I recently (about 2 weeks ago) replaced the defrost heater in my GE side by side due to the coil freezing over. My local appliance parts dealer told me what he thought was wrong and sold me a new defrost heater and thermostat. Problem fixed and cooling great. A couple days ago, I noticed both sides were not cool at all. That’s when I found your site. I read your repair blogs and started diagnosing. Found one thermistor was bad and replaced it. Still same problem. I tested the fans and damper as your blog stated and all were working. The compressor is the only thing not turning on. I brought the compressor relay to a friend and had it tested. I then removed the control board and found that the back of the board had a burnt spot where the compressor control (black square) is soldered (photo attached). Is any of this related or just coinsidental. I will be ordering a new control board from Appliance parts, however before I do, would like to know what caused this to happen in the first place. Also, don’t want it to happen again when I get the new one in. Any help is appreciated.
refrigerator control board.jpg (68.3 KB)
You can find on line a lot of complains on such GE refrigerators because of poor designed main control boards. Since GE started to make them over 10 years ago they have redesigned those boards a few times. So far I did not see any complains on the last generation of them. Of course nobody can tell you how long the new board will last, but at least for one year you are protected with the Appliance Parts Pros warranty.
- The main control board AP7188100
Here are the breakdown diagrams and Replacement parts for General Electric GSS22JFMBWW Refrigerator | AppliancePartsPros.com
Gene.
The real shame here is those really cheap electrolytic capacitors. Unfortunately for me, the two filter caps failed. That is the root cause for the constant “Clicking”. If left unattended (as in my case) the constant cycling of the controller microprocessor cycled the Compressor power relay on the main board which in turn burned up the contacts. I managed to replace the capacitors and the board is now “somewhat” normal but it can’t power the compressor anymore due to burned contacts. I can’t get the relay off without destroying the board so I must just replace it anyway. If you can catch it in time, just replace the two (pregnant) 470 Mfd, 25 volt capacitors and it will work again.
I would try to resolder that connection. I just posted my motherboard problem at the beginning of this year. I resolder the leg and all worked fine and is still working.