Freezer and fridge both warm and not consistent

Refrigerator & Freezer Repair
1

I have a GE side by side that was made in 2001.

It is not cooling enough - fridge side is 42F, freezer side is 20F.

Compressor is very hot to the touch, and runs for about 10 minutes before it turns off, and then it takes a while before it cycles back on. The condenser fan and evap fan both appear to be working. The evap coils are half frozen (the lower half).

Defrost heater tests good. The original mainboard I repaired (bad solder trace to a relay) made no difference when swapped in. The resistance on the compressor motor was 4.5 Ohms, 6 Ohms, and 10.5 Ohms.

I have replaced the mainboard, the evap fan (twice), all three themistors, and the defrost heater in the past. All of these items were replaced in the last 2 years too (its like it was designed to die at 10 years old).

I have a volt meter hooked up to the input of the compressor, and when the compressor is not running, there is no voltage present, so it appears the compressor isn’t being told to run when its not running.

One thing I did read on a forum was that the condenser fan may not be spinning fast enough. To me, it looks like its running fairly fast, and it spins very freely. However, I put a cage fan behind the fridge, blowing across the condenser coil, and after running all last night, the temp in the fridge was 34, and the freezer was -15.

So, is this just a condenser fan issue? Or does the half-frozen coils inside the freezer give us a clue that the sealed system is having issues?

Just today I replaced the defrost thermostat (it was swollen), so I know that was bad, but I checked it an hour later and it was 30F in the freezer compartment again, so it doesn’t appear that the new defrost unit had made any difference (the cage fan was removed earlier this morning). Maybe I haven’t given it enough time yet? But it seems really bad that it would let the temp get to 30F when before I started the work, it was -15F in there, and it only took me 12 minutes from power off to power on to replace that defrost thermostat.

Thanks,
TI

2

Its now a full day after I replaced the defrost thermostat.

The freezer varies from -15 to 30, the fridge seems to vary between 34 and 50. The freezer spends most of its time around 20 though. This is with the freezer and fridge temp settings at 9. If I turn them down at all, the temp rises to approximately 50 freezer, 50 fridge.

I sat and listened to it today when the compressor kicks on, and after 5 minutes it was still running, and the condenser fan was blowing as well.

I’d be happier if it just stayed warm, but this yo-yo’ing of temperature is highly annoying.

3

Turn your temperature controls to midrange and put the portable fan in the compressor area and see if you now get "normal " temperatures.

4

[QUOTE=richappy;864502]Turn your temperature controls to midrange and put the portable fan in the compressor area and see if you now get "normal " temperatures.[/QUOTE]

I tried that a few days ago, after I read your post, and that doesn’t make any difference.

However, today I moved it, and the temp dropped in the freezer to -15, and the fridge at 34. Currently the freezer is sitting at -5, so its climbing again, but I did catch it actually being fairly cold.

Is the partially frosted evap cooling fins not a concern? The compressor seems abnormally hot to me.

Yesterday I checked all the thermistor readings, and they’re all close in value (16K or 14K Ohms), which according to the chart I have, matched up to the temp the fridge acually is.

I haven’t replaced the PTCR, the overload, or the run capacitor. However, the compressor is not short cycling, it does start up and run, and runs for a while when it does, it just seems to run really really hot (not an instant burn, but you wouldn’t be able to hold your hand there for a while without pain.) I’m puzzled though on believing its a sealed system issue, because it does occasionally cool to proper temps, but most of the time its 20F/35F, and it yo-yos its temperature, which makes keeping food in it a big problem.

Thanks for any and all help,
TI

5

When the temperature rises in the freezer, feel the compressor. If it’s vibrating, you have an intermittent compressor, rather rare. If it’s not vibrating, you have a bad solder joint under the power relay on the motherboard

6

[QUOTE=richappy;864673]When the temperature rises in the freezer, feel the compressor. If it’s vibrating, you have an intermittent compressor, rather rare. If it’s not vibrating, you have a bad solder joint under the power relay on the motherboard[/QUOTE]

I just checked it now, temperature was higher than before (0F, instead of -15F) and it was too hot to touch for longer than a second. It was running (vibrating) and the condenser fan was running too… The cold line was cold, but not overly cold, and the hot line was very hot.

I pulled the board and checked - the solder trace looks solid. That was how my first board failed - I put in a new board, repaired the old one, and kept it around as a spare. Both boards behave the same way with this fridge - the temperature yo-yos and won’t stay consistent.

From what you’re saying, sounds like a bad compressor then.

7

If the evaporator fan and condensing fan are turning when it fails, you probably have a bad compressor/ polluted refrigerant.