 Evaporator coils freezing over...fixed for now. Brand: General Electric Model Number: GSS25LGMBWW Age: 5 - 10 years
**This is rather long but it may help you out**
Oh where do I begin with this sprawling saga? I'll just jump right in, here goes. About a month ago I noticed that the ice cream in my freezer was not frozen completely. I did not pay it much attention at first. It was only when the ice cream started dripping from the container onto the floor of my freezer I said “I’ve got a problem here”.
I'm rather handy but figured I better call in a repairman. I call Sears, as they came to mind first. What a waste of time and energy this was. None of my calls to the repair line could produce someone who could speak English. I could not understand them and I know they could not understand me either. One woman set the appointment for service for the wrong name and address twice. They were going to charge $250 prepaid for the repair and service call. After the second time around I canceled. I thought I'd call a local family owned appliance store.
I call and set the appointment for days later. The appointment time comes and goes, no repairman shows. I call to find out that he had gotten stuck under a fridge and cannot make it. I could reschedule or simply start replacing parts. The kind gentleman suggested I start at the defrost heater. It is a common and known issue with this model. He explains that the evaporator coil could be frozen due to a failure of the defrost heater. This would cause cool to warm freezer temps. The ice on the frozen coils is a restriction. This reduces air flow causing cool to warm freezer temps.
At this point I see that this GE product is such a problem that I cannot even get someone out here who will commit to diagnosing and or repairing it. I feel I need to either get into fixing this myself or replace it. Well after looking at the price of a defrost heater, just $ 25.00 shipped via a fine appliance supply on ebay. I think I will give it shot. Well this did not fix my issue. At this time I have found a manual for my model online. I test the new and old defrost heater. I find they are both good and ohm at 22.2 ohms. A broken element would have given an open circuit. I now know the issue is elsewhere. I jump the defrost circuit at the main board. They are marked "line" and "defr" and find that the defrost heater glows a brilliant orange. I now know the defrost heater and circuit are good.
I am totally frustrated at this point. I read through various forums and threads online as well as talking with the fine gentleman from my local appliance store. He tells me the main board is the issue 90 percent of the time. The other 10 percent of the time it is the defrost heater. This is why he told me to change that first. This model has a main board that controls various functions via input from various sensors. This is the most likely cause of the defrost system begin inoperative. This board uses adaptive defrost control to defrost the evaporator coils. There is an evaporator thermistor and a overtemperature defrost thermostat, each clipped onto the top of the evaporator coil. The thermistor monitors evaporator temperature during defrost and turns the defrost cycle off at 60 degrees. The overtemperature defrost thermostat is a fail-safe only if the defrost cycle does not terminate and will turn off defrost heater at 140 degrees.
After learning all this I feel that the main board must be my issue. The defrost cycle is not occurring and is solely controlled by this board. These sensors only aid the main board with information after the defrost cycle has started. I decide to change the main board. I also change the evaporator thermistor and overtemperature defrost thermostat as these are suggested when ever a defrost heater is changed. Although my defrost heater was good I decided to change it anyway. I found the main board for $55.00 and the thermistor and thermostat for under $5.00 each. All are GE Genuine Replacement Parts. At this point I'm feeling confident, as of now I'm under $100.00 and well on way to a working freezer.
The parts arrive and I go head long into the repair. I put the main board in, making sure I’m grounded first. It is a delicate electronic device, static electricity could damage it. I often do computer repair so I have a grounding strap for my wrist. I put in the main board, thermistor and thermostat. I ohm out the old thermistor and thermostat to find they both are good. The thermostat will be a closed circuit at room temperature. The thermistor various but I got 4.03k ohms at or around 80 degrees. The GE Service Manual states 4k ohms at 86 degrees. This is no surprise as I expected that. The main board is the real failure. I put it all together and wait to see what happens.
It is at this point I do some research to find what average temps for freezer and refrigerator are. I learn that the freezer should be at 0 degrees and the fresh food section at 40 degrees. Well after 24 to 48 hours I see the freezer temps are 28 to 32 and the fresh food section 50 to 55. I figure at this point maybe the unit needs to stabilize for a longer period? I check voltage at all thermistors from main board. They are all in spec. Again, at this point I as well as my wife is totally frustrated. So are the kids for that matter. They are sick of watching me mess around with this thing for hours and hours over the last month. Not to mention no ice cream for a month. We have come so far and replaced part after part. What gives? I know it is not an issue with compressor as I hear it coming on. When I was about to give up and just go buy another one. My wife has been saying for a month “let’s get a new one”, she want’s a stainless steel one. I think what about the condenser coils? I remember when I was a kid, our freezer went out. The repairman came out and cleaned the condenser coil that spanned the entire back of the unit and it began working again. I now go to the manual to see what GE has to say about these coils. I come to find out that they are referred to as the "jelly roll" and "are a new type of condenser". I pull the back of the unit apart to have a look. Well after 7 or more years...it is as expected. I don’t see the condenser coils, just a large puff of lint and dust. The coils are caked solid with lint and dust. I can feel no air being exhausted from the fan on the side of the "jelly roll". This means with the dust and lint, no air can be passed through the coils. In this condition it is no wonder I cannot get max cooling in freezer and fresh food section. I immediately take out the vacuum cleaner and clean what I can. I cannot reach the front of the condenser due to its configuration in the unit. It can't be removed either, unless I want to get involved in evacuating the R134A, cut some lines and so on. That is way out of my league. I doubt I would end up with a working unit after that. I decide I will have to get some compressed air to blow out the remaining lint and dust. Well this works and makes a huge mess in the process. I put the unit back together and clean up the mess. I'll give it 24 hours and see what gives.
The next morning I wake up to freezer temps of -10 degrees and fresh food section temps of 30 degrees. I suppose it is working now...yes! We as a family begin to jump up and down! I had the temp control set on 9 at this point. I put it back to 7 for the last week. The temps have settled in at 0 to -5 and 35 to 40 respectively. I will let it settle in for another week and set temp controls to 5 and see where that puts the temps. The defrost function is now functioning as it is supposed to thanks to the replacement of the main board. The temps are now in range thanks to the cleaning of the condenser coils. I feel it is important to share this ordeal with others. The main board was only part of my issue. The lack of a defrost cycle causing my evaporator coils to freeze was only part of my issue. This is apparently a common and known issue with GE units. The cleaning of the condenser coils was required to get my unit back to operating temps. This could easily be overlooked and cause an otherwise good unit to be discarded for a new one.
At the end of all this I have spent a month of my time and under $100 to get this unit repaired. I was amazed to have found the main board new on ebay for $55. I found prices online anywhere from $55 to $150. I was told locally retail was up to $250. Thankfully I was able to do the work myself and did not lose much food in the process. I am very thankful for the help and advice I got from my local repair man and these forums. I also feel I was very fortunate to have found a complete service manual in PDF format for my model. I suppose these units are such an issue that someone thought scan of a full Sears Service Manual was in order. I am very, very thankful and fortunate. It is now that my family and I can now have ice cream for the first time in month. We are smiling ear to ear. Thanks for reading and I hope my experience helps someone as many have helped me!
Regards, John.
Last edited by estranged : 05-12-2008 at 03:20 PM.
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