GE PFS22SISSS Refrigerator - Not cooling

[ceconomon]

And so I venture from TV's to appliances...haven't found a TV to work on in a while.

I helped out a friend that had a refrigerator that was cooling. He had a repairman condemn the unit and I figured I had nothing to lose but an hour or two doing something I enjoy.

The unit had power (lights) but nothing else was going on. The repairman had told him the mainboard needed to be replaced. I removed the board and inspected it for problems. As you can see problems were pretty obvious.

2 bad 400v 47uf cap - bulging domes
and one Offline IC switch (whatever that is)- I'm glad there was enough of the part number left on it to track it down.

$12 in parts were replaced and I'm not getting a clicking noise next to the compressor along with internal fans. Compound problems are always fun. I'm able to find this is a common problem and the replace the relay (Relay Overload Starter). The unit starts up and is cooling. After testing for a few hours, I notice the evaporator fan hasn't been on the entire time...it's dead too. That will be replaced later this week..the benefit of this unit being in a vacant rental.

It's nice to return a condemned unit to service for ~$100.

[dragos2009]

Re: GE PFS22SISSS Refrigerator - Not cooling

in that picture i see 2 badcaps on the back of the transformer near that black heatsink

[delaware74b]

Re: GE PFS22SISSS Refrigerator - Not cooling

The evaporator fan motor is what causes the damage to GE's refrigerator motherboards. It is a very common problem. GE's side by side refrigerators are so bad they had Lg or Samsung make refrigerators for them. Electrolux is buying all of GE's Appliance division.

Judging from the few caps in that picture, I see a complete re-cap if you are planning to keep that refrigerator for a couple more years. FYI - they also have problems with the thermistors in both the fresh food and freezer sections.

A little reading in this appliance forum I visit:
http://www.applianceblog.com/mainfor...5-GE-Hotpoint?

[ceconomon]

Re: GE PFS22SISSS Refrigerator - Not cooling

The evaporator fan motor tested good with a battery. I ended up re-caping most of the board to get the fan to run.

It seems like most of the brands have complaints about them. I have a GE Profile that the water line in the door freezes up. If it was under warranty, they would replace the doors. The insulation deteriorates and the doors are glued together so there is no "nice" way to fix it. I found a post where someone taped foam insulation board to fix the problem...I only deal with the problem about once a year with this in place.

waiting for my next project to show up......