Help - fridge is dying fast

[szeik]

Hi,

I posted last week about our GE Profile fridge starting to lose its cooling power. Well, we decided to order new appliacnes and they are coming next Friday March 5th.

In the meantime the fridge has some hot spots by the door - where the magnetic strips connect to the fridge. Not the doors themselves, but the front part of the fridge. It is really hot in some places and I'm worried it is a fire hazzard. This has been coming on for a while now that I think about it because I noticed it was getting warm in front of the fridge going back several months now.

How can I turn this fridge off?

I can't wheel it out and unplug it. It's too big for me and I have a bad shoulder right now.

If I turn the thermostats down as warm as it will go would that do it?

I'm thinking we will just keep the milk outside in a cooler for now and chuck the rest of the food and wait for the new fridge to come on Friday. Either that or call the appliance store and see if they can rush the new fridge.

It's dying fast. I just checked and now the fridge compartment is at

52 degrees. It was at 50 a few minutes ago.

The ice maker stopped working as well.

Would appreciate any advice on how to shut this baby down. I guess a look at the new fuse box they installed when they did our kitchen might be a good idea.

Steve

[ransley]

Its the defroster, probably the clock timer broke in the on position if it doesnt cool down, thats why its to warm, is there a switch inside for energy saver mode, if not the clock is probably in the refrigator section, mine broke in the on position, it would not cool either. Check it after maybe 12 hours to see if its still hot, maybe it does cycle but the element is going bad, an amp meter would tell you alot.

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, Sounds like the defrost timer contacts got stuck and defroster heater is on.

[mm]

Do you have a circuit breaker marked "fridge"? Or maybe a fuse?

A lot of places do.

[Oren]

All this time I was thinking the MAIN breaker needed to be tripped.

I have a service disconnect breaker at the outside meter.

[szeik]

That sounds right.

I checked the temperature again this morning and now the fridge is 47 degrees and the doors are not warm.

So I guess I can breathe a little easier.

I looked in the manual and there is no mention of a defrost timer. Looking around in the fridge and freezer compartments I don't see any controls for this. Just the 2 thermostats for setting the fridge or freezer temperature. Both of those are set to the coldest setting now.

Looking forwards to those new appliances. The stove was shot anyway and now the fridge. Dishwasher doesn't dry that well anymore either.

12 years seems like a reasonable life span.

Steve

[ransley]

Defrost timers are in all friges that have defrost. Its a circuit that cycles. My cycle pulls about 300w more so it cant by design be left on. Yours is off now, so its not the clock but measuring amp draw would tell you if its shorting in the element. The frige isnt shot and it may be a simple fix, or maybe not.

[Art Todesco]

First of all, setting both controls to the highest might be part of the problem. They usually work in a really strange manner .... anyway, strange to me. Usually the one in the fridge controls the compressor which really only cools the freezer section. The one for the freezer mechanically meters some of the cold air from the freezer to the fridge section. They work together and usually well. But, I have seen where setting the controls in "weird" setting will cause problems. I was told, by a repair guy, that the best thing to do is set them both to the mid position. Then, after a while, if you want the temp different in one side or another, change the control a little bit and wait to see the results. This has worked good for me, but nowadays the newer units are much more complicated and have electronics and such controlling everything. This is not to say that there really is something wrong somewhere else, but it is something to check. BTW, the warming around the gaskets is normal. Those heaters are there to prevent condensation when the humidity is high. When the unit is not cooling properly, they will usually feel a bit warmer.

[Stormin Mormon]

What you have, is a fridge that's too complicated for its own good. Hot around the magnet gaskets is a convenience feature that reduces condensation. The rest of the fridge being warm is probably a bad GE circuit board. They made a LOT of bad boards.

The fridge is typically on its own circuit breaker. Have a helper stand with the door open. You go try the breakers one at a time. The helper yells and stomps a foot on the floor when the light goes off. That's how to find which breaker it is.

Replacing the circuit board will probably make your fridge come back to life. The board retails for $182. Plus the guy to come out and install it.

[Nate Nagel]

if you have a "power saver" turn it on. the power saver turns off the defrost elements near the door seals.

nate

[trader4]

Every fridge I've every owned could be shut off by turning the temp dial or similar electronic control to OFF.

[Red Green]

"Stormin Mormon" wrote in news:hmb5d1$h8t$ [e-mail]:

A radio plugged in the same outlet requires no helper.

[trader4]

$h8t$ [e-mail]:

If he could get to the outlet he wouldn't need to find the breaker. He could just unplug the fridge.

[cshenk]

wrote

Fuse box may be the right answer. My fridge is on a breaker with just one other outlet. I'd just ignore that other outlet for the interim.

[hrhofmann]

Sounds like the OP is an older person without much practical knowledge of how things actually work.

[Red Green]

"hr(bob) [e-mail]" wrote in news:d67d773f-b2a6- [e-mail]:

I know a lot of younger persons like that.

[Stormin Mormon]

A useful technique, for sure. The OP of this thread mentions that he can't get at the outlet, due to a bad shoulder. I've done the loud radio thing, and found it successful. For sockets I can get at, that is.

[Stormin Mormon]

Hmm. At least one other person reading the posts. Good job.

[Red Green]

"Stormin Mormon" wrote in news:hmbn9v $2p2$ [e-mail]:

Hmmmm, a real court jester.

[The Daring Dufas]

Everyone forgets my "Jesus Method" for finding a circuit breaker. I have a plug with two wires that I short together while turning my head to avoid the blinding flash and mini explosion whilst shouting "JESUS!" When the smoke clears, I go find the tripped breaker.

TDD