need location of fridge defrost timer

Iced up coil usually means you left the freezer door ajar. You probably jammed too much stuff in and it didn't shut properly.

The timer is on the bottom. Look again.

It actually wasn't that full and the door was shut all the way. As a point of reference, it was the evap coils (not the condenser coils) that were iced.

On the bottom where? On the bottom inside the freezer? On the bottom outside behind the unit? On the bottom in front of the unit?

Are the condenser coils clean? I usually find these to be the prime culprit.

The defrost timer should be one of three places: behind the toe kick where you can see the condenser coils under the refrig at the back Up in the top of the refrig section where the light bulb and control panel are located.

Here is one of the better sites on the internet about appliances:

I believe they are, but I'll give them another look.

I looked in all three of those places and didn't see something that looked like the piuctures I've seen of defrost timers.

defrost timer to a board.

I was thinking that may be the case. If it is, I'll be forced to call for service. Thanks for your comments.

Well, after defrosting the evap coils, the freezer and fridge are back down to normal temps. I still have been unable to locate the defrost timer and I was wondering if it's possible it's on the "motherboard" which is behind a panel on the exterior rear of the unit. Any thoughts?

If you see a removable panel, probably secured by 4 screws, on the refrigerator's back at the lower right-hand corner (viewed from the rear) then that would be a good place to start looking. This would be behind the lower freezer section.

If the fridge has electronic controls, it just makes sense for defrost timing to be controlled by the microcontroller on the board (zero extra cost) instead of an electromechanical timer.

But the problem might not be the electronics at all. If the defrost heater or its wiring is open, or there's a relay that energizes it and the relay is dead, you won't get a proper defrost even though the electronic controls are doing regular defrost cycles.

Dave

Turns out the timer was on the motherboard and the problem was a faulty defrost heating coil. Fortunately for me, GE knows this is a common problem on this model year fridge and I got the repair done for free. :)