ZIR301NPNAII General Electric Refrigerator - Instructions

The very first symptom here is important! The door water dispenser is not working but the ice macine is working. You may only have a frozen water tube in the door so do the following before diagnosing that your solenoid valve is bad: 1) the tube usually runs under the front of the refrigerator and usually has a quick disconnect. Undo the connection and press the dispenser. If water comes out of the tube you have a frozen or blocked tube in the door. 2) Immediately adjust the temperature in the freezer and warm the freezer compartment as much as you can without destroying the freezer contents. Wait 24 hours. This will usually unfreeze the line. Do not waste your time with a hair dryer. NOW, if this doesn't work and you are convinced you need to order and replace the solenoid, follow these steps. Assemble your tools first. I needed a good ratchet set and a screwdriver. A shop towel is helpful for spilled water. A light is handy. Pull out the refreigerator to gain access to the rear of the unit. Unplug the power and close the water valve (older homes, you may need to actually shut the house water supply). Remove the screws which hold the cover over the lower half of the refrigerator. On the left you will see the solenoid. It's always good to see that your new part matches the one you feel needs replaced. They may not match perfectly due to changing design but they should be very similar. One screw holds this part in place and access is very simple. Now simply unplug the electrical connections. In my case, one blue "blade" type connection (powering the water) and one red "blade" type connection powering the ice maker. They are not the same size and this coupled with the coloring means you will not accidently switch them. pull the tubes clear of the solenoid. This is simple and needs no explantion. Grab your new solenoid and reattach both the electrical and water lines (two, remember, ice maker and drink dispencer). Replace the single screw. Re-attach the rear, lower refrigerator cover and go to the front of the unit to check the water. You can listen carefully and hear the power engage from the new part bringing you water. Clean up, replace the refrigerator back to its place and look really tired when your wife sees that you worked "so hard"! You probably saved at least $50-$80 from a service call which can now be used to take the family to dinner after your "exhausting" 15 minute workout of removing about 10 screws and wheeling the unit in and out of place. Writing this article took longer! My 4 year old worked harder holding the flash light!

Model includes filtered ice maker and water dispenser from front of unit. Water maker just suddenly stopped working but ice maker continued to work fine. After some phone calls to trouble shoot at a high level, I figured it was worth a try to buy the replacement part of the most likely culprit and see if it did the trick. Would have cost maybe $150 or more for service tech to make house call, provide the part and do the switch. Buying the part was only $40 and replacement was easy. Remove access panel from behind fridge and identify valve. It has intake water from the filter then has two outbound lines. One to ice maker, one to water dispenser. All function is in one part, but each outbound line has its own functioning valve. Unplug fridge, turn off water supply, disconnect all connections from old valve and reattach to new valve. When re-hooked, be patient in allowing water to re-fill line before coming out of dispenser in front. Likely to doubt it works, but surprised how long it took for water to fill line resevoir.

Unplugged the refrigerator, turned off the water supply, and then removed the back cover/access plate. Observed and made wiring notes to ensure I install the part correctly. Unscrewed the bracket holding the water valve assembly, and lifted it up to see and remove the three water lines (one input, two output). The input or supply line is a compression fitting...just use an adjustable wrench to loosen the nut and lift off the line. Then remove the two output lines by depressing or pushing in on the white plastic rings that surround those two holes ...the lines just slide out, but you have to push in on those rings. Remove the two electrical connectors...just wiggle them off One connector was very stubborn but it eventually came off. Try to be gentle, and pull on the connector heads...not on the electrical wires.
Assemble the lines and electrical connectors on to the new part. The two output water lines just slide in...you dont need to push in on the rings. You'l feel them seat into the valve. Don't worry.
Put it all back the way you found it, turn on the water supply, and plug in the power cord. Check for leaks. I had no leaks and was very pleased. This is so easy a chimp can do it, but let everyone think otherwise! No biggie.

I had to remove all of the shelves.....part of the ice maker.....the rear cover over the freezer coils.....There were two wires that came from the back of the freezer that were also incorporated with the fan motor plug from the factory....This caused me to cut all of the wires from the new motor and soider them to the existing plug and shrink wrap the connections. If GE would have supplied two new ends I could have cut only those wires added the ends and inserted them into the new motor plug thus eliminating an extra hour and a soildering iron,,,,In my case not a big deal however not a project for those who have trouble with repairs using these type of tools.

