TFT27PRBGAA General Electric Refrigerator - Instructions

Replaced flapper valve per website instructions. GE factory technician took two weeks to get here, charged over $100 for the call and told us we needed a new refrigerator door at a cost of over $500 to fix the problem. We sent him packing. After visiting the PartSelect website, the $5.88 PartSelect flapper valve fixed the problem. Amazing.

Turned off the breaker to the fridge because I couldn't reach the power plug to unplug it . Use small flat head screwdriver to pop out the piece, disconnected the rubber prong connectors, inserted the new piece into the rubber prongs snapped it back into place. Flipped the breaker back on and prayed it worked. It did and I saved myself $120 service call.

First I removed the electrical plug from the back of the freezer that plugs into the icemaker. I then removed the two hex head screws that hold the icemaker to the wall of the freezer and removed the icemaker. I removed the plastic cover, which incidentally protects the gears, by prying it off with a srewdriver. I removed three small nuts(7mm) which holds the internal cam in place. I removed the cam by pulling it off the shaft. Once I got the part from you folks I reversed the procedure that I just mentioned, and put the icemaker back together. It works great. The part with shipping was around $16.00. A new icemaker was roughly $159.00. If I would have called a technician it would have cost around $300.00 to repair.

I watched the video online, followed the instructions and within minutes had the part installed. The frig light was working once again! I will say the original switch was very snug and I had to do some very minor scraping of the plastic to get the new part to slide in.

Unplugged refrigerator and turned off water valve at wall. Removed the entire back, lower cardboard panel (turns out I didn't have to do this...could have just removed the screws from the right side and folded the cardboard along a perforated line designed for that purpose). Removed screw holding water control valve to back of refrigerator. Took new control valve, and slipped on adaptors for electrical connectors (in bag) to the two smaller of the four electrical prongs). Removed electrical sockets from old connector and placed them over appropriate prongs on new connector. Unscrewed the two old water out lines, cut the old fittings off and slipped the lines snugly into the new outlet valve (new valve had slip on connectors not requiring lines to be screwed in). Keep straight which line goes to which outlet port! Then removed water line going into old fitting and screwed it on to new valve inlet fitting (after removing black plastic protective cap). Turned wall water valve on, checked for leaks (none), and plugged refrigerator back in. Water restored to both icemaker and water dispenser!

By the way, the first valve came damaged, but one phone call and the people at Part Select promptly sent out a replacement which I had the very next day (and this was two days before Christmas!). Great job!

Defrost heater turned black. Test showed infinite resistance. Problem went away after the heater was replaced.

------------- defrost heater replacement --------------------------
- unplug the refrigerator
- unload all shelves underneath ice maker
- move ice crem into the refrigerator section
- remove all shelves and the bottom tray.
- remove light bulb cover and the bulb
- unscrew two 1/8" screws on top corners of the back panel
- unclip the ground clip on top
- pull the back panel up; pull the left side toward yourself
- test 3 thermistors (see instructions below)
- test the thermostat (see instructions below)
- if either thermistors or the thermostat units are defective, they may be the reason for fan malfunction, not the fan itself.
- unscrew 2 philips screws on either side of the defrost heater
- pull it out and unplug the 2 wires on either end. Replace with a new part.
- putting together is the reverse of disassembly
- move ice cream back to the freezer


--- thermistor testing

- unplug the refrigerator
- locate thermistors to be tested. There's one on evaporating coils, one on bot. left of the freezer (behind deep tray, with white wires), 1 in fridge section (top left, in the corner, inside square white wire conduit; undo the top 1/8" screw ONLY and pull conduit up).
- without disconnecting from the circuit, place a thermistor in a cup of ice water. Wait for 5 minutes
- locate the main control board. Locate and unplug the J1 connector. The pinout, starting from the side with all wires connected:
* pin 5: ground
* pin 4: evaporator thermistor
* pin 3: freezer
* pins 2,1: fresh food thermistor
- use an ohmmeter to measure resistance. Push the needle of the ohmmeter into the socket, where the wire plugs in, without trying to remove the wire. It should be 16.3 kOhm +/- 5% (for 0 deg C)

to replace a thermistor
- cut out the old thermistor, leaving as much wire as possible
- strip the wires, twist them pairwise
- use a bell connector filled with RTV silicone, to ensure that no moisture can get to the connection
* others have also used butt splices and screw-on caps with electrical tape (for moisture isolation)
- using a proper crimping tool, squeeze the bell connector to secure the wire

