[notcoldenought]

Inherited a GE fridge with a top frezer when we bought the house, so don't know the age.

It is not getting cool enough. Water barely freezes in the freezer, but not other stuff.
Vaccuumed the external coils well, they were covered (matted) in dust. I can tell that the compressor cuts off long before it is cold enough. Can it be repaired? Parts might be hard to come by.

[woodchuck]

Check to see if the condenser fan at the back bottom of fridge is running.
Is the compressor motor near that fan running.
Are the coils warm ,cold or hot.

Is the evaporator fan in the freezer running. It blows cold air into the fridge side through a damper in the wall between the freezer and fridge. Make sure the damper is open.

Below the evaporator fan is the evaporator coils. Remove the back cover in the freezer to observe the frost pattern. stopped up? clear? ice in one spot . frost everywhere.

TBX18KKE Parts List

[notcoldenought]

The condenser fan in the rear bottom is running. The condenser seems to be humming (it is that vertical cylinder, right?), and it is very hot! The coils underneath, kind of a black grill that the condenser fan pulls air through, are room temperature (aren't they supposed to be hot?).

Opening the back inner panel of the top freezer: the fan in the top there is running (I assume this is the fan to blow air down to the fridge compartment). There is a pattern of ice on the (galvanized or aluminum?) tube coil in there. There is heavy ice build up on the right facing side and nothing anywhere else.

I believe the air passage to the fridge is open, but the damper is set to its smallest opening (this happens when one sets the freezer to its coldest setting by turning a dial inside the fridge, which I have done).

I will attach a photo of the ice pattern if I can. Okay, I have uploaded it. I hope it is visible and helps.

Do I have a sealed system leak? Or is this something I can repair? I sure do appreciate the help.

[denman]

May be a silly question but have you adjusted the temperature to the coldest setting. I would rotate it from OFF to cold a few times, then leave it on cold

Item 300 in main unit

[notcoldenought]

Indeed have tried that. It was not set very cold, and I have tried to fiddle with the settings. Also vacuumed out under the fridge which was a sight as I mentioned in my first post. Caked with dust. These all were my first thoughts/ actions.

Does the information just above give any clues?

[woodchuck]

That irregular ice pattern can be a sign of low freon in the system which a tech. would have to check. That amount of ice alone shouldn't affect the cooling that much.

[notcoldenought]

So, Woodchuck, how do I go from here? A tech service wouldn't be worth if for this old fridge, would it?

Sometimes it sounds as if all is shutting off when things are not cold enough. Shouldn't all continue to run until the desired temp is reached? Other silly question: shouldn't that grill underneath get hot when cooling is going on (not room temperature)?

What is my next step?

[woodchuck]

The condenser coils should be warmer than room temp. And compressor should run till set temp is reached. The compressor is probably overheating. With no warranty coverage and with the facts as I see them it probably wouldn't be worth fixing.

You can call and try to get an estimate on new compressor and charging system.

[denman]

If you have not done a manual defrost, I would give that a try.
After all the ice is gone, plug it back in, let it run for an hour or so and take a look at the frost pattern on the coils. If the frost pattern is the same as the current ice pattern then Woodchuck has hit the nail on the head.