After using your website, I diagnosed and replaced the defrost thermostat and
defrost heater on my refrigerator due the the frost build up on my evaporator
coils. Everything seemed to work for about 1 month (although an odd smell started coming from the inside of the freezer and fridge). Now, the fridge side has started getting too warm and I have ice all over my evaporator coils. When I went to inspect and see what was going on, I noticed that my new defrost heater had melted the plastic ends that hold the glass tubes (hence the smell in the freezer and fridge). What could have caused this? I'd rather not just replace the heater again and have it burn up as well. Thanks for any help.

Thanks, I've got everything back together now and made sure the connections are good and tight. It's only been a couple of days but things
seem to be working and we're not getting a bad smell. We'll be watching it carefully from here to see how things go.

I have the same problem in my GE Side-by-Side Refrigerator (Model Number DSS25KSRE purchased in Dec 2005). We have replaced the defrost heater (and defrost thermostat) twice. Both times the defrost heater ends melted and we got a terrible smell throughout freezer and fresh food section. Both times this happened about 24 hours after installing new heater. What is causing this?

We have been having continuous problems with the freezer compartment getting too warm on top and the fresh food section getting too warm on top and freezing foods in the vegetable crisper and side door opposite vegetable crisper. We had an appliance repairman come out and look at it and when he was there it just happened to be working ok (was sporadic) so nothing was fixed and we were charged $130 for a service call. He suggested it was either the evaporator fan motor or the motherboard but to wait until it did it again to replace them and estimated with service call it would be about $500. Needless to say it happened again and we spent hours researching online and bought the parts our self and replaced them.

So far this is what we have replaced: Motherboard; Evaporator Fan Motor; Defrost Heater; and Defrost Thermostat. We still have the same problem with the freezer getting too warm on top and the fresh food side too warm on top and too cold in the vegetable crisper.

What else could this be and why does the defrost heater keep melting? We changed the thermostat already. We've went through 2 defrost heaters now with a third on the way.

Thanks you in advance for helping me. :)

Thank you Simon.

The defrost heater states it is the right part (WR51X10055). The evaporator fan motor came with a thermistor attached. We have ordered 3 more to replace the other three (1 in freezer, 2 in fresh food section). Will let you know after they are installed if it helps. We have a third defrost heater on the way. My husband says he knows he installed the defrost heater tight. Is there a history of these heaters overheating?

Did you ever have any other problems with it? If so what else did you do to correct it? I just replaced my original heater on my GE fridge (GSS23LSTA SS) and within about 12 hrs the ends melted. The heater still measures about 25 ohms so I think it's ok., with the heater removed I get 15V AC when the fridge is running. Why 15, I would think it would be 0 or 120V?