[knwollen]

I called GE on Monday concerning the evaporator fan noise in my GE GSS2010EMBWW side by side. The lady was familiar with both my moisture problem and the noise. She said a new motherboard would probably fix the problem. They were not free, but $75 for the board and $10 for the motor plus $14.95 shipping overnight. I put them in Wed. and today is Sat., no noise so far.

It is interesting that no matter what part place I check, they call for pn WR60X10185 as the motor, a 4 whire harness. I have a WR60x100074 motor with thermister, 6 wire plug. The motors are the same so I had to cut and splice the 4 motor wires.

I would still like to know how far down the shaft the fan should go. I placed it about 1/4" down from the top.

Thanks,
Ken

[knwollen]

Well it has been 3 weeks since I replaced the motherboard and fan in my GE GSS2010EMBWW and it started to make noise plus the cubed/crushed ice control had froze up. I used a blow dryer on the fan and ice motor control. After turning it back on the motor for the icemaker was froze so I had to defrost it again. This did quiet the fan down again.

I have come up with a permanent fix to my problem. I bought a Maytag and this one is going down the basement as a backup refrigerator.

[AnonymousI]

There are things in life that should never, on the face of the earth, be computerized--refrigerators included. Within the last 2 years, I have replaced the evap motor AND motherboard twice on my 8 year old GE fridge--costing $200 each time (not including the cost of spoiled food). Everyone with a brain knows that water, humidity, and temperature don't play well with motherboards. So, why are companies redesigning everyday appliances to depend on a dumb computer? To cheat their customers, I suppose. Can you believe that tiny evap motor alone is worth $70?--I don't think so.

My Two Cents:
I had just replaced (again) the evap motor and motherboard with a few modifications of my own. To make sure this moisture problem doesn't happen again, I added a generous amount of plumber's putty on the edges of the metal covers on the new motor. To further reduce moisture penetration, I dismantled the old motor, and took out the black rubber washer and white plastic object (a spacer?) from the shaft. Next, I slid the rubber washer first on the shaft of the new motor (don't dismantle the new motor). Finally, I slid the white object down the shaft with the flat-side closest to the base. If all goes well, the new motor should still spin freely. Theoretically, I figured that everything will be compressed when reinstalled, thereby creating a moisture-proof seal between the motor and freezer. Hopefully, my improvisation will last more than a year, but I will update on status.

Other Findings:
To see (confirm) what was causing the frying of the motor and MB, I took a flat-blade and pried the metal covers off the old motor. Sure enough, there was moisture--a lot of it. It's a very simple design--the shaft rotates using magnets (one on shaft and several around the motor). However, design was poorly executed. The motor's magnets are not sealed (exposed, rather) and rusting--which will allow moisture to short the motor in just over a year.

Bottom Line: Check the back first (not the front) before purchasing a fridge.

[richappy]

A few things to check/do. Add a slinger ( a round plastic, thin piece ) to the motor shaft below the fan blade, will sling moisture away from the motor shaft.
Next, find out why there is too much moisture above the fan blade, usually poor air flow will do it like partly clogged air vents. Post results.

[knwollen]

Originally Posted by richappy

A few things to check/do. Add a slinger ( a round plastic, thin piece ) to the motor shaft below the fan blade, will sling moisture away from the motor shaft.
Next, find out why there is too much moisture above the fan blade, usually poor air flow will do it like partly clogged air vents. Post results.

Where do you get or what do you use as a slinger.

When I first contacted GE about the moisture problem GE (GSS20IEMBWW) had just lost a lawsuit concerning the 2000/2001 models due to this moisture problem. Ge replaced the front doors with thicker doors and better insulation, replaced the back (evaporator) plate in the freezer, new mother board and ice maker bin. None of these helped the moisture problem.

The moisture appeares to be dripping down from above the fan. you can see water droplets on the bottom of the ice maker motor controll section, and the icemaker control section will eventually freeze up, both the electro magnet control for crushed/cubed ice and the motor gears themselves will freeze up. The motor will eventually encase itself in ice.

Since I know I have no clogged vents and GE replaced many parts, where can this moisture be coming from? GE does'nt have an answer they would give me.

[richappy]

You should find the water leak. I service these GE's often and I have never seen a water problem. Maybe you have a slow leaking ice maker water solenoid in the back, just remove water supply to confirm.

[knwollen]

Thanks for the info. I would always have a small amount of water drip out of the right side of the icemaker, but the cubes were all uniform, of course this froze and I would break it off occasionally.

GE was found guilty in a class action lawsuit a few years back concerning this model and according to a lot of people in this forum they had moisture problems also causing evaporator fan noise and burnt out fans and motherboards.

If I ever plug it in again I will try it without a water supply. It now resides in my basement and has been replaced by a Maytag.

[richappy]

The below chart should help diagnosing bad thermistors

Temperature F Resistance

-40 186.8 K
-31 120.5K
-22 88K
-13 65K
-4 48.4K
5 36K
14 27.6K
23 21K
32 16.6K
41 12.7K
50 10K
59 7.6K
88 6.2K
95 3.2K
104 2.6K
113 2.2K
122 1.8K
131 1.5K
140 1.2K

[dochera]

I hope I'm not hijacking this thread,, my problem seems related!

ill try to be brief model # pss26lsre ss side-by-side purchased about 4 months ago USED...

worked great cool throughout! then about 2 months ago noticed all ice melted out of ice maker and food at top of freezer defrosted though at the bottom it was around 14 degrees. fridge side 60 degrees up top frozen on bottom... checked coild.. slightly forsty on top clear on bottom.. cleaned all frozen water from ice that melted and hair dryer coils .. problem solved! for about another week or two. then same issue. so gave up on ice maker and moved all food to lower half of fridge and freezer (temporary fix). but all by itself seemd to start woking again.

then today I notice warm fridge up top again, same with freezer. so I research and find out these have MB issues. I check MB visually all caps look good, no burns on board top or bottom... compressor warm but not hot and compressor fan working fine... I noticed my evap fan never seemed to come on. EVER. and I decided to check coil again. this time I notice same minor frost pattern, but many Frozen water drips all over the coil. (not so much as to clog it but seemd wrong to me) so I left it plugged in but set settings to "0" and started defrosting coil. after about 2 minutes the evap came on strong... (first time I've ever heard that thing come on that I've noticed!) I press door button to simulate closing door. fan shuts off! i release button and again 2 minutes later evap fan comes on. I open fridge and feel for air coming out of tower. ( could not ffeel any) press freezer button again while fridge door remains open, EVAP fan stays on. then close fridge door while holding freezer button again fan shuts off. so at least I know the fan MOTOR does work!

so I turned settings back to 5/5 and now I hear the evap fan running with door open and closed...for now assuming itll cool down again, but I know I fixed absolutely nothing!


so what next? just dump the $$ and grab the new MB or is there something else I should check??? any help is much appreciated !

[richappy]

Standard procedure is to replace both the evaporator motor and the motherboard. If you just replace the motherboard, the failing evaporator motor will just blow it out again.