I have a GE TBX24Z. Lately, I am coming home to find that items in the freezer like bread and pizza are soft, not frozen solid and there is frost on some of the items. Initially I thought maybe one of the kids accidentally didn't close the freezer all the way. Then, 2 days ago (Friday) I woke up to the freezer completely defrosted and everything was thawed. I replaced the surge protector just to be safe (The light on it was flaky and would go on and off, so it was hard to know if it was working properly). After that, I attempted to turn the fridge on and off hoping to trigger it back on. It did not turn back on. I took off the back cardboard panel at the bottom and vacuumed up all the dust and check the fan to make sure it was not stuck. The fan turned easily when I touched it so not stuck. I then popped of the little round plastic cover that covers the defrost timer and turned it 3 full turns clockwise to make sure it wasn't jammed. Then I turned the fridge off and on and it came right on. Sounds like all the fans are running too, and I can feel air flowing from the vents at the back of the freezer. I put an accurate thermometer in the freezer and noticed that over the whole day Saturday, the freezer temperature was ranging from -10 to +10 except for a few times where I noticed it went up to +20 and the bread got kinda soft again and I noticed frost again. This morning (Sunday) when I woke op, the temp again was +20 and the bread and pizza was soft. I turned the therm dial in the fridge up to see if it would trigger on and it did. Has been running now for about 30 minutes and the temp is +5 and going down. I did have an acquaintance who is an appliance repairman look at the fridge on friday and he said that the compressor is weak and I should replace the fridge because its 21 years old. Now, In my mind, if the compressor is weak it would not get consistent temps of -10 to +10 so easily. Before spending over a grand for a new fridge, I asked another acquaintance of mine who is also an appliance repairman and he said that it does NOT sound like the compressor. (I am a computer technician and own a computer repair shop and did computer repairs on the cheap for both of these guys knowing they may return the favor some day, that's how I know them) I am only mentioning these repairmen to be thorough. The first one did look in the freezer and at the coils behind the freezer wall although he did NOT look at the back of the unit or the compressor at all. The second guy, I asked his opinion on the phone so he never saw the unit at all. What is my next step to get to the bottom of this. Thank you.

Avi F

This morning I woke up and again the temp was +40. The fridge was not running at all, so I attempted to turn the temp control up and down and nothing happened. I turned it off and waited about 5 minutes and then turned it on and it came right on. I suspect that the Defrost timer is turning the fridge off but then it does not come back on automatically... any ideas?

Thank you. I will check it out.