TFT28PFBAAA 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.

Let me start by saying, I usually hire something like this out but figured I would give it a try. The install was fairly straight forward, however it would’ve been nice if the instructions would have been more useful. Instructing me to remove one screw to release the auger and solenoid enclosure wouldve been nice. There were 3 other screws that I didn’t need to remove and they were the ones holding the auger in place, which made assembling that much more difficult. Once to enclosure was removed, and the solenoid was exposed, it was a seemless process. I would however, recommend paying attention to or taking a picture of the connections on the solenoid. I was lucky to remember or got lucky. Regardless, I was able to complete the project successfully. If I had to do it again, I believe it can be done in 30 minutes or less.

The only difficult part was not knowing which parts had to be removed to gain access to the flapper to replace it. It appeared as if the frame around the control panel would have to be removed as well as the door handle; we tried but were not able to remove the frame. It turned out that the panel just popped out with the frame in place. Once we had access to the flapper, it was easy to replace it. The repair fixed the problem.

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!

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.

Turned water supply off; pressed dispenser sw to release presure ; cut tubing holding reservoir ; nuit driver to release screw holding reservoir and pulled out ; took outside and used hose nozzle to try to clear; did not clear at first then took weedeater string and disloged something and water flowed freely; turned out had to change waer solenoid valve (both) as the one for the water dispener was also plugged which did not show up before.
P.S. Had back flow water thru system before and changes of parts. Water flowed freely.

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

Disconnected the power and then the water line. Removed the cardboard shield on back of the refrig. Then removed the faulty solenoid which was held in place by one bolt. Removed the two plastic water hoses and two sets of electrical connectors. I then reversed the process to install the new solenoid. I encountered two challenges. The new solenoid had a plastic housing that had to be removed and one set of the electrical connectors required an extension. The extensions were included with the solenoid, but there were no instructions.

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.

Easy. First, unplug the fridge.

1)Shut off then disconnect water line.

2)Remove water valve mount screw.

3)Disconnect electrical plugs and snip water lines (square cut lines for new valve).

4)Simply insert and seat water lines into their respective places on the new valve. Using adapters as needed, reconnect electrical plugs.

5)Mount valve and reconnect water line.

6)Turn on water supply and check for leaks. Possible leaks: water line or not fully seated lines to the new valve.

7)Restore power and enjoy :o)

Separately (from a different site) purchased new compressor fan and motor. I purchased the grommets here because the other site listed the grommets as temporarily out of stock. I did watch one of the videos on PartSelect about the grommet replacement. Repair was pretty simple, biggest challenge was getting to the screw on the far side of the motor. Removed the two screws holding the fan motor into place. Removed motor and blade. Reinstalled with new fan blade, new grommet and new motor.

Received the first water valve with very poor included instructions. Watched the suggested instructional YouTube for my part installation which was very well done except my new part was not identical to my old part or the one in the YouTube. A translucent plastic housing on the part obstructed the installation so I needed to trim part of it away with a tin shear before attaching the part to the refrig. The waterline attachments were slip fit rather than what my old part had with compression nuts. I replaced all the plastic water lines using the slip fittings, turned the water back on and- all fittings leaked. Undid the fittings, trimmed the water lines and reattached- still leaked. So I contacted customer service who sent out a new part and followed the above procedure and everything went quickly with no leaks. I suggest you replace the two plastic water lines ( you will need to buy two slip fittings and two diameter lines) these are available at Home Depot. There is also a YouTube for this and it is a must see. My main supply line to the refrigerator is copper tubing. I trimmed the end of the tubing, filed it smoot, steelwooled the surface and installed a new brass compression ring befor reactching to the valve. Note, because of the first leaks, I found it easier to make all my connections including the electrical, plug the refrigerator back in and active the ice maker and water dispenser before reaching the valve the the frig back. Good luck.

Use small putty knife to cut internal sealant on ice maker door trim piece. Then you can easily remove it.

Remove front cover did not remove wires remove ice and water unit took off flapper put new one on 5 minutes back together

I removed the plate covering the water valve for the ice maker and water dispenser, removed the nut holding the 5/16" tubing to the valve and took off the tubing and nut. I did not need to turn off the water supply or unplug the unit. I removed the kick panel in the bottom front of the refrigerator, replaced the existing plastic fitting with a new push-on fitting, then spliced the tubing coming from the water chiller to the valve where the leak was thus bypassing the broken tubing with new tubing. I reassembled the valve using the original plastic compression nut, replaced the cover and ran the water dispenser while checking for leaks. The water dispanser works great with no leaks.