Fridge Tech

[kaiser715]

Long story, TL;DR at the end.

Bought a new GE Profile refrigerator (PYE22PBLCTS) in the spring of 2018 when we built the new house.

This past July, it lost cooling and thawed the freezer. Was running continuously. I rolled it out and cleaned the condenser coils (at least the parts I could see and get to with the vac, about half way around. No good, so called the man. He could not find anything wrong, it passed diagnostics, etc. Left a temperature data logger in it for a week, then he came back and re-checked everything. Made a call to GE tech support each time and asked about any known issues that could cause what was going on. The night after he left from the first visit, i noticed that the fridge was working OK and cycling normally. Temps from the data logger were perfect....only variation was when it kicked into defrost, and everything was within range.

Fast forward to this week.

Woke up Monday a.m. to water on the floor where the ice had melted and dripped from the ice dispenser. Transferred everything to shop fridge and deep freezer. Monday evening, I got the air compressor and got the entire condenser coil clean, even the back side (it is a cylinder shape about 7" by 14"). Stuck the remote temp sensor from our porch in the fridge. Temps ran OK all of Tuesday and Wednesday.

Today, finished moved the food back into it. Noticed later that the fridge temp was 55*. It is set on 38. Freezer drawer is set at 0* and is currently running at 26*. Once again, it is not cycling, fans are on all the time.

SO....can't be too much wrong, I don't think....assume compressor and gas is fine since it did work the past 4 months. All 3 fans work. Assuming it might be a bad main control board (possibly keeping it hung in defrost mode), or a bad thermistor. From what I have read, this fridge has 3....one for fridge, one in freezer, and a defrost thermostat.

Total parts to just throw parts at it will be maybe around three or four hundred bucks. A new unit would be three grand.

I don't see much option but to throw a few hundred into it and hope for the best. Can't let it keep melting everything and spoiling food.

Advice, experience, opinions???

TL;DR -- 2.5 y/o GE fridge thawed, then worked OK for months, this week thawed again. Do I wait until total failure, throw parts at it ($3-400 plus my time), or replace ($3000).

 

[RatLabGuy]

No advice other than if it's a $3k fridge, agreeing that the most logical parts will be only 10% the cost of replacement.
No reports of a cosimilar common failure on the appliance repair sites?

 

[kaiser715]

No advice other than if it's a $3k fridge, agreeing that the most logical parts will be only 10% the cost of replacement.
No reports of a cosimilar common failure on the appliance repair sites?

Seems most of the reading I have done, and youtube point to either a bad mainboard (most likely), or a bad temp/defrost thermistor. Only thing is, if I pick just one, and am wrong, it will be weeks/months before we find out, when it thaws again.

Right now, it is cycling normally. 38 degress in refer compartment.

 

[RatLabGuy]

Seems most of the reading I have done, and youtube point to either a bad mainboard (most likely), or a bad temp/defrost thermistor. Only thing is, if I pick just one, and am wrong, it will be weeks/months before we find out, when it thaws again.

Right now, it is cycling normally. 38 degress in refer compartment.

ok lets think through this.
- Every time it has thawed - has it been both the fridge AND freezer?
- 3 thermisters - fridge, freezer, and...? Crisper?

IF the thermisters are just a simple analog device that converts temp into a restance on a wire, then the most likely failure mode is either being a wrong value b/c the coil is off, or just bad and would be open (or closed?) circuit.
If the two (three?) circuits are independent of one another, and >1 is failing at once, it seems odd to be >1 thermister at the same time.
This leads me to think the more likely culprit is the control board, probably something in the ADC taking in the thermistor lines or the actual logic for what to do with the data bits once convrted.

 

[kaiser715]

ok lets think through this.
- Every time it has thawed - has it been both the fridge AND freezer?
- 3 thermisters - fridge, freezer, and...? Crisper?

IF the thermisters are just a simple analog device that converts temp into a restance on a wire, then the most likely failure mode is either being a wrong value b/c the coil is off, or just bad and would be open (or closed?) circuit.
If the two (three?) circuits are independent of one another, and >1 is failing at once, it seems odd to be >1 thermister at the same time.
This leads me to think the more likely culprit is the control board, probably something in the ADC taking in the thermistor lines or the actual logic for what to do with the data bits once convrted.

Great thoughts!

Very true, have to find the common denominator. Fridge and freezer have their own evaporators and thermistors, so the common denominators would be the control board, its power supply, the compressor, condenser, and three way valve.

The valve usually works or goes doa. The compressor and condenser didn't work, then did, then didn't, and now is working. Wouldn't be low freon if it worked fine for 4 months.

So, that leaves the main board and power supply.

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[RatLabGuy]

So, that leaves the main board and power supply.

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I'd think it would be unlikely to be the power supply unless EVERYTHING was off or failing.