Any refrigerator experts here? temperature inconsistent

[evident]

It's a GE Profile Fridge from at least 7 years ago, model PDS22SCPARSS. Within the last 6 months, the fridge temperature started to go from the set 36 degrees up to about 55 for about a half day. When we finally think the fridge is dead and we are frantically shopping for a new fridge, it settles and goes back down to 36. It happened again two days ago.

I was going in the fridge in the morning and noticed the fridge at 55. I thought I left the door open or something from the night before, which we most certainly didn't. when we got home, the fridge went down to about 45, and then 2 hours later, back down to 36. during all of these incidents, the freezer was keeping the temp just fine. might have been one occasion where it went up 5 degrees or something like that but nothing above freezing... we're also sure that the vents didn't freeze up either, that happened one time a few years back and we used a blow drier to melt both the fridge and freezer, not fun.


is there a simple fix for this issue? where should i start looking? I know almost nothing about refrigerators. I know there's a compressor, heat exchanger and motherboard on the back, but that's about it.

a new fridge costs $1500-2k and it's not something i really want to spend right now. my wife also wants to use that as an excuse to replace our perfectly fine stove, which would cost us another $1500 i'm sure.


update1:

our coils are not dirty, I've been in the back of the fridge once a year and always had a shop vac vaccuming the stuff.

So I found out that our model fridge had a recall in 2005 time frame due to a faulty motherboard on pretty much all GE Fridges during the mid 2000's. I called up GE and was pleasantly surprised by the great customer service. The lady told me that based on my serial number I wasn't eligible for a free motherboard replacement but they could get me one at a discounted rate, around $55+ shipping for the replacement part. the going rate on appliance repair websites and amazon was around $150 so i was more than pleased. I asked her to give me quotes on a new thermostat and blower motor since those things tend to go bad on fridges ingeneral. $2 for the thermostat, $20 for the blower motor (a $120 item on an appliance parts website). I was shockingly pleased with the great customer service i had when calling GE. i was ready to speak with someone from india who had no idea what was going on, and getting transferred 4-5 times. instead, I was off the phone in about 15-20 minutes with the parts i need at a greatly discounted price.
They also gave me expedited shipping for hte price of standard shipping, so i should be getting this stuff on Monday. I'm looking forward to getting the parts and installing them. Damn I hate appliances.

 

[LTC8K6]

Main board, thermistor, or fan?

It can almost certainly be repaired for much less than the cost of a new one.

 

[evident]

Main board, thermistor, or fan?

It can almost certainly be repaired for much less than the cost of a new one.

Looks like the motherboard is a common issue, I was about to order the part on amazon then read a review that said to call up GE. I called them up, got the motherboard, along with a condenser fan and thermostat for $80 bucks.

I was shocked at how good their customer service on the phone was. It was someone from the US, and they knew exactly what all the parts were and are overnighting it to me for the cost of standard shipping. I was expecting to be on the phone for hours!

wife says shes still going to buy a new stove to replace our one that's completely fine. blargh.

 

[highland145]

wife says shes still going to buy a new stove to replace our one that's completely fine. blargh.

I'm sure you can't argue with her logic.

 

[who?]

Are you sure it isn't the defrost cycle?

 

[evident]

Are you sure it isn't the defrost cycle?

how can i tell if it's the defrost cycle causing problems? what parts woudl i have to get if it is?

 

[who?]

During the defrost cycle the interior walls of a refrigerator get very warm to evaporate any accumulated moisture and drive it out. What you're describing may be normal operation. It's supposed to do it when the humans won't notice.

 

[who?]

My refigerator gets so warm during the defrost cycle that I keep two half gallon milk jugs full of ice in the freezer to keep it from melting the ice cream.

 

[BladeVenom]

Have you cleaned the coils?

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Sure sounds like the thermostat. If it were the compressor, it wouldn't get cold again a couple of days later. Cleaning the coils is always a good idea especially if you have pets.

 

[lykaon78]

Have you cleaned the coils?

This.

 

[who?]

Try vacuuming out any grills or vents on the inside that may lead to the thermostat. Maybe a moth died up in there and is blocking the airflow.

