OT - Is My Refrigerator Broke?

[DerbyDad03]

I'm sure there's a fridge tech hanging around here someplace.

I have a 17 year old GE, bottom freezer.

My ice maker is internal to the freezer, no through-the-door ice or water. The ice maker dumps ice into flat drawer.

A couple of weeks ago it stopped making ice and what I found was that the fill tube was frozen. I thawed it out, got a couple of cycles of ice (a doz en cubes) and it froze up again.

I have an indoor/outdoor thermometer that shows the Min/Max temp of the pas t

24 hours, so I put the outdoor sensor in the ice tray. The freezer read aro und 2°-3° most of the time, but the Min showed -7°. OK, that wou ld probably freeze the fill tube. (Fridge temps are pretty steady at 37° - 38°, so t hat's fine.)

The freezer control was set at about 7, with 9 being the coldest and 0 bein g off. I have been increasing the temperature and while each adjustment does indeed increase the "most of the time" temperature, it still drops into the

-5° to - 7° range at least once a day. And yes, the fill tube kee ps freezing up. Right now, the control is set at 3, the "most of the time" temperature has been hovering around 6° but the Min/Max is -7° & 12°. Th at seems like way too much of a range and way too cold of a minimum.

I just happen to have spare control board that I believe to be good, but before I install it, I figured I'd check here first to see if anybody had any thoughts.

Thanks.

[knuttle]

would probably freeze

. That seems like way

If the freezer is freezing and the refrigerator cooling it sounds like a

temperature control problem. I would look to correcting that. Some things to consider are:

When was the last time you cleaned the coils on the freezer?

Has the floor under the refrigerator come up reducing the air flow across the coils?

Have you recently installed some thing new that blocks the air flow? Or changed the air flow from an near by air vent for your AC/Heating system?

The other thing that comes to mind is an excess of cat toys that is blocking the air flow? Babies and small children occasionally put their toys under things also.

One other thing, make sure the internal air passages are not frozen shut.

We occasionally have that problem. The solution is to remove the items from the refrigerator and turn it off for a day or longer with the door open.

While it could be something serious, most of the time it is the simple solution.

[DerbyDad03]

would probably freeze

. That seems like way

Thanks.

The only possible problem from your list would be the internal air passages . Everything else has been checked/cleaned.

I've been behind the fridge a half dozen times since this started. One time the fill tube was so frozen in place I had to pour warm water in from the back just to get it out.

BTW...How would the passages "freeze up"? And you only mentioned emptying t he fridge, not the freezer. I assume you mean emptying the entire unit and leaving *both* doors open, right?

[Clare Snyder]

Shut the fridge down with the doors open and let it thaw completely, then dry it all out and restart and see what happens. I SUSPECT you have an air passage frozen up somewhere

[Clare Snyder]

You got it, Pontiac!!

[knuttle]

rote:

at would probably freeze

. That seems like way

"How would passages freeze up." In the words of my three year old grandson when asked "Why balloons go up?" His response: "They Just do"

Yew empty the entire unit and PULL the plug.

Several years ago we were to my brother's when he was having refrigerator problems. He had called the repair man, who had checked the unit and found nothing wrong. We spent the next 24 hours with me telling him nearly every hour listen to the repair man you paid for his advice.

Sure enough after the time, he plugged the refrigerator in and it has worked perfectly ever since.

[DerbyDad03]

rote:

at would probably freeze

?. That seems like way

I'll let you know what happens. Thanks.

[DerbyDad03]

ote:

that would probably freeze

°. That seems like way

Damn. The open doors block access to the basement stairs. Now I'll need to rip out a tall cabinet built into the chase that goes up to the second floor. Then I'll need to reroute the pipes and wires behind the cabinet so we can get though.

Maybe I'll just go buy a bag of ice. ;-)

[krw]

Open the door, put a block of 2/4 between the door and frame, opposite the hinges, and tape shut (with the 2x4 holding it open a crack)? That's what I do to defrost my bar 'fridge (at work). If that's not fast enough, put a small fan blowing air into the 'fridge through the crack. It won't take a day to thaw the whole thing.

