This troubleshooting flowchart for GE Arctica and Profile refrigerators with electronic controls, PSS and GSS models, will hepya hone in on the problem.  I can tell you this, though: 90% of the time, this problem is caused by a bad mutha board– that’s the control board that lives in a cubby hole in the back of the box; here’s the part link.

(Click for larger view.)

Gene wrote:

I got hot food and cold freezer in my GE Profile PSC23NSTE SS. I’d like to see the GE refrigerator motherboard recall list before I talk to GE. Can I get a copy of GE_Refrig_Board.pdf?

Thanks,

Gene

Ax and ye shall receive! ==> http://appliantology.org/blog/1/entry-388-ge-refrigerator-muthaboard-concession-list-of-affected-models/

One of the many common problems with this otherwise highly mediocre refrigerator is that the air damper– the port that brings cold air from the freezer into the beer compartment to keep your beer and milk cold– gets FUBAR and you have to replace it. A common sign of this problem is frozen beer, as discussed in this post.

Well, based on the questions in the Samurai Appliance Repair Forums, wherein Grasshoppers couldn’t figger out how to get at the damper assembly, it seemed meet and right to add this additional reference on disassembling and replacing the damper assembly. Enjoy!

If you have one of those Maytag or Amana bottom-freezer refrigerators, at some point you’ll have to disassemble the control console mounted in the ceiling of the beer compartment (same place where you set the temperature). One common example for why you may need to do this is to replace the cold control (thermostat), or the defrost timer / ADC board (depending on how yours is equipped). This page shows you how.

Le Procédure:

1. Unplug the refrigumerator. This resets the main control board.
2. Warm up the freezer thermistor to 70°F– an infrared temperature gun makes for an easy, quick, and accurate way to tell when the desired temperature is reached.
3. Set the temperature controls to das middle settings.
4. Plug the refrigumerator back in.
5. Use your meter to check for 13 VDC from the red to the white wire and between 8 to 13 VDC from the white to the yellow wire at the evaporator fan motor connector.
6. If you don’t have the correct voltage at either location, then the muthaboard is fried– was probably taken out by the evaporator fan motor getting moisture in it. If all you do at this point is replace the muthaboard, chances are excellent that you’ll be replacing it again real soon because that flakey evaporator fan motor will fry the new one, too. Moral of Story: don’t get cute and think you’re gonna save a buck two-eighty by changing only the muthaboard. Replace both the evaporator fan motor and the muthaboard at the same time. I know it sucks but don’t bitch at me– you’re the one who bought a GE, go whine to them!
7. OTOH, if the voltages at both locations are good, then you can probably get by with changing just the evaporator fan motor.

… and may have water pooled at the bottom and running out the front, too.

This is a classic case of a plugged condensate drain hole in the freezer. “Condensate” is the fancy word that we professional appliantologists call the water that gets melted off the evaporator during the defrost cycle. “Evaporator” is another fancy word we use and refers to the coils in the freezer that get cold and do all the hard work of keeping your beer cold. In these (and most) household refrigerators, you have just one evaporator and it lives in the freezer. So all your cold air is made in the freezer compartment and a portion of it is blown into the beer compartment by the evaporator fan.

Now, that evaporator coil is supposed to run at about -15°F. Well, it don’t take a brain surgeon, like yours so very freaking truly, to figger out that that dang coil gets frosted up more often than the Samurai drinks beer. And if we don’t get rid of that frost, you’ll end up with warm beer. Spew!

If everything’s working right and your refrigerator is doing the defrost cycle like it should, then you’re gonna git lotsa melted condensate that needs to go somewhere or it’ll make a frozen mess inside your freezer. Hence the raison d’etre for this post.

Well, them clever engineers done figgered out a way to deal with this so that you normally never see it. It’s called the condensate drain. Periodically, this drain gets plugged up by what we professionals call “gookus,” which is a fancy word that refers to anything that’s not supposed to be there. This gookus can slow down the flow enough so that the condensate water freezes at the drain opening. Then the trouble begins.

But, never fear for the Samurai is here! As complicated as all this sounds, it’s really an easy fix. First, you remove… oh, nevermind, let the picture tell the story:

(click for larger image)

And these accompanying condensate drain clearing tips from Sublime Master That Guy:

Remove part 20, the rear wall of the freezer compartment. I use a shop vac, a towel, and hot water. Use the towel as a damn, pour the hot water on the drain hole at the bottom of part 14. Vacuum up water. Repeat until the drain tube is free or all the ice is gone. Then use the vac. to clean out the tube. Flush with hot water. be very carefull if you use a wire. You might poke a hole in the drain tube. I usually use a small diameter plastic tube and run it through the drain.

So you’ve worked through the Warm Refrigerator Fire Drill, you’ve danced the Hum-CLICK cha-cha, and you think you’re staring smack dab in the face of a bad compressor. But you’re no refrigumerator repair dude (or dudette) so where does a green grasshoppah go to grasp the gnowledge so ardently sought?

Why, ratcheer at Fixit-the-freak-now-dot-frikkin-com, of course!

Gird up the loins of thy beady leetle bug-eyes and feast on these grains of appliantological wisdom.

Still confoosed, grasshoppah? Come see us in the Samurai Appliance Repair Forums and we’ll confoose you some mo’!

To learn more about your refrigerator, or to order parts, click here.