Wow. That looks more like a waterfall.

The only time I've seen this much water inside a fridge was when the door was left open.

You mentioned that the GE tech got failure codes on your first refrigerator, the one that was replaced. Did he perform the same test on this one? Have you mailed these photos to GE?

We lived in PA and still have a vacation home there. We've never experienced dripping inside our GE Profile refrigerator. We always turn the AC off when we leave and even in the humid days of August when we return it's dry inside the unit.

Your pic looks like what happens when the door is open for an extended period in a humid environment. If you didn't have the air running when you took that pic and you had left the door open for several minute, yes, that's what it should look like until all of the humidity is done condensing out of the air and the air inside the fridge becomes dry. That could take a couple of hours.

It should not look like that first thing in the morning after being shut all night though, so if it does, then you maybe have a leak in the door seal allowing humid moist air into the fridge interior. The first thing I would check is that you closed the fridge properly. Yes, I know that's basic, but you'd be surprised at how many french door fridges don't close all the way and the owners never notice and have turned off the open door alarm that alerts them to this problem. If the fridge doors close correctly then you can check on the quality of the fridge seal itself using a piece of typing paper. Close the door on the paper and pull it out. It should have good resistance to you pulling on it. If it has poor resistance or just slides right out easily, your door seals could be compromised. If all of your door seals are OK, then you are getting humidity into the fridge from some other source that may be more difficult to diagnose.

Maire-cate, the GE tech this time did no testing at all. Just removed the panel at the back of the freezer unit that covers the evaporator coils. He looked at the coils and said that everything was operating as designed.

GreenDesigns, we have a top freezer and we are very careful about making sure that the doors are tightly closed. Actually, when we first got this replacement refrigerator, we noticed that the door was not aligned correctly. We had to lift the door to close it properly. The service technician said the door was sagging and explained that it is composed of a lot of styrofoam and doesn't have a rigid frame. I asked if the door was too heavy for the cabinet and wouldn't it get worse over time. He said that it would. He adjusted it and since then, we always check it. As of today, it appears to be sealing correctly. I was a little surprised when he added, "You know what they (GE) tells me to tell the customer? Too bad!" May be a good reason not to buy GE. That's explains why GE will tell customers with problems that they would "probably have trouble with any model and any brand of refrigerator." I think that's another way of saying, "Too bad".

We don't leave the door open really for more than a few seconds, except when I am cleaning it. We do use our air conditioning when it is hot and humid, who wouldn't? And on the day that the technician came out, the recorded humidity, according to our local newspaper, was 26% at 3 pm. The water in the fridge and the ice in the freezer has been a constant condition for weeks. I took the pictures on one day and it took only a few seconds to depress the shutter of the camera.

The problem is that we have ice forming in the freezer compartment. From what I understand, a possible cause of ice formation is a failure of something called the defrost termination thermostat which controls the defrost cycle. To quote from one repair clinic advice forum, "if defrost runs too long it will "steam" the coil (of the evaporator) and that steam will condense on the ceiling and freeze into ice drops in refrigeration."

And according to another forum http://www.appliance411.com/faq/defrostproblem.shtml, "If the defrost termination thermostat contacts short out, it will allow the defrost heater to stay on as long as the timer is in the defrost mode. A symptom of that is usually greatly fluctuating temperatures in the freezer compartment possibly causing thawing and re-freezing of food stuffs." This describes our problem but the tech did not check it. The long and short of it is that the excessive condensation could be the result of any of several different components which, in the very brief time the tech was here, were not checked out.

It has now turned chilly here - it was 64 degrees in the house when we woke up yesterday morning and we have had to turn on the heat. Suffice it to say, outside humidity can not possibly be an issue. Yet there is even more ice in our freezer and the crisper compartments in the refrigerator have water droplets hanging inside from the top of the drawers even though both crispers are set to their lowest settings. We had to throw a number of fruits and vegetables away. They had totally rotted.

Your current fridge is one that the manufacturer replaced for you under warranty? It doesn't include any warranty if that's the case. If this is a completely new purchase, then of course, it does carry the manufacturer's one year warranty.

Did you do any of the diagnostics that were suggested above by Green? Or are you certain that you have already diagnosed the problem? If so, order the part and fix it yourself! Or call in the repair guy of your choice and pay them to install the part. Or, take GE up on their discount if you aren't happy with this fridge. That's a good deal. Because even if this is a new purchase, your warranty is about to expire.