When's the BBQ?

[DerbyDad03]

ice (a dozen

er read around

K, that would probably freeze

°, so that's fine.)

ll tube keeps freezing

2°. That seems like way

Hopefully, they will be no BBQ. I have an small fridge in the basement which has a internal freezer as well as a 5 cf freezer in the garage. Between those units, a couple of coolers and few blocks of ice, I should be able to keep everything safe for a day or so.

We rarely fill the garage freezer. In fact, I have three 1 gallon container s of ice supporting a Plexiglas shelf to raise the contents for ease of access. Removing those containers provides both more room in the freezer as well as leak proof blocks of ice for the coolers. Works great for holidays and frozen air passage emergencies. ;-)

[John McGaw]

It might be something as simple as the automatic self-defrost cycle activating and then the cooling kicking in afterward to get the temperature back to where it wants to be. If it were mine I wouldn't worry about it. Save up your worry for when the compressor motor burns out right after you've stashed a bunch of expensive steaks in the freezer.

[DerbyDad03]

rote:

at would probably freeze

?. That seems like way

So, she be a 'thawing.

After I emptied it, I figured I might as well really make sure the compressor and other innards were clean. It's amazing how more dust a 90 PSI air nozzle will find vs. a vacuum cleaner. I'm just glad SWMBO wasn't home to see the chunks of dust blowing across the kitchen floor. :-O

Question: Any idea what this is? The drain tray, while completely dry, had a layer of what felt very much like the granules from a asphalt shingle. The layer was even across all parts of tray but the picture was taken after I already disturbed some of it with the air hose.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Probably minerals from when water was in there on occasion.

[Ed Pawlowski]

But in the meantime, ice is blocking the line to the icemaker. Not sure if water pressure makes a difference on it but I'd change the filter if it has one.

[Leon]

I maker trays have defrosters to slightly melt the ice before dumping.

And or your water fill solenoid/valve is leaking and causing the fill tube to refill and freeze.

[DerbyDad03]

at would

?. That seems

The filter was changed about 3 months ago, long before the issue started.

Thanks though.

[DerbyDad03]

would probably freeze

. That seems like way

Your second point makes sense. If the 24 hour thaw doesn't help, I'll test that.

However, I'm not sure of the point behind the ice maker defroster comment. As I mentioned, each time I thaw out the fill tube, the ice maker works for

2 or 3 cycles before the fill tube freezes up again. Since it dumps the ice just fine during those cycles the defroster must be working.

If you missed that comment, that's cool. (no pun intended) If there was something else behind that comment, please share. Thanks.

[knuttle]

that would probably freeze

?. That seems like way

Our drain tray collects dust. It collects water, and creates an "emulsion" of dust particles in the water. When it evaporates the dust particles are neatly lowered into the bottom of the tray. This creates a thin piece of "cloth" in the bottom of the tray.

As for the larger particles, I assume they are in some way kicked up from the activity that occurs around the refrigerator.

Depending on the type of filter, the may be escaping from the filter when you change it.

[DerbyDad03]

that would probably freeze

°. That seems like way

But black? Never seen black residue on a shower head or anything else, just the normal grayish-white.

The only thing in the tray *should* be defrost water, right? What would cause black minerals in defrost water?

You know, now that I think about it, where is the water that should be filling the ice maker going? When the fill tube is frozen, the ice plug is far enough down the tube that it's not all the way up against the water hose where it attaches to the back of the fridge. Assuming the ice maker is calling for water and opening the solenoid, that water must be going someplace, right?

I don't see any puddles or evidence of a leak around the water hose inlet.

Maybe I need a way to monitor the flow to the fridge.

[krw]

Um, perhaps you don't want to know? Your shower head has potable, chlorinated, water in it.

No, it's probably just blocked with nowhere to go.