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Joined: 7/12/2017(UTC)
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Hi All,
I have a 3 month old GE Profile 23.1 Cu. Ft. Counter-Depth French-Door Refrigerator (PWE23KSKBSS) that I believe is misbehaving.
Every time it comes out of freezer defrost cycle it makes ice cream extremely soft. There will be frost on the outside of the ice cream containers. Frozen waffles become defrosted.
At the end of the defrost, when the condenser and fans come back on the temperature (as measured using wireless thermometer and also infrared thermometer) coming out of the freezer fan is 29 degrees for over ten minutes. It might take 30 minutes or more before the freezer is blowing air close to zero degrees.
GE repair has been out three times. First time tech replaced fresh food fan (but apparently they do that automatically due to issues with that fan). Second time he pulled data from computer and sent to engineering which claimed all is fine and tech abruptly left despite my protests. After I made an irate call to Customer Relations the sent a senior tech who agreed it doesn't seem right and replaced the mother board.
Replacing mother board has made no difference. I keep lowering the set point of freezer in the hope of counteracting the problem.
This behavior does not seem normal. I never pulled ice cream out of our previous freezer and found it to be mushy.
GE advertises this FrostGuard Technology as specifically designed to prevent this type of behavior. They even have a picture of ice cream next to the blurb about FrostGuard in some of their product literature.
Any information would be greatly appreciated.
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Rank: Member
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Joined: 2/2/2017(UTC)
Posts: 422
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There were a bunch of these that required a fan and/or PCB software update but that should have been worked out by know and the techs can do it from their laptops so I'd assume one of them would have.
The unit should not be defrosting very often, you may just be hearing it start and stop. It'll run 70/80% of the time. Defrosting more than once per day would be a lot, and it uses door openings, evap temp, run time to calculate defrost needs.
So basic check is to verify that the freezer door seal is making a good seal all around, and that a bin or item in the freezer isn't blocking it from fully shutting. Moisture/frost and warm temps would be explained by that. Also the unit relies on the load in the freezer to maintain temp so a nearly empty freezer has wide temp swings; if there isn't much in it put a case of water bottles or something in there.
I think these use a linear variable speed compressor so taking some time to get back to temp isn't odd. But assuming you have a normal load of stuff in the freezer I'd expect it to remain cold. Ice cream softens at about 20deg so its a good test item. I would not expect that unit to be warming above that frequently. That would defeat the point of a freezer.
Buy a decent thermometer to leave in it and log temps, data will help if you need to get corporate involved. Keep calling service, escalate if need be, get the retailer involved. If the issue remains you may have better luck through the retailer, and sooner is better.
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Rank: Member
Groups: Registered
Joined: 7/12/2017(UTC)
Posts: 2
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Thanks for the reply.
The freezer is loaded more than 50%.
The defrost is not running often so that isn't an issue.
I have wireless thermometer clipped to the back of the top drawer so it is getting the air temp right at the fan. I am getting a temp of 28 degree for at least 15 minutes. My understanding is that during a defrost cycle you will see a peek at a temperature that high but it should not stay like that.
If the compressor is running it doesn't make sense that the temperature would not start dropping immediately from the high. I can see an initial rise in temperate when the compressor first comes on from residual heat, but to sustain a temperature either means cooling system not working correctly or some how the heater is still getting power.
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Rank: Member
Groups: Registered
Joined: 2/2/2017(UTC)
Posts: 422
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You pretty much got the theory down. Variable speed compressors and 3-way valves have changed the equation a little so it may take longer to cool as they speed up or the valve changes position but within 10 to 15 minutes you should be seeing a substantial decrease in evap temperature as long as the freezer section is calling to be cooled down. The computer determines temperature via thermistors in each compartment.
You may have a bad thermistor at the evaporator or in the compartment.
I would keep calling for service as long as the machine is not behaving normally. I'd consider temperatures warm enough to soften ice cream (+15deg or so) are not normal if the machine is set to be at 0 degrees. Which is a pretty standard default setting.
You may also want to move the probe into the open-air space of the compartment so you can have data on the actual temperature in the freezer as opposed to the temperature blowing off the evaporator. But use the factory warranty for what it is meant to be used for. If it isn't behaving correctly keep calling.
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