[Rick243]

GE side by side refrig. had elevated temp. in refrig.
Freezer evaporator iced up. Checked defrost heater(single heater) which measured 26 ohms(assumed good). Checked defrost thermostat in freezer, which was approx. 0 ohms cold.(assumed good). Defrosted evaporator with hair dryer. Posted a troubleshooting question on this website, received a reply to replace the main control circuit board(GEH WR55X10942), which I did on Oct. 3. I placed a digital Wattmeter in refigerator AC power cord to monitor AC current drawn by refrigerator. Since installing new control board I have not seen AC power on wattmeter in the 500 W range, indicating that freezer is in defrost cycle. When compressor runs, power drawn is approx. 150 Watts. Refrigerator is maintaining 35-40 deg. temp. HOW can I force freezer to go into the defrost cycle, to verify that the new control board is functioning properly and freezer is defrosting ??? I have not pulled rear interior panel of freezer off since Oct. 3, to check for evaporator ice build up.
Thanks, Rick

[Joe / APP Team]

Originally Posted by Rick243

GE side by side refrig. had elevated temp. in refrig.
Freezer evaporator iced up. Checked defrost heater(single heater) which measured 26 ohms(assumed good). Checked defrost thermostat in freezer, which was approx. 0 ohms cold.(assumed good). Defrosted evaporator with hair dryer. Posted a troubleshooting question on this website, received a reply to replace the main control circuit board(GEH WR55X10942), which I did on Oct. 3. I placed a digital Wattmeter in refigerator AC power cord to monitor AC current drawn by refrigerator. Since installing new control board I have not seen AC power on wattmeter in the 500 W range, indicating that freezer is in defrost cycle. When compressor runs, power drawn is approx. 150 Watts. Refrigerator is maintaining 35-40 deg. temp. HOW can I force freezer to go into the defrost cycle, to verify that the new control board is functioning properly and freezer is defrosting ??? I have not pulled rear interior panel of freezer off since Oct. 3, to check for evaporator ice build up.
Thanks, Rick

Rick, Heres a quick easy test for the defrost system :

"Pull the back motherboard cover and locate the 3 pin power connector. Remove the connector and place a wire jumper between the connector mating pins marked line and def. Plug fridg in, if you fail to get defrost action, you probably have a bad evaporator thermostat clipped to the evaporator. If defrost action, replace the motherboard"
If all checks are OK, replace the control assembly.