A week earlier, we had frozen water all over the freezer section which obviously dripped from the icemaker. We turn off the icemaker and cleaned the freezer. Upon turning the icemaker back on, water continuously pours out of the ice tray. This time, even turning off the icemaker does not stop the water from flowing through. I checked and cleaned the water valve, reinstalled it and it still does not work. I had to crimp the water line and even remove the water filter to make sure there will be no water leaks.

When I got the new water valve, installation was a snap as I have already removed the old one. After installing the new valve and putting back the filter, everything is back to normal.

Procedure for removing/replacing the water valve:
(1) Unplug the refrigerator and move it so that you have some working space in the back. If there is a mechanical valve in the water line, close it so that when the hoses are unplugged, there will be no spills. If there is no mechanical water valve, you can simply crimp the hose with a rubber band or a cable tie.
(2) Use an adjustable wrench or a screw driver to remove the screws on the bottom panel. My refrigerator has 4 big screws and 1 small one that is used to anchor the water hose.
(3) Pull the panel up slightly to remove it. The water valve is mounted with one screw at the bottom-left corner.
(4) Use a screwdriver to dismount the water valve.
(5) Unplug the electrical connections to the water valve. My refrigerator has one Brown and one Blue connector. Remember which plug goes to which connector.
(6) Place a towel under the water valve and use the adjustable wrench to remove the main hose connection.
(7) Next, remove the hoses that to into the water valve outlets. On my refrigerator, these hoses are of different sizes and have quick-disconnects. I simply have to press on the collar at end of the hose, pushing it towards the valve to release the hose, then pull on the hose.
(8) Prepare the new water valve by removing the plastic cover that protects the connector for the main water line.
(9) Connect the main water line to the new valve using the adjustable wrench.
(10) Connect the two hoses of different sizes to the valve. You only have to push them all the way into each valve and slightly tug on them to make sure they are locked in place.
(11) Re-connect the Brown and Blue electrical connectors to their original location.
(12) Mount the new water valve into the back of the refrigerator (one screw).
(13) If possible, quickly check that the new valve is working properly: If you have a mechanical valve in the water line, open it and make sure there are no leaks near the valve or inside in the icemaker. You may have to plug in the refrigerator power to complete the initial test.
(14) Replace the back panel with the 4 screws and anchor the hose to the back with 1 screw.
(15) Once everything is back in its place and the refrigerator is on, cycle the water dispenser several times to run fresh water into the hoses and the new valve.

First ,I placed all the frozen food from the freezer into the lower fridge compartment. Removed the main shelf. Removed the ice cube tray shelf. Removed the center plastic covers using a nut driver. Removed the complete inside back wall of the freezer to get access to the fan. Simply removed about 5 screws, and cut 3 tie straps that held the wiring in place. Unplugged the fan connector and removed fan with its brackets and placed them on the kitchen table. Then used the nut driver to remove 2 screws which hald the fan to its bracket. Simply pulled off the fan blades and pressed them onto the new motor. Mounted new motor onto the bracket. Reinstalled the fan assembly back into freezer. Reconnected the wiring and the fan began to run... BE CAREFUL NOT TO TOUCH THE FAN WITH YOUR FINGERS!
Finally replaced all the covers, panels, and shelf etc. and everything is once again nice and cold.

1) Unplugged fridge and removed cover over light in freezer.
2)Removed screws holding cover over motor.
3) Removed screws on bracket holding motor in place.
4) Un plugged motor and used razor blade to cut grommet holding wires in place.
5) Plugged in new motor and routed wires through grommet. Then used zip ties to hold grommet together.
5) Re-attached motor bracket and installed new fan.
6) Reinstalled cover over motor.

I should state first that I am a DIYer and have no experience fixing appliances. The fan noise seems to be a common problem. It has something to do with the bearings. Mine was actually hitting the housing in front on the fan as well. Getting into the installation, I knew I had to take the back panel and fan housing off. But I found out that everything needs to come off. This is the ice maker, the housing underneath the ice maker as well as the fan housing and back panel. This isn't difficult but good to know before hand. A quick note, the light bulb housings come out by pulling them forward. It's a good idea to label the screws as you take them out as there are quite a few that need to come out. I replaced the evaporator fan the fan blade and one grommet. In hind sight I should have replaced both grommets as they both showed wear. They are both exactly the same so you can order two of the above. All in all this is a pretty easy fix. It takes a bit of time, but it's not to difficult. Th most difficult thing was the wiring. The fan comes with a six prong connector and has four prongs taken up. There is, what I think is a temperature sensor, that takes up the other two prongs. Since I didn't order that part, I had to cut it out of the old connector and insert it into the new evaporator fan connector. This was a bit difficult and would have been much easier if I had ordered the part. Unfortunately, I don't know what that part is called, but it must be some kind of temperature sensor as it clips on the coil. The wires also run through a blue rubber wire-run that needs to be sliced open. This was pretty easy to do with a small serrated pocket knife. SLice it on the back side of it and pull the old wires out. When you are ready to install, just run the new wires through the hole from the old wires. Once you have replaced the fan the new blade and the two new grommets, it's just a matter of replacing all the equipment. Fan housing first, then the upper housing followed by the ice maker and the back panel. Good luck

