Condensation problem - is it un-fixable?

Refrigerator & Freezer Repair
,
1

I’ve got a six-year-old GE PSS26PSTA side-by-side refrigerator. It’s been accumulating water in the bottom of the refrigerator compartment for a long time. The refrigerator and freezer also have trouble maintaining temperature.

I’ve had two repairmen out this last week. We have the well-known “iceball” problem in the lower back section of the fridge, but the GE repairman noticed that the iceball isn’t where most of the water is coming from. (Our iceball is very small, so I guess this makes sense.) He saw that there is a LOT of condensation on the side wall of the refrigerator compartment, around where the temperature sensor is located.

He said this is because ice has formed inside the wall between the fridge and freezer. Having the sensor on top of that ice explains why we the temperature of both the fridge and freezer have been off. He also said that there is NO fix for this issue. The ice is mingled in with the blown in insulation, and can’t be removed effectively. Apparently this was a defect in the early models of this particular GE unit.

Can someone tell me if this sounds right? Do I really need to get a new unit? Isn’t there something else we can do? :confused:

Thanks in advance for any help!

Kevin

2

bumping up - does anyone have any clues on this?

3

Slip a dollar bill between the fridg door frame and gasket,(Try several places) then close the door. If you can pull it out easily, you have bad door gaskets.
One way to fix the ice buildup is to turn the fridg off and try to pry loose the inner vynl inner pannel, then force heated air into the insulation area. If you can’t get it loose, you may need to cut it loose.The insulation is a plastic foam type stuff, so it will take some time for it to dry.
Another suggestion is to leave the doors open for a period and feal around for cold areas, these are the iced up areas.

4

Thanks, Rick. I’ve done the dollar bill test, and another repairman (not the GE guy) also tested the seals. So I know it’s not that.

As for getting to the insulated area, I’m not sure what you mean “pry loose the vinyl inner panel”. What exactly am I looking for? It looks to me like the entire refrigerator compartment is a single piece of plastic with no seams.

5

You are right, there are no seams, yet how did the water get in? Usually the fridg. is dry unless some water leak starts and gets into the insulation behind the panel. Look for points of entry.