GE refrigerator fresh food compartment not cold

jgy2001

11 years ago

I have a 2004 GE side by side 25 ft3 refrigerator model GSS25IFP CC. It was working fine. The freezer side still works fine and get cold below 32F. I check for ice and frost and clean up. The small air duct between the freezer to the fresh food compartment is open and clear.

But the fresh food compartment does not get cold and stay above 50F. What should I do?

How does cold air pass from freezer to fresh food compartment size?

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Comments (9)

jwvideo
11 years ago
Nobody has answered so I'll jump in an offer some suggestions even though I'm not familiar with your particular fridge.

1. Immediate stopgap: go to the store and buy a lot of ice. Either put the bags on the top shelf of the fridge compartment or put everything into coolers (bigger coolers are better, but anything will do.)

2. The freezer should be at or below 0 degrees F, not 32F. You've got a problem there, as well. The freezer will stay cold longer than the fresh food compartment.

3. Kick up the setting controlls to maximum cool. Do you hear anything running? If not, your compressor, a control switch or a circuit board has died. Call an appliance repair place or buy a new fridge. If the compressor runs, go to step 3.

3. If things run but are not cooling, check the compressor compartment to see if needs cleaning. Maybe you've already done this? If not, pull the refrigerator out from the wall so you can see the back. Unplug it. There will be a removable grill or panel across the back at the bottom. Take out the screws and remove it. Vacuum out the interior. Plug the fridge back in and see if it starts cooling. If not, you need to call an appliance repair shop or replace the fridge.

Sorry I can only offer generic advice.
jgy2001
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks JW. Yes, the freezer side is running and temp is at 0F. But the fresh food compartment stays at 50F.

When I remove the evaporator fan cable plug, wires are blue, white, yellow & red. Can you tell me what the voltage should be?

Here is a link that might be useful: freezer section drawing
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Just as a comparison point, my fridge (Frigidaire Gallery) is kept at 0F to slightly below in the freezer and 32F to 34F in the cooler. It does fluctuate +/- 2 degrees. My probes are at the top of each compartment, just hanging in the air. Temp appears to be lower at the bottom of the cooler (meat in bottom compartment will occasionally be frosty). I usually have the cooler control set about 2/3 to 3/4 of the way up. The "danger zone" for bacteria growth is supposed to be 40F to 140F, so I'd want my fridge to keep the cooler appreciably below 40F. I would measure using the "glass of water" approach, at top and bottom of the cooler, with freezer set to hold 0F or even -5F. If there is an adjustable vent between freezer and cooler, try having it fully open. If, after all that, cooler won't hold appropriate temp, I'd have it looked at.
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Many fridges freeze things (a little bit) on their back wall. You may never notice it because the temperature rises later. This is often considered normal when it is not significant enough to hurt fresh produce. In a fridge the back wall is where the cold coils are, behind the plastic. Some temperature variation is normal and the fact that it went too far in its cooling cycle is the answer to your question, about the fridge. The compressor was working, but the system overcooled your stuff. --"fail" is the word they will bring out to mean it's not working right, in some way. Instead of tweaking things on site, he can bring it back in, which avoids them having to revisit all the time. Besides, the chances are high that you did all the right things yourself before he arrived on the scene. The freezer being set "in the highest setting" == ?? I might think this means the freezer was set at its coldest setting but I might be wrong. Many freezers can bring temperatures down far below freezing. So, I'm beginning to wonder whether you may have another problem. Was this a one-compressor fridge? How the manufacturer arranged the cooling system to use one compressor for two different systems is their problem. I saw a FF1625 fridge on their site. It is frost-free. This means to cool things it sends air through the fridge area and through the freezer area too. Another thing to consider and to deal with if you are an engineer designing systems and choosing the right size components to keep it small and low enough cost. HTH David
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The GE online store has prices about 10-15% higher than you will find at most retailers. There's your "discount" right there. No one pays "suggested retail price". Different stores discount a different amount off of that price, but no one sells at that price---except the GE store. And, the rebates they offer require that 4-5 (I can't remember which, it's on the tearoff pad at work) appliances be purchased in order to qualify for the top tier award. If you just buy 2 appliances, it's either $50 or $100. We (and every other appliance retailer) have the same rebate going, and our prices are about 15% lower than GE online. So, I think you can do better than the "friends and family" discount if you shop around. And, don't let the rebate factor into your decision. By the time you pay the upcharge for the Profile over the regular GE with similar features, you've paid more than they're giving you back by far. Yes, you do get more features with Profile, and more yet again with Monogram, as well as more "styling". But, you pay for the priviledge of the branding too. Assess the features you will actually USE in your appliances, and "up buy" only to the model that offers those. Most people don't use ANY of the complex functions of either their fridges or MWs. As far as the reliability/features of GE vs any other competitor, I'd definately buy both the fridges or MWs. They are good products in their price range, with few issues other than the "standard" issue of the ice maker being the most repair prone element. Their new french door fridges from their brand new Chinese factory have dual evaporators (Like SubZero) and truly separate fridge and freezer compartments due to this, so you get no odor transfer and more accurate cooling for both. They've had remarkably few problems for being from a brand new factory and a brand new design to the company. Before the Chinese factory, they sold rebadged LGs as their French door units, like "Kenmore" does. Their MWs are roomy and have good power specs. The most often used feature is the "sensor cook" which works in tandem with their "instant action" keys to keep your food from overheating. It works similarly to how the old temperature sensor probes worked, but without the probe. Most of the other features above the level where that is introduced in the line get rarely used and really aren't worth paying more money for. Their OTR convection MW is overpriced for what it is, and really doesn't offer that much of a second oven experience to justify the price. A small countertop version from a cheaper maker for around $100 will fit the same amount of food in it and not cost so much. Of course, it isn't an OTR, but then again, it's not an OTR. :) OTRs are a PIA and safety hazard for any but the smallest kitchen that HAS to have them. If you can go with an actual vent and separate MW, you'll be miles ahead in both $$ and functionality.
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jgy2001
Original Author
11 years ago
How can I test if my evaporator fan is working properly?

