Main Symptom: Crisper drawers (and water reservoir behind them) freeze.
What happens & when: Instead of entering through the damper up top, cold air enters the refrigerator side from the freezer via the bottom vent by the crisper drawers.
Error Code (if any): No error codes
Parts or tests already tried: I left the unit unplugged and open for a full day to melt any ice obstructions - that didn’t change the airflow. I took everything apart on the freezer side and discovered that the evaporator fan is blowing down - toward the fan motor and across the evaporator coils. Looking at the fan from the top, it is spinning clockwise, which pushes the air down through the coils instead of the other way around. As a result, no air goes up and over to the fridge side damper. The air flow seems to be backwards. This unit has never been serviced - all original parts and installation.
I hope someone else will weigh in on this. I couldn’t go without a refrigerator, so I did what any determined DIY’er would do - I came up with a workaround.
It turns out that some manufacturers’ evaporator fan blades are pitched in the opposite direction, yet still share the same diameter and shaft bore size. For example, the Frigidaire blade (part #242219302) is oriented opposite to the GE blade.
Rather than order one and wait for shipping, I headed to the appliance section of the local transfer station (dump) with just a drill, a 1/4-inch hex bit, and a Phillips bit. The easiest units to pull apart are usually those with the freezer on the bottom or top, so I focused on those. Within minutes I had collected five blades, and sure enough - one of them fit perfectly.
Now the refrigerator is running again, with air moving correctly from the freezer into the fresh-food section through the damper, and back down through the return vent. My only lingering worry is whether the motor might eventually decide to reverse itself again and undo the fix!
That said, I’m still curious about the root cause. I’ve seen others insist it’s impossible for a GE evaporator fan motor to run backward, but I can assure you it happened. Could a faulty circuit board be responsible?
Thank you! My unit is now working like new now that I replaced the fan blade with one pitched in the opposite direction. It’s far from the correct solution as I now have a refrigerator with a fan motor stop spinning in the wrong direction - and with a blade that is wrong for the unit. If the motor direction ever corrects, I’ll have to switch the blades back out. That said, I hope your answer here helps the next guy, which ofc could be me! Knowing that I can identify (via the multimeter test) if it’s the board or the motor itself is VERY helpful. I just don’t want to remove all of the food and take it apart yet again. Thanks again!!!