I agree with the poster above. It appears there is something wrong with the defroster that is not allowing the condensed water to drain from the refrigerator. Normally it will end up in a pan under the fridge where it evaporates from heat from the compressor.

l_w_o: I was under the impression that if a manufacturer replaced an item under warranty that the term of the original warranty still applied so that if they replaced an item six months into a 1 year warranty, there would still be 6 months of the warranty remaining on the new item. Has that changed and is it true for all warranties or just certain manufacturers?

Most consumer brands rarely even offer a replacement warranty anymore. They offer "unlimited repair" until someone gets tired of the service calls and makes enough stink that a replacement occurs. At that point, the warranty is fulfilled. You don't get the balance of the original warranty because the original warranty was on the original item, and that warranty has been fulfilled by replacement. Any problems with the replacement and you are on your own to solve them.

Some states have consumer protection laws in place that control some of these actions, and they will supersede the policy in those locations.

Live Wire Oak, this refrigerator is still under warranty and many parts for GE Profile models have a 5 year warranty. I would never have even considered an appliance that didn't have a decent warranty.

For a less than one year old refrigerator to have problems is not normal or acceptable. Does anyone really think so? GE's offer of a discount on another model, is not acceptable either. Firstly, there isn't another GE model that I would want. We needed a refrigerator that had lots of space. I took a measuring tape with me to showrooms and measured the shelf space of many different refrigerators. I was surprised that most 24 cu ft models today have even less shelf space than my old 23 year old, 20 cu ft Whirlpool which did not have enough capacity for our needs. (and it was old - but as I stated earlier, never necessitated a service call).

And we needed one with the largest refrigerator space - We have a small freezer in the garage. Today's French door and bottom freezers models just don't fill that requirement. We also didn't want an icemaker or water dispenser which take up way too much space and have many problems. This GE Profile model is the only 24 cu ft top freezer on the market. I felt reassured by a ringing endorsement by Consumer Reports at the time we bought it, although I notice that in their most recent ratings, GE refrigerators has lost its high rating status.

As for my doing the diagnostics, the GE tech was just here. Wasn't that what he was supposed to do? But as I stated previously, of course we checked the door seals.

And, of course I don't know for sure what the problem is, but I realized that once again I can't always depend on those who are supposed to have the skill, knowledge, and experience, to do work the homeowner can't be expected to because the homeowner didn't have years of training and experience. After researching the issue I've read enough to come to believe that the build up of ice in the freezer and water in the refrigerator compartment should not be considered "operating as designed".

I wonder if Live Wire Oak understands what is involved in testing and replacing the thermostat. It's just not reasonable to advise that I do this repair myself. I don't have the ability or electrical knowledge. An internet repair clinic advises to"Consult with an appliance repair technician if you do not feel you have the skill or the ability to successfully complete this repair". I believe I read that one homeowner who tried this ended up with severe burns.

Okay, first step, (according to the instructions on the website), is to locate the defrost thermostat, and in freezer-on-top models, it may be located under the floor of the unit. I'm not sure how I can get under the floor of the unit. Being 5' tall and 96 lbs, I can barely move the beast. And even if I were Wonder Woman, I don't have the equipment to do this repair. For example, in order to test the thermostat, one would need to "set your multitester to the R X 1 ohms setting". Apparently, the thermostat is wired in series (whatever that means) with the defrost heater. I just wouldn't touch that - even I could get access to it.

You might want to check out the post: French Door Refrigerators. mmhmmgood wrote on Sat, Aug 13, 2011, "The only one that might be worth avoiding is GE, consumer reports show a pretty poor brand reliability with GE's fridges. "

What I am complaining about is that the service technician was here for 5 minutes and left abruptly, without checking anything other than the evaporator coils. He was not originally scheduled to come to our house that day; we were added at the last minute - the fault of GE service schedulers. He normally starts his calls at 8 but he was forced to start his day earlier because of us and was here at 7:45 and he was quite angry. It was very, very unfortunate for us. And I want to stress that our first refrigerator was replaced because every test the tech did - and he did a number - all done with his laptop connected to a central service location - showed every test as failing. It was under warranty and it was declared "unrepairable". If it's unrepairable, it doesn't make a lot of sense to continually try to repair it. It costs a company money to have to send service people over and over again to try to make repairs (costs in labor and parts) when it knows that the appliance is not repairable.

