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Hi, We have a GE Monogram Refrigerator model ZFSB25DTG SS. Not sure how old it is, it came with the house and we moved in a few weeks ago. The fridge initially wasn’t getting below 45 degrees (set to 37) and the freezer was at about 5 (set to 0). After a few days I did some poking around and discovered a lot of ice completely clogging what I think are the evaporator coils at the bottom of the fridge (behind the fresh food drawers). There was also a small amount of ice built up on the back of the freezer, but I didn’t dismantle anything in the freezer. After unplugging the fridge and letting it defrost overnight the temperature was perfect (freezer and fridge) for nearly two weeks, but then jumped back up again, and of course the ice had returned. Defrosted it again (with a hair dryer this time) and it OK for now, but I obviously need a more permanent fix. From what I’ve read it sounds like it’s probably a problem with the defrost system, but I can’t find any specific information for this model of fridge, so I’m not exactly sure how to proceed. Can anyone give me some direction? Thanks, Rob Wilson. Edit: Top freezer, bottom fridge (can’t remove styrofoam due to ice, so can only see bottom two coils). Fridge seems to be a lot more iced up than freezer if you can see all the white behind the two coils.
I couldn’t find anything wrong, and didn’t want to go to the trouble and expense of replacing the main board when there was no direct evidence that there was a problem with it, so I called in a repair person. He didn’t initially know what the problem might be either, but he called the manufacturer (GE) and they suggested replacing two thermistors in the fridge (fresh food compartment). I was skeptical since I’d tested the thermistors and didn’t see anything wrong, but told him to go ahead since there was no charge if it didn’t work. It worked. So, if any one else has this model of fridge - or any model where the fresh food compartment (fridge) has its own evaporator coils but not its own defrost heater, then my suggestions are a) don’t go messing around in the freezer, that’s not where the problem is, b) make sure the evaporator fan in the fresh food compartment is working c) replace all the thermistors in the fresh food compartment.
Defrost Heater Assembly Mfg Part # WR51X10055 If the refrigerator is not defrosting the defrost heater assembly might be burned out. Several times a day the defrost heater assembly turns on for a few minutes to melt away any frost that may have accumulated on the freezer or refrigerator evaporator coils. If the defrost heater assembly has burned out, the frost will build up on the coils and eventually no air will be able to travel through the coils to provide cooling. The defrost heater can be checked for continuity. If it doesn’t have continuity it should be replaced. Main Control Board If the refrigerator is not defrosting, the main control board might be defective. A few times a day the control board is supposed to turn off the cooling system and turn on the defrost heater to melt away any frost that may have accumulated on the freezer evaporator coils. If the control board is defective it could cause the system to never cycle into defrost.
DEFROST TIMER ! I Have a Whirlpool (model # WRF560SMYB01) that’s about 3 years old. French door refrigerator, bottom freezer. It started frosting up on the back panel of the freezer & icing up around the fan making a horrible noise, caused by the ice build up behind it. Took the fan cover off, defrosted it several times with a hair dryer, like every 2-4 days, than I created a system of my own with hot water & tubing which made it faster but didn’t fix the problem…. Found the wiring diagram in the bottom part of the refrigerator rolled up in the back that actually has diagnostic instructions to test your compressor, your fans & your heaters to tell you if they are working properly. All controlled by the digital control panel in your refrigerator that allows you to increase or decrease your temperature in your freezer & your fridge, also tells you when to replace your filters & such…. After I found that & figured out the coding of it, I was able to manually defrost my freezer without pulling it out away from the wall & making a big mess with the water & tubing! I figured out it was my defrost timer because I could manually put it in defrost from the control panel in the refrigerator but it wouldn’t go into defrost by itself. After that it was a matter of finding the defrost timer on the refrigerator, which I was unable to find anywhere online….So, That’s why I’m here now to tell you that your Defrost timer is located in the back, bottom part of your refrigerator on the left hand side, in a white box attached to the side by a metal plate. Unscrew the metal plate pull out the entire box. (You can take the plate off , I did) There are 4 screws, remove the top of that box, inside there is a control board & it controls the defrost system, Which I just replaced & it took about 10minutes after I got the new control board. The problem would be to find a company that will sell you the control board without having any kind of license. We used to have a company called Johnstown? that would sell us parts but now for some reason, they will, but it’s twice as expensive if you don’t have a license. Found a place called Dey Distributors that will for a reasonable price, but not everyone has one in there area & not everyone knows or will tell you where to go, just because they want you to call a refrigerator repair company so they can charge you an arm & a leg. My Dad was in the Heating/ Cooling business & I would never think to call someone without looking at it myself first. Unless your Refrigerator needs Freon you can do it yourself for under half of what those guys Charge! They will charge you 60$ just to walk in the door! If I helped just one person fix there refrigerator today that would be GREAT! I was ready to push mine out the door to the curb. Good Luck to all of you!
GE side by side fridge isn’t cooling in freezer and ice build-up in freezer mostly around evaporator. It was the thermistor. I have a GE side by side model gss23wstass about 8 years old. The freezer temp started going up. I took off the back panel inside the freezer and noticed the defrost heater would go on but only melt the bottom part of the evaporator coils. Then ice build-up would form on the evaporator and surrounding area and would not allow heat exchange. That is why the temperature started going up. I ended up manually defrosting it a few times and read some info online and thought it might be because of the thermistor.I replaced the thermistor that clips on to the top tubing of the evaporator. I got it on eBay for about $7. It did the trick. It has been working great for the last couple weeks. Completely defrosts the evaporator. So if you have a partially melted evaporator coil it could be due to the thermistor.
I was having sort of similar issues with with my Whirlpool WRF989SDAM00. It’s a French door fridge on top with the freezer on bottom. The issue I was having was the evaporator in the freezer was freezing up until the circulation fan blades were contacting the ice, making noise and not properly cooling the freezer. There was a visible amount of ice in the back of the freezer near the air circulation vents. I defrosted that thing twice until I called a service company. All the guy did was run a self diagnosis and program the fridge to increase the defrost time (and charged me $150). Within about 3 months, the thing froze up again. After that, I pulled the grate off of the back of the freezer, chipped the ice off of the evaporator (wear gloves, the fins on that thing are sharp!) and deduced that the humid climate I live in (Houston, TX) and the lower settings that I had programmed into the fridge were not compatible. I went back to the original factory settings. The factory settings on my fridge are 37degF (Fridge) and 0degF (Freezer) as you have posted. It may be worth increasing your settings a degree or two if you live in a humid part of the country. This may help the defroster keep up.
I had the same problem with my Whirlpool fridge. I replaced the thermistor which snaps onto the heating element and plugs into a plastic connector. The repair was easy except for the removal of the inside panel at the back of the lower freezer drawer. The drawers need to be removed first. It is easy to figure that out too but be gentle as these plastic parts are brittle and can break easily. these aren’t cheap to replace so be careful. Go to PartsSelect.com for diagrams and replacement parts. The part was $47 and I saved $300-$400 in repair costs by doing it myself. The only tools I needed was a Philips screwdriver.
