TFT20JRBGAA General Electric Refrigerator - Instructions

First removed the two screws that holds the old ice maker in place. Unplugged it. The freezer compartment was too narrow to allow the unit to slide out or turn in any other direction. Had to also remove the two front screws from the left side ice bin track and swing it down. The door opening was also too tight. Scratched the plastic door jamb putting the new unit in but other than that all is well and functioning well.

Googled the problem, find parts select.com, called service rep and the female rep recommended this part.

Ordered part, got it, replaced it and it works fine.

Note: the water hoses are just installed by pushing in, no tools required.

Basically I looked online for some research thru google and found this great site.. A few other folks had the same problem as I had with mine and I figured that I would start with replacing the double outlet water valve.. So I ordered it from this site and in two days wow that's fast shipping.. This repair took less than 15 minutes to complete and talk about a big savings $ 45.00 for this repair job.... I'm really happy now.... It's pretty easy though.. simply unplug frig first... then remove screw holding the valve.. remove clips and have a bowl near by when remoing the two hoses... replace valve.. its all colored coded just match the colors and then the two hoses they are different sizes one for each hole... reclip the clips and then replace the screw and finally plug the frig back in.. and then turn on the water to check for leaks.. if no leaks you are done...

Determined that the defrost heater was bad (didn't test the thermostat or sensor) and attempted to replace it first.

Got the part in one day (super fast shipping).

1) Removed back panel on the inside of the freezer compartment using a nut driver.
2) Removed the ground wire clip from the metal panel
3) Used a screw driver to remove the two philips head screws that hold the heater assembly in place.
4) carefully pulled off the wires attached to the assembly.
5) attached the wires to the new heater
6)attached the new heater and screwed the new heater in place
7) attached the inside panel
8) fridge is now working great.

removed the back of the freezer unit and replaced the defrost heater and thermastat. took the controls out of the produce side and replaced the defrost timer.

Installation could not have been easier!

put block of wood under the door, removed old hinge and installed the new one. about 15 minutes

replaced lights in refrigirator and freezer

Did the repair just as the instruction said, once I read it. The part I didn't read was that if the plug was under the ice maker, you had to take the wire out of the clip on the side. So, had to dismount ice maker, unclip wire, remount maker, plug it in. Still under 30 minutes. Thank you.

I have just followed the instructions on the youtube video: It is really easy. I did. Thank you

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.

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

By the time this failure (failed defroster heating element) is evident (top of freezer starts thawing), the entire freezer coil is encased in a block of ice & frost is visble on the back freezer panel.
Empty the freezer & unplug (or turn circuit breaker off) then remove all racks and the light bulb then remove the two lower drawer guides using a phillips srewdriver (2 scrwes each). Use a 1/4" nutdriver to remove the two panel screws on either side of the light bulb socket and pull the panel out, unclip the green grounging wire and set panel aside. this exposes the freezer evaporator coil which is probably encased in ice. If so, use a heat gun or hair dryer to melt the ice away. This takes a half hour of heat application and a bowl or other catchpan should be placed under the coil to remove some of the resulting melting runoff so the evap. pan under the fridg/freezer unit won't be overwhelmed with the excess water.
Replacing the defrost heater & bracket assembly itself is just a matter of removing two phillips screws on either side of the bracket assembly, pulling the bracket free and then uncliping the two electrical terminals. Clip in the new unit to the eletrical terminals & replace the screws, reinstall the rear panel (don't forget to reconnect the ground wire), install the drawer backets, light bulb, shelves and drawer & reapply power. Replacing the bracket itself w/o the defrost proceedure takes about 15 minutes.

Note: If this symptom occurs and is diagnosed (the heater tube will be black and electrically read as "open" using an ohmmeter) and you cannot get the heater assembly & bracket assembly immediately, you can use the heat gun (hairdryer) manual defrost proceedure noted above to get the the unit running while you await the parts arrival. I used the manual defrost procedure and there was just some moderate frost on the coils after five days when I was able to install the replacement part.

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.