Viv - I wish I could offer you a simple trick that would get GE to act responsibly. Unfortunately I'm afraid this is going to become even more frustrating - in any case, can you contact GE again and inform them that the tech was only there for 5 minutes and didn't bother doing any more testing? Inform them about the lack of humidity when this happened. Actually in my opinion the 'humidity' excuse is BS. Until last year we had a 20 year old Kenmore refrigerator running in our hot and humid garage in NJ - and we never had condensation inside the unit. Have you spoken with a GE supervisor? I'm afraid you're going to have go up the chain here. It's not going to be easy.

As for whether or not her replacement refrigerator has a new warranty or not - that can be tricky and may vary by state. GE replaced my SXS refrigerator while under warranty at our home in PA and the replacement was covered with a new warranty. Ten years ago GE replaced a trash compactor at my NJ home because they no longer made the little plastic piece that kept the door shut. That was replaced under my extended warranty and the new one came with a new one year warranty. Dacor replaced my double wall ovens due to excessive condensation between the glass at my NJ home and the new ovens came with a new warranty. My son had a Swiss Army watch replaced under warranty because the watertight compartment let water in and ruined the watch. They specifically notified him that the new watch would only have whatever time remained on the original warranty.

Good luck dealing with GE.

One of the really basic troubleshooting steps is to shut off and empty a suspect fridge and leave the doors open for a few days until it has completely thawed and dried out. While this is taking place make sure the melt water is reaching its correct destination and not overflowing the water evaporation pan. Then place a thermometer in the freezer and another in the fridge and start the empty appliance and quickly monitor the normal temperature settings several times a day for several days. If all seems normal, next refill the fridge and freezer with a normal amount of the usual heavy closed containers only on the shelves with nothing in the doors.
If everything still remains OK, start normal use but avoid leaving big open sources of moisture like cooling bowls of Jello, etc on the shelves. Try to determine if there is a slow buildup of moisture again over an extended period or if it happens suddenly.
Or best case, it doesn't come back!

My GE Fridge: From "Operating as Designed" to "Non-repairable"

Holy cow! GE has been insisting all along that my refrigerator is "operating as designed". But yesterday I received an email from Vicki, my GE Consumer Relations case manager, that "Your appliance is non-repairable". I'm having a hard time understanding this. How to explain this apparent contradiction? Is GE admitting that their service techs are told to tell the customer, no matter what their findings, that the appliance is "operating as designed"? " Hmmm - I did relate in a previous post that the tech who came out for a sagging door problem said GE tells them to tell the customer "Too Bad"! I feel sorry for poor Vicki though - she's only the messenger. Sent: Tuesday, September 20, 2011 1:12 PM
Subject: GE Consumer Relations Case# 12094076
My offer stands to work with you on a discounted unit or offer you a rebate for $300. Let me know what you decide. Your appliance is non-repairable.
Sincerely,
Vicki
GE Consumer Relations

Actually I like my GE Profile. It has so much usable space. But I certainly wouldn't get another GE model - too many terrible reviews. I just wish they could fix the one I have.

Maire_cate, thanks for your empathy. It is so frustrating to have to deal with this. Yes, I did tell GE about the angry 5 minute service call. And yes, I did make the photos available.

Your 20 year old Kenmore and my 23 year old Whirlpool were manufactured back in the days when appliances were less complicated - no electronics - and better built. I never had one service call either for my 1990 GE Potscrubber DW, 1985 Maytag washer, 1990 Whirlpool dryer. And we are still using the Hotpoint wall oven that was original with the house which was built in 1960 (we did replace the elements a couple of times but it was easy to do ourselves.)

We are doing a complete kitchen renovation and are replacing all our appliances. Based on my experience with my GE fridge, my main criteria for choosing an appliance is reliability, warranty, and customer service - how well the manufacturer stands behind their appliance. We bought a Miele Optima DW about a year ago and a Miele washing machine just a few months ago. So many glowing reviews on Gardenweb. They really are well built and designed and perform so well. No experience yet with service except for reprogramming DW when I tried to program for the hardness of our water. In the end, I think the extra $ is offset by (hopefully) not having expensive repairs and service calls down the road - and not having to go through the same frustration I've had with GE. Keeping my fingers crossed and counting on Miele's reputation. Now I need to replace the wall oven and cooktop.

Stay tuned for the ongoing saga of my GE fridge. Don't know yet what I'm going to do.