TFT27PRBEAA General Electric Refrigerator - Instructions

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.

------------- 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

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.

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!!

Ordered part came in 3 days. Removed plug and rear cover. Pulled off old fan . Installed new fan by pushing it on to shaft. Plugged unit back in to check operation, installed rear cover. Done. Part fit perfect. Thanks to this site you folks are great !

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.

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

I simply removed 6 screws that held bucket to face and pit on new bucket and put it back in freezer works great

I removed the back panel of the freezer to troubleshoot and found the coils to be completely frosted over and the bottom of the freezer was a block of ice. The cold air was not allowed to circulate over to the refrigerator side. I put a meter on the defrost heater at the bottom (basically it's a wire filaments encased in a glass tube) and there was no continuity which meant it was bad. I also took the defrost sensor (small round sensor at the top above the coils) and put it in a working freezer then after awhile I took it out and put a meter on it until it warmed it up and it clicked so I knew that worked. The defrost sensor should show continuity (closed circuit) when cold and no continuity (open circuit) when warm.
So at this point I knew the problem was the defrost heater due to no continuity. I purchased the defrost heater assembly which also came with a new sensor. Unplug the old and plug in the new. Super simple. The defrost cycle works as it should and now the refrigerator works perfect.

Removed icemaker from freezer,
Removed 3 screws from cover plate, and removed screw securing main gear, removed gear.
Pulled back cover plate to expose switches and mechanism.
Removed screw holding switch to remove switch, and installed new switch.
I should have taken a pic of the cover plate, the interior mechanism and the wiring as I went along. It would have saved me 45 minutes in reassembly. Also, as luck would have it, I reversed the wiring on the switch. So off was on, and I had to remove it, switch wires and re-install.
But it works!

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

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.

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.

Replaced flapper. Followed the video. The lamp caused the removable plastic bracket (which supports the control panel and the ice chute) to fuse with the plastic frame in the door. Eventually broke the fused plastic, removed the bracket, and filed the rough broken plastic before reassembly.