GSS22IBTW General Electric Refrigerator - Instructions

First, turn off power - since I did not want to pull the refrigerator out on my wood floor I tripped the circuit breaker to that circuit and opened door to make sure interior light was off (ensuring power was off). This unit has a bottom freezer, I took out all shelves, ice maker and all parts in the way of accessing back of interior of freezer section. Removed back plastic section by removing one screw in middle top of back panel and prying it out. This was a bit difficult as it was in there a bit tight but once the plastic warmed up it pulled out ok. This revealed the compressor section and temp sensor that was attached to the copper coils with of all things - a zip tie! In pictures of this that I looked at on various web sites the sensor was on a metal bracket attached to the coil so it made me wonder if tf the factory took a shortcut? I cut the old sensor wire, stripped the two wires 1/2", and connected them to the new sensor wire with butt connectors, I put some silicone into the ends of the butt connectors to prevent moisture from entering into connectors and wrapped the connection in black electrical tape. I then "attached" the sensor to the coil using a zip tie, put the plastic back piece back on, inserted everything I took out and put power back to refrigerator. It's been 3 days and temp of refrigerator is stable, ice maker not clogging up, and compressor not running all the time! So far so good.

i unplugged the fridge, first i removed the racks, then unhooked the grounding clip. the i tool off two 1/4 nut screws holding the backplate. then i used my wifes hair dryer to thaw out the ice. after it thawed out i unscrewed the element bracket which is secured by two philips screw. after taking the screws off, its just unplug one end at a time and plug it to the new one to avoid confusion. then reverse install to put back together.

I called the repair tech who obviously did not want to come out, thank god. He told me to remove the back panel of the freezer and also check fan on back side. Told him there was alot of ice on freezer condenser and he advised that defrost heater was probably shot, and referred me to partselect.com. I unplugged the frig/freezerer, and removed the heater and saw it was blackened and cooked. I used a hairdryer to thaw the condenser, and the new part arrived the next day. I reattached the 2 plugs, 2 screws, and put the back panel of the freezer back on. I plugged the appliance back in, checked it 6 hours later and the frig is cold again. It was a VERY easy repair and took less than 30 minutes from start to finish. I was quoted between $40-$78 for the part at 3 different places in the phone book, which would have also required a 45 minute drive. I got it here for $38 including shipping and it arrived in 24 hours !
With the "blow-up view" appliance feature on this web-site, and simply being guided to the correct part by entering the model number, it was a very easy ordering process and repair.

First I removed the two screws that held the old slide to the refer side wall, (after unloading the shelf and taking out the Veg. draw). I then put the screws in the new slide spots and screwed them into the refer wall using a hand screwdriver (phillips) and put everything back in place. It was about as simple a repair of anything I have had in the past 75 years. I didn't even have to swear.

Removed cover in freezer over evaporator,unbolted element ,plugged ,and replaced, very simple. Should be first thing checked when theres a problem.

replaced the drawer, amazing to me that I managed to order the right drawer and it fit

After I have checked oline , I ordered the parts wich Igot a day early and fix it , it took me about 15 minutes and I saved at 250.00 dollars . Thanks for all the help.

J Serpa ,Ma.

Removed the two drawers. Unscrewed the side rails that cracked away from the screws.Replaced the new side rails in place screwed in the screws and waalaa all done....easy as pie. Oh by the way I am a woman with little experience of tools...Just have to say the pictures of the parts made it really easy to pick out the correct part. Thanks

I must thank yo for sending the fan so fast. If I ever have to deal with any appliance again, you are first on my list.

This is such an easy fix!
1-Unplugging the fridge and emptyi it. Remove all shelves.
2-remove the 2 screws at the top of the back panel with a 1/4 inch nutdriver. You'll have to tilt ithis panel forward and sideways to get it out.
3- DO NOT CHIP AT THR ICE COVERING THE COOLING COILS? Replace one shelf and rest a hair dryer on low heat on the shelf.. Plug the drain hole at the bottom with a rag so all the melted ice water doesn't flood the floor under the fridge. Soak up the water with a rag and bucket- this should take 20-30 minutes.
4-Remove the red and blue power cables from the element. Only 2 philips head screws hold the defrosting element in place. Once it's out you can tell it's burned out because it looks black like a burned out lightbulb.
4-Plug in the red and blue power cables to the new unit. You will need to reroute the blue power cable because the new unit has both power connections on the same end.
5-Replace the cover panel by sliding it in at an angle and replace the 1/4 inch screws.
6-Replace the shelves and plug in the fridge.
That's it!

The most difficult part of the repair was the melting of the ice and preparation. I did change a single element heater for a dual element heater, which required a little manual flexing of the sub-frame, but it assembled with little issue. I was lucky, I did not have to splice the extended harness connection. Rerouting my existing gave sufficent length.
Not sure if the single elements were changed for dual, but it did have the same PN as the unit I replaced.

remove screws insert new rail

I removed the old broken part and replaced with the new part. Simple as pie, my husband was so happy and impressed I had it done by the time he got home from work!!!!

I removed the drawer and broken piece, then I screwed in the two screws to put the new piece in place. I then had trouble putting the shelf back in place due to the piece being a little bent. I loosened the front screw and was able to manuver the shelf in place with a little force. The new bracket works great.

The repair is pretty straight forward it is the preparation that takes time.
The food in the freezer portion of our side by side began thawing. We tried adjusting the temperature level to colder but to no avail. When we started emptying the freezer compartment I noticed a large amount of frost/ice at the back.
I turned the control to off and began defrosting the freezer using my wife's hair dryer. :) Once the outside layer was defrosted I removed the panel covering the coils. They were packed solid with ice and took over 30 minutes to defrost. Be sure to use a pan or container to catch some of the water because the catch pan under the refrigerator isn't large enough.
Once everything was defrosted I removed the heater tube assembly (at bottom of coils)it was a glass tube with a coiled wire element inside. The element had shorted out and the tube appeared black in that area.
I replaced this single tube heater with the double tube recommend on the partselect.com site. This required re-routing one of the wires and splicing in the plug/wire assembly contained in the repair kit.
Simply followed the instructions, reassembled everything and turned the control back on. No more problems. A very easy repair for anyone mechanically inclined and who owns a few basic tools.