Firt Removed the Ice Maker Tray and the full ice maker assembly. Removed the plastic shroud that sits over the fan assembly. Since the original connector (or the plug)for the motor had also a temperature sensor attached to it and did not know how to remove and trabsfer to the new motor connector I spliced the new motor to the old connector. It was fairly straight forward. Overall the job was not that difficult and since I was trying to be more meticulous it took a little longer. An average person can do it in around 30 to 45 minutes.

I replaced the motor that runs the fan in the freezer compartment. Had to remove a number of shields to get to the fan and then some wires and screws to get at the motor. It came with a plug with 4 wires in it and I was supposed to pull 2 wires out of the old plug and place them in the new plug. Long story short the pins would not extract from the plug and the wiring harness was molded in solid plastic, so I ended up cutting the 4 wires to the motor and splicing in the new one and taping them with electrical tape. So far no more moaning and the ice cream is still hard, so I think we nailed it.

First I removed the shelf and light cover, then removed 3 screws from the ice make. Then I removed 6 screws from the moter cover (back wall of the freezer) and removed it. I then removed the 2 screw holding the moter. This is where the soldering iron comes in. The wire leads from the old motor were molded into a 3" rubber holder and the end wire plastic connector held 6 prongs (2 from a thermo tube). The new motor only held the 4 moter prongs, 2 were empty. To resolve this problem I cut the wires on both the new and old motor. I then attached the old connector to the new moter with the soldering iron and shrink tubing. Replaced all the parts I had removed and started it up. Works like a champ.....

On one severe winter cold night my fridge dispenser door stopped water supply, but ice maker was working. First I disconnected power supply to the fridge then turned off main water supply from the wall to fridge and with wrench set disconnected water supply pipe from wall to fridge while disconnecting the pipe make sure to collect the water from the both end pipes. Then removed the cardboard from the back side of the fridge. I disconnected the blue element (dispenser water) the red element (ice maker). [DOUBLE OUTLET WATER VALVE]. If you would try to pull the pipes white (dispenser water) and black (ice maker) you woudn't succeed because once the the white and black pipes are insereted into the water valve those pipes are clamped tightly in the valve. So I cut off those pipes and removed the old water valve, then I conncected the new water valve first conncected those white and blue elements and inserted the white and black pipes pushed in closed with round plactic caps comes with new one.I reconncected the main water supply pipes from wall to the frige and turned on the water supply from wall and plugged the power supply. First surpisingly I doubted it will work, actullay the water dispnser did'nt work immediately I have to wait 2 to 3 hours of time, in the mean time I checked the pipe connections from the bottom of the front left side door ( if you open the two doors bottom you can see the plastic cover it can be removed by pulling towards and pushing in you can close it back into normal position) which water supply pipe comes through the bottom of the door to water dispenser. I disconnected the connector and pusheed the dispensor several times to flushout any leaky water or air then I reconnected the pipes to the connector. I pushed the dispenser with a cup to dispenser, it started working as it is normally. While I was working my 7 years old son helped me as he always eager to learn and explore things.

Had to turn off water and remove back panel and with a few tools the part was off and the new part put on in less that 30 minutes!! Finding parts on your website were easily found.

After de-energized unit (by removing electical plug from outlet),I removed the rear panel at bottom of unit. I then removed the mounting screw to the water valve. I then disconnected the wiring assembly from the old unit. I then removed the water supply lines going to the icemaker and water filter. I then placed the water supply into the replacement water valve. plugged in wiring assembly to new unit and rehung water valve inside refrig. Turned water valve on at water supply to check for leaks, finding none I then replaced back panel on refridge and plugged in electrical cord and returned refrige to normal place in kitchen.

First I hired a repairman and he said that it was in the unit and would not be worth the expense to fix.

I started to research on the net and this was one possible source. ( evaporator fan). I had to take it apart to verify it. Then put it back together to use until the part came.

The next time went much faster as I did not have to take near as many screws out to access the fan motor. Very Happy to have it working fine again as a new relacement would cost $1200. Thanks much. Ron