Evaporator Fan With Thermistor

Very simple and easy.

This scenario references a 10 year old GE Profile refrigerator. Symptoms were wide-spread including freezer and food storage temps varying wildly, but mostly way too warm. Occasionally, if the doors remained closed overnight, freezer temp and food storage temp neared normal. Additionally, the ice maker clogged up with partially frozen ... Read more ice and the ice tray filled with water and froze. I also observed the green icemaker indicator light flashing which wasn’t normal. I also noted that the ‘fan’ in the freezer section was not turning on.

Thinking that because of the wide range of symptoms, it had to be the motherboard. Installed a new one and symptoms continued. My second ‘guess’ was one of the temperature sensors was faulty OR the defrost thermostat was malfunctioning. Given that either part could be at fault, I bought the defrost thermostat and two temperature sensors. I installed the defrost thermostat in the freezer and two temperature sensors, both in the freezer section… kind of a ‘shotgun’ technique.

Symptoms remained and now a bit frustrated. Essentially, the only remaining possibility was a faulty evaporator fan located in the freezer section. Though I didn’t want to throw a lot of money at the machine, I decided to take one more shot at it because a new refrigerator was around $3500! Replaced the evaporator fan and voila!... it works!! The fridge is now performing like new with all temps very stable and ice galore!

In general, I don’t give up easily, but I also don’t like ‘laboring in vain’ either! I’m a ‘fixer’, not a ‘replacer’ and I thought the fridge is in very good condition, matches my other appliances and for $3500 I can by a lot of ‘parts’! So, unless you’re a professional appliance repair person, repairs can be a gamble… sometimes you win, sometimes you lose! This time my efforts paid big dividends!! Thanks for the helpful guidance.

Pain in the ass! Had to take the freezer side inside completely apart.