Hello! We've been trying to resolve this puzzle for several months now.

Our refrigerator and freezer both work fine and hold their temperatures well, but our refrigerator experiences ice buildup on the shared wall with the freezer. The water comes from the Beverage Center vent on the left side of the fridge, about 3/4 of the way up from the floor. This seems to happen regardless of whether the beverage center is on or off. Water occasionally drains out, then re-freezes on the wall. Right now we have an ice trail running diagonally back along the shelf guides down the refrigerator wall. Our shelves are frozen in place, even.

Note: This unit is about 5 years old. We have never had any ice buildup problems, and it's seldom more than half full on either side. We've defrosted the entire unit for 24 hours three times already because of this issue, but it comes back after a couple weeks.

Freezer is set to 0 degrees, and stays within 1-2 degrees.
Refrigerator is set to 34 degrees, and stays within 1-2 degrees.
Beverage center is currently off, but it happens while on as well.

It seems to me that the beverage center vent should be for air only. In looking at the schematics I don't see any kind of damper door to control the air flow into the beverage center (it can be turned on and off from the control panel), but maybe I'm missing it. In the Fresh Food schematic, I see part 851 (drain conn cover assm) which seems to appear under part 850 (the vent cover). The problem is when I take off my vent cover I don't see anything inside except some kind of duct for the cold air... and I certainly don't see how one would get inside there to service anything.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I'd be fine ordering the parts and doing the repair myself, I just can't seen to make heads or tails out of what's going on here. In the schematics I don't even see the duct that runs to the beverage center vent.

Thanks in advance!

Hi GeFridgeIsBroken,

Our refrigerator issue happened a couple years ago now, but if I recall correctly we had sensor that went bad. I don't recall the exact name, but I believe it's what sensed humidity in the fridge. We also had a small hole in the drip tray just behind the top drawer in the fridge. Whenever that coil got cold, frost would develop and then later melt off. This would drain through the pan and end up on the floor. I curse GE for not using a plastic or stainless drip tray. It rusted through in just 5 years!

If I remember correctly the entire repair was $300-some dollars. You may not have the drip tray issue, which was most of the cost, but chances are if you have all kinds of ice and water building up, this tray should be one of your early checks.

I hope this helps!