Is this evaporator fan suppose to stop when I open the freezer door? What happen if I turn off the freezer door switch, will this fan runs?
jwvideo
11 years ago
>>"Can you tell me what the voltage should be?"Nope. My guess is that the voltage will be 120v but I do not know. Is there a wiring diagram somewhere, maybe on the back on or in the compressor compartment? Have you tried searching for one online?

I posted here because it sometimes helps get discussions going when folks see that there are responses to your OP.
I'm hoping that somebody more knowledgeable will jump in.

For the meantime, here are my further thoughts. In parts drawing you linked to, I see only one evaporator fan. If the freezer is cooling to 0F, I would think that the fan would be working.

Generally, the evaporator fan blows across the evaporator and funnels cold air to the fridge and freezer.

Again, I don't know anything about your model of fridge, but the symptoms would make me look for icing somewhere. Maybe your defrost heater or timer are failing/failed and the evaporator has iced up? Can you access the evaporator? (My recollection is that you might have to remove a panel on the back of the fridge to find the main controller board (with timers), evaporator, defrost thermostat defrost-heater. The parts drawing makes it look like some of these parts might be accessible from the front, but that might just be the way the drawing displays the parts.

Another thought: if the fridge side is running but just not getting cool enough, have you checked the door gasket and how well it seals?

Yet another thought: sometimes circuit boards get confused and need to reboot. On some fridges, you can do this by unplugging the fridge for five minutes and then plagging it back in.

Is this a fridge that was made for GE by LG, by any chance, and does it have incandescent bulbs for interior lights? LG side-by-sides had a spate of problems with light switches sticking in the on position and the heat from the incandescent bulbs heated the interior (like the old Easybake toy ovens). Find the door switches and make sure that they shut off the lights.

Have you searched sites like fixya.com? They might have a specific page(s) devoted to your model of fridge where you might find some more specific advice. But, maybe you've been there and found nothing useful?.
weedmeister
11 years ago
From the fridge side drawing, there is a damper that controls the airflow from the freezer to the fridge side. This damper is controlled by your settings, the temperature sensor and the main computer board (on the back of the fridge).

It says this is a DC motor and I tend to believe them.

I don't know if this model turns off the fan if the door is open, but you can certainly fool it by depressing the freezer door switch (fridge side too). You could tape them down as well. You should be able to turn the temp settings all the way down and the unit should turn on. You should feel air blowing through the damper into the fridge section.
dadoes
11 years ago
Your model number is not complete, there should be another letter between the P and CC. Sears brings up 16 hits on GSS25IFP*. All of them are largely the same but there may be differences in a few components due to engineering or series changes.

The fan is DC-powered. The control board outputs 13 volts DC, pulsing the current rapidly to control the speed. The fan motor can be test-run on a 9-volt battery. Connect the red wire to the positive + battery terminal. Connect the white and yellow wires to the negative - battery terminal. Blue wire is a speed sensor connection so does not connect to the battery (some units don't make use of the blue wire).

The fan may be OK. The motherboard/control board may be the fault, not sending proper current to the motor. ALL the various fans in the refrigerator -- freezer evaporator fan, fresh food evaporator fan, condensor fan, and any other fans such as the Custom Cool drawer (if there is one) -- run on DC power from the control board. A given fan circuit / output may go bad and the others be OK, but replacing the board is the only fix. Been there, done that. Be advised that the "official" repair is to replace *both* the suspect fan motor and the motherboard.

In my case, the parts diagram referenced the *wrong* fan motor -- one that did not include a thermistor sensor in the wiring lead when my unit DID have the integral thermistor. Instead of returning the wrong fan motor and waiting for a reorder, I pulled the thermistor out of the old fan's harness plug and swapped it to the new fan. Note also that in my case some rewiring of the compressor wires was required for a parts substitution/update on the motherboard (instructions were included).
jgy2001
Original Author
11 years ago
Thank you all for your responses.

The model number is GSS25IFPH. The evaporator fan is 12VDC.
I open the freezer panel and the evaporator fan is blowing fine. The freezer side is working fine. The air duct damper is working (actually I can discount and manually open the damper door to the fresh food compartment).

Can you tell me where is the location of fresh food compartment temperature sensor?
weedmeister
11 years ago
If I believed the parts picture, the sensor is there behind the control panel (where the knobs are). If not directly there, then close by since the wire is not that long.
jgy2001
Original Author
11 years ago
gave up, getting a new LG refrigerator

GE refrigerator fresh food compartment not cold

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GE refrigerator fresh food compartment not cold

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