 

[Legios]

My fridge is the opposite, it cools from the set temp of 36 to 32-31. Sucks when your fruit and veggies freezes or you go to pour a bowl of milk and its frozen.

 

[mizzou]

That's not that old of a fridge...see if you can get an estimate from a repairman and try it like that.

Are you throwing hot items in there or stuffing your fridge with things that need to be cooled? That will throw off fridge temp drastically.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

My fridge is the opposite, it cools from the set temp of 36 to 32-31. Sucks when your fruit and veggies freezes or you go to pour a bowl of milk and its frozen.

This is also the thermostat.

 

[Lounatik]

My fridge is the opposite, it cools from the set temp of 36 to 32-31. Sucks when your fruit and veggies freezes or you go to pour a bowl of milk and its frozen.

Possible thermostat, more than likely dirty coils. Works the same way on air conditioners. Dirty coils lead to frozen evap coils.

Also, OP, electronics have overtaken mechanical switches in all appliances. A motherboard is a nice easy replacement to cure most ills. When I worked on refrigerators back in the '80s, you had to hunt down the cause of the problem by pulling the fridge's insides aprt to get to what you wanted. Now you just repalce a board, in many cases, and you are set.

Peace


Lounatik

 

[bruceb]

Sounds like the Defrost Thermostat is messed up. It should only activate now and then and it seems your fridge is going to Defrost mode more often than it should. But also as stated above check and clean the coils first and see how it behaves. A clogged coil can cause all manner of troubles. See here for more information:

http://www.repairclinic.com/RepairH...is-cold-but-refrigerator-is-warm-PDS22SCPARSS

 

[evident]

our coils are not dirty, I've been in the back of the fridge once a year and always had a shop vac vaccuming the stuff.

So I found out that our model fridge had a recall in 2005 time frame due to a faulty motherboard on pretty much all GE Fridges during the mid 2000's. I called up GE and was pleasantly surprised by the great customer service. The lady told me that based on my serial number I wasn't eligible for a free motherboard replacement but they could get me one at a discounted rate, around $55+ shipping for the replacement part. the going rate on appliance repair websites and amazon was around $150 so i was more than pleased. I asked her to give me quotes on a new thermostat and blower motor since those things tend to go bad on fridges ingeneral. $2 for the thermostat, $20 for the blower motor (a $120 item on an appliance parts website). I was shockingly pleased with the great customer service i had when calling GE. i was ready to speak with someone from india who had no idea what was going on, and getting transferred 4-5 times. instead, I was off the phone in about 15-20 minutes with the parts i need at a greatly discounted price.
They also gave me expedited shipping for hte price of standard shipping, so i should be getting this stuff on Monday. I'm looking forward to getting the parts and installing them. Damn I hate appliances.

 

[NutBucket]

Nice! Great when things work out in your favor

 

[effowe]

Good stuff. If you don't have another fridge to throw the stuff that's currently in there, I would start filling some bags with ice from your ice maker so you can transfer all the stuff to a cooler while you are working on the fridge.

 

[tortillasoup]

Good stuff. If you don't have another fridge to throw the stuff that's currently in there, I would start filling some bags with ice from your ice maker so you can transfer all the stuff to a cooler while you are working on the fridge.

That's not really necessary. Op should be able to do all of the work within a reasonable time frame. I had this exact same issue with a GE refrigerator of the same year but different model. Had to replace the EVAP fan and motherboard because of concerns that the old EVAP fan would burn out the new motherboard, etc. etc. After doing both replacements, refrigerator works exactly how it should, complete bullshit that I had to do these replacements in the first place.

 

[jaedaliu]

My parents had a fridge (side by side, if that matters) that had the air vents ice over from the freezer. Sounds like this is a possibility based on your symptoms.

I can't remember the cure. It was a mainboard replacement or 1 heating element replacement.

 

[bruceb]

Good for GE to give you the parts at very reasonable rates. Hope that motherboard is the real cause of your problem. Just an idea: when you get the old one out, examine it carefully before you decide to toss it out. Odds are you have bad solder connection or two, especially if the board was done in a Mexican factory. Lots of times, components with larger wires or terminals, have oxidation on them that the factory did not clean off properly before installing and soldering. I had issues like this on GM HUD units and speedometers.