GE Profile uneven cooling

[feh]

Model Number: pye22pskbss
Brand: GE
Age: More than 10 years

It came with the house we bought 16 months ago. Never had any problems with it, until a couple weeks ago:

• water dispenser stopped working (either the tank or line froze)
• items in lower tray of refrigerator froze (can supposedly set the temp of this drawer, and it was set to 36)

Noticed that the temp settings were 0 degrees for the freezer and 34 for the fridge. Increased the fridge temp to 40, and a couple days later, the water/tank thawed and the water dispenser worked again.

Changed the fridge temp to 38, and the water line froze again. Put a thermometer in the lower fridge tray, and it reads 20 degrees!

Any thoughts on what's going on here? I don't know why that tray would be 20 degrees colder than the rest of the fridge area.

Thanks.

[Doc Ryan]

There is a damper door inside of the fresh food evaporator cover that controls the temperature of that bottom drawer. My guess is that this damper door is stuck open causing it to get too cold. Let me know what you find.

This is the evaporator cover for your model:

Fresh Food Evaporator Cover - WR17X27084 (PD00037164)


Here is a video on a similar model on how to remove this part:

[feh]

There is a damper door inside of the fresh food evaporator cover that controls the temperature of that bottom drawer. My guess is that this damper door is stuck open causing it to get too cold. Let me know what you find.

Thank you. I will check that out.

More info - while the bottom drawer is 20 degrees, the top shelf is 50 degrees. Would that indicate a different problem?

[Doc Ryan]

I would still check that damper out that I mentioned earlier as it could throw off temperatures in the whole refrigerator if that door is stuck. Also, I would check out the evaporator fan motor to make sure it is running and circulating the air properly. If the fan motor fails it could cause similar symptoms.

Fresh Food Evaporator Fan Motor - WR60X26866 (PD00038765)

[feh]

I would still check that damper out that I mentioned earlier as it could throw off temperatures in the whole refrigerator if that door is stuck.

That damper door is open.

Would it get stuck open on its own, or would that be a result of the fan not working any longer? Is there a way to determine if the fan is working?

Thanks.

[Doc Ryan]

It's usually a failure of the damper door that causes it to stick open.

With the refrigerator taken apart, you would have plug the refrigerator back in and then press the door switches to make the fridge think the doors are closed to see if the fan motor is running.

[feh]

It's usually a failure of the damper door that causes it to stick open.

With the refrigerator taken apart, you would have plug the refrigerator back in and then press the door switches to make the fridge think the doors are closed to see if the fan motor is running.

Any way to know if the fan is turning without taking everything apart?

[Doc Ryan]

You could try doing it through the service diagnostic mode. See the video below.

[feh]

You could try doing it through the service diagnostic mode. See the video below.

Got into diagnostics mode and the fresh food fan is not spinning.

Had a repair guy come to the house. He thinks the problem is that the old software on the control board (the fridge is 16 years old) caused the evaporator panel to freeze up. You can see frost on the evap panel behind the lower drawer. He also said that once this happens, you generally need to replace the entire panel (something about moisture freezing in there and ruining things).

He said there's a chance that the old board could be re-programmed with new software so that this doesn't reoccur, but that if it couldn't be re-programmed, the control board would also need to be replaced.

So, his estimate is $400 if no control board needed, and $600 if the control board needs to be replaced.

I'm not willing to put $400-600 into a 16 year old fridge, but I'm wondering if there's a chance just replacing the fan would fix things. Of course, if the new fan freezes, then that would be wasted money.

Thoughts?

[Doc Ryan]

It sounds like he is a knowledgeable technician. It's really up to you if you want to take the risk and try to just replace the fan motor. You also have to factor in the cost of food that you will lose if the repair is not successful. If I did the repair, I would replace both the fan motor and the main control board at the same time.

Main Control Board - WR55X38248 (PD00070607)