting on top of that bottom meat and cheese drawer registers between 29°F and 32°F on a analog and digital HVAC thermometer. A different glass of water sitting beside the thermistor reads 39°F now but the digital readout by the lights states that the refrigerator if a 36°F now. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. As an aside the repair guy said that I was doing everything that he would be doing at this point.

[WalterBoyd]

I just pulled out the meat/cheese drawer/tray at the bottom of the fridge, there was ice around the front of the new damper, I removed it. The new main board was installed today. I wait a day or two to see if the unit has corrected the issue. Looks like I'll be buying a new refrigerator this week.

[denman]

Has this thing ever worked good for you?

I agree with the repairman that you have gone about this in a logical way.

[WalterBoyd]

It has worked great since purchase in late 2008. Early on I replaced the ice maker under warranty. No issues with that since 2009, it's also working great now. The compressor cycles off and on normally, so no issues there. The back of the freezer has no ice build up whatsoever, so the defrost works normally. The main board that was in the unit was the old style board (WR55X10774) that was superseded by WR55X10956. The old board apparently caused issues with the freezer not freezing correctly, I never had that issue with this unit. I've got a new refrigerator coming in early next week, hated to have to do that but with Thanksgiving right here I don't want a lot of spoiled food either.

[denman]

The problem seems to be that there is not enough air circulation in the unit so the cold air is settling in the bottom of the fresh food section.

If you are gong to keep it as a garage fridge etc., a small pancake fan that runs all the time in the fresh food section should be a jiggery pokery fix.

[WalterBoyd]

That's the plan, just replace my current garage fridge with this one. This morning the built in temp gauge said the freezer was at 0°F and the refrigerator was at 39°F while there was ice in a cup sitting on the meat/cheese tray again, it was at 32°F. The HVAC probe I placed up by the thermistor was a 39°F. It could be a circulation issue but why now after 10 years? Am I missing something? Is there fan that might need replaced? The main one by the evap coil is working fine and those coils are very clean too. Any web links to the fan you are describing would be helpful. I think your Jiggery Pokery must be the same as Southern Engineering.

[denman]

Below is an example
https://www.amazon.ca/Pinfox-Cooling...4442864&sr=8-2

You should be able to get one from local electronics supply houses.
You want 120 volt (so you do not have to mess around with a power supply) and low amperage (to keep the running cost low).
I do not think you would need a very high CFM as you just want to circulate the air a bit.
Basically it is the same as fans used in computer power supplies but 120 volt.

[WalterBoyd]

What are the chances that a bad evap fan motor (Motor Evap Dc Part Number: WR60X10185) is causing this issue. I would replace the freezer thermistor and that fan motor at the same time.

[denman]

Sorry but I cannot say as I do not hyave experience with this particular model.