Hello,
This is my first post, so I hope I do it correctly. I hope this isn't too much history, but I have tried to read everything I can find. About a year ago, I bought a GE profile arctica top freezer model PTS22LCPARWW, SN TF307493. Ice maker not used. If I decoded properly, it was manuf in Oct. 2003. I put this in an apt 4-plex that I manage. About 80 days after I bought it, it stopped cooling. The used appliance place came out - somehow for the first time in my life, I was still in the warranty period. Said it was the mother board and replaced it - this was May 2011. Then 3 days ago, she called to say it it was getting warm again. about 7 degrees in freezer and 42 in fridge. (not as bad as the first time) The appliance guys said it was the main PC board. I tried to tell them it was new, but there is a language barrier. they nicely offered to swap fridges, but all they had were small, icky ones. So, I felt in the freezer area and could not feel any air blowing; however, the compressor and the fan by it were running. I remember the first repair guy (who no longer works there) doing that. So, after some searching I did the following. Tested the ohms between the J9 and J7 and got .035 at 20k setting. If I read this correctly, it is 35 Ohms and is ok for top freezer. I think I was testing the heater & thermostat (by the way, 1st time in my life I have tested for Ohms - so not exerienced at all). so, next (per my research), I tested the thermistor by following the picture - 4th and 5th wire on Jl connector. It tested 16 on the 20k, so 16,000 compared to the 16.3k i am supposed to get. And, the freezer was 7 degrees at the time. So, from all that, I guessed that although only 7 months old, the main board was bad - AGAIN! Next, I borrowed a main board from a fridge the appliance guy had (a hotpoint that he said was the same board). He said he had just replaced it and there was a box there that said WR55x10942. Took the board out and got him to show me how to get to the fan the freezer. Took to board to my fridge and swapped it out. No change - in other words, the fan in the freezer did not go on. So, i proceeded to take apart the freezer and find the fan. Then, I turned it all on again and the fan WAS running. It was so quiet I thought maybe I couldnt hear it with all the plastic covers. Also, there was not any ice build up on the coils, but by this time the freezer was over 45 degrees. So, I put the back plate on after some frustration and fiddling. Then I put on the vertical plastic cover - the one that says "climatekeeper". At this point you cant see the fan blades. I turned everything back on and the fan was NOT running. so, put my finger on the blade and started it spinning. And, it started running! So, with it all still on, I carefully but back the top plastic cover that houses the freezer light. Felt the grill - fan still running - yea! Turned the temp up - fan goes off. Reset to 0 and 37, fan goes on. So, this leads me to believe the main board is OK after all, although I have not put it back. But, I still don't know how long the fan will stay running. My questions are: Is this fan that I believe is called the evaporator fan supposed to run all the time? Does it help circulate the cold air down into the fridge area, or help defrost the coils, or both or neither. What might be wrong with it that I could get it started by by spinning it by hand?
Thanks so much for reading and for any advice you might have