------------- thermostat testing ---------------------------------
- it's a round quarter-sized cylinder w/ pink and orange wires
- check for bulging (= burnt)
- locate temperature ratings on the side of the thermostat. It should read e.g. 140-30F. This means it's switches to open circuit when >140F is reached and switches to closed circuit when <30F is reached.
- unplue the 6 pin connector that has thermostat.
- test the thermostat. Orange wire is in the 6-pin connector; pink wire can be disconnected from the defrost heater under the evaporation coil. It should read closed circuit (no R).
- place the thermostat into a cup of boiling water. It should open.
- if OK, reattach the thermostat

My husband took out the old icemaker in about 5 minutes. The new icemaker was a perfect fit even though the refrigerator was >10yrs old. The only difficult part was the plug extension that was needed so that it would fit into an older appliance. The part was included, it just made the cord about 3 inches longer than it needed to. After working with it for about 20 minutes we were able to fit it on the back side of the icemaker. Now it works great!!

Used the parts diagram from PartSelect.com to locate the valve. Removed the old valve and disconnected inlet water line and the 2 outlet water lines(one for ice maker & one for water dispencer). Reconnected water lines to new valve and positioned it back in place on the refrigerator. Problem solved -no more drip, drip, drip.

Replaced dispenser door flapper by following the do it yourself video in this site. It was really easy. Just be careful when removing the dispenser black bezel. I broke one of the little tabs when taking it off.

Very quick and easy repair. Took off cover to access valve using standardr screw driver. After shutting off water supply to valve disconnected copper water supply line. Used a large towel to catch any residual water in line. Removed two water lines on valve use plies if more than hand tight to loosen. Removed screw holding valve in place, removed valve and disconnected wires (be sure power to frig is off least you get a shock. Reverse proceedure to install new valve. new valve has simple push in connections for plastic water lines. Install two electrical adpaters and electric lines. Mount valve with screw, connect copper water line. Turn water back on and check for leaks. Turn power on and check for proper water running at dispenser. Again check for any leaks. No leaks, install cover and you are done.

I Took the six screws off the back panel to get to underneath the refridgerator. took the 2 screws out of the bracket thast holds on the water valve took the 2 lines off and then put everything back

Followed the online video. Unplugged refrigerator, removed trim piece, lifted control board cover, removed 4 screws retaining circuit control board and removed the 3 connectors from the control board. Located flapper and removed by using small flat tip to take tension off flapper connectors. Helper held flash light to illuminate flapper connectors. Reversed procedure. New flapper seals well and cured problems. Circuit board was a bit different than one in video, but still had the 3 connectors. Marked each connector with grease pencil at top edge to ensure correct reconnection. Should note how wires are threaded around circuit board to ensure they are tucked back in correctly in reassembly. Remove trim piece carefully. I broke 2 of the 8 plastic pins that hold trim on. May be due to age of unit as they were brittle. 6 pins still hold trim piece flush.

Researched on internet/you tube; ordered part, and did the repair. Easy to do and saved the cost of a service call.

Followed the instructions in the video, which showed our exact refrigerator. Very easy instruction, for a simple job. However, it did not fix the problem. At this point I suspect a faulty replacement part (which cannot now return), or some other issue requiring further analysis. Could also be that the original Inlet Water Valve is not at fault, which means that this high probability fix (70%) was not needed.