Freezer Heating Up and melting everything

by emily
(enola pa)

I have a ge gsh25jfxbbb side by side refrigerator. The freezer part heats up and then melts everything in the freezer and then starts up again and will cool everything again. I cannot figure out what is wrong. The fridge is only about 2 years old. The freezer melts everything and then refreezes it. I cannot keep anything in the freezer because it ruins it. Also then the icemaker is not working correctly, not sure if it is because of the freezer heating up and cooling down. Please help me.





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Answer

Hi Emily,

I am almost sure this will be the main board especially since it is an intermitting problem. The main board either has a bad relay or it is keeping it in defrost too long.

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Thank you,
Shawn/administrator

Comments for Freezer Heating Up and melting everything

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Jun 07, 2018
 Same symptoms apparently different cause
by: Mike M

I am having a very similar problem with a GE brand GSH25JSRFSS side-by-side that has been plaguing me for months now and I am about to throw this thing over a cliff and just buy a new one.
Basically the symptoms are that it runs fine for anywhere from 3-30 days, then one morning I notice the ice getting wet (and I now have had a remote thermistor thermometer set up) which shows the temp steadily climbing well above freezing (40+F). The condenser fan runs constantly like it is trying to run the compressor, but no compressor. No heating or cooling on the flow lines at all. So I recently found your site and ran through all the diagnostics on defrost-problem.html. Literally EVERYTHING checks out to the letter perfect (almost TOO perfect - the only difference is where you say the ohmage should be no more than 1/2 ohm between the windings, mine measure 10.4, 4.2 and 6.2 respectively, which another site confirms is perfect for my compressor. I also tested all pins for a short to ground, without any problems. I even went a few steps further and tested the voltage at the relay plug connector to the compressor (compressor disconnected) and both winding terminal holes to Common hole show 120V constant. I don't have a loop ammeter to test the current when connected, but I'm guessing it is 0 based on observation. I don't even hear a hum. So apparently the board is working and trying to cool, it is sending power to the relay/run cap and the condenser fan runs and power is going to the relay and apparently coming out of the relay, but no start! Oh yeah, also tested the run cap with a cap meter and it is perfect. Ok, so maybe a bad compressor or a bad relay. Well, the compressor TESTS all perfectly fine, and as mentioned later comes on when it feels like it, so I'm ruling it out FOR NOW, especially since it is the most expensive to replace. No rattle from the relay when you shake it, but lets replace it anyway. It's relatively cheap. A new OEM one is about $50-75, so decided instead to go with a Hard Start at least temporarily, because the URCO 210 is only $15-20 (online). The compressor is 8.6 LRA so need the heavy duty relay. Have one ordered to pick up locally tomorrow. In the meantime, while testing, I had turned it off for variously 5 min, 30-45 min, even a few hours, and still would not come back up. Tried everything, even banging and shaking the compressor as someone suggested in case the piston was stuck. But nothing. Cleaned it all out and moved the food to our backup fridge in the garage by this time. In the past when this happened (and like I said it has happened at least 4-5 times over the last 5-6 months, perhaps getting a bit more frequent each time) it would start again after as little as 5 minutes and be fine again for weeks or more. Once it took as long as a day or more, but only because that is when I decided to plug it in once again, it may have worked sooner. So while waiting for this new relay, the fridge has been off for something like 20 hours since the last attempt (I had removed parts for reference at the parts store last night and just got back for the day). Decided to just plug them back in for the heck of it (so I wouldn't misplace them around here mostly) and then got the whim to plug it in... and guess what? It is now running like normal and is in the process of cooling below freezing again!!! Arrrrgh!
I give up. Any suggestions what else to try. Even if I put in the new relay tomorrow, I won't know now for sure if that is/was the cause or not until it fails again. The board was changed originally when in warranty still, but seems to be functioning fine sending power to the compressor or else I'd suspect a bad board/ board relay. Although that constant 120V on BOTH windings sounds a little off? What do you think? Shouldn't it just come on the second winding for a few seconds or so, or does it somehow sense when the compressor is actually running normal before shutting off the second winding?
All the sensors must be working, because the compressor fan is running so it must be TRYING to run the compressor, but somehow the compressor only feels like it on Even numbered days of the week or some other unfathomable pattern, I've yet to discern. One other thing I might have noticed is that USUALLY when it is about to act up, it gets a coating of loose "snow" in the freezer compartment. We constantly check to make sure the ice flap is closing and the door seal has no leaks, but there it is. Could it be coming from moisture in the fridge part and somehow freezing up the coils to cause this? But it wouldn't run the compressor fan if it was trying to defrost. And the freezer would not get much above freezing if it was frozen coils.
It's a mystery to me and if you can solve this once and for all, I will gladly be making a sizable donation to the site (well, based on MY means at least) as the frustration and repeated moving of a hundred pounds of food back and forth is getting boring.
Thanks for any help.
Jun 08, 2018
 observation on a similarly internittant freezer
by: Mike M.

Should one of the relays on the controller board on a GE similar to this heat up considerably when the compressor is running, or does this possibly indicate a problem? The relay I'm referring to is the largest black one about an inch above the bottom edge, and right in line and next to (above) the 3 large pin blue connector.

Answer,

Yes look on back of the board for a burnt solder joint.

Thank you,
Shawn\admin
Jun 14, 2018
 Mike M
by: shawn

If I were working on your refrigerator the first thing I would do is to remove the main board and look for a brunt solder joint on the back of the board on the bottom portion of the board.

If that isn't the problem I would suspect the board.

However you say you have voltage to the compressor so that leaves the compressor or the relay. The reason I suggest looking at the board is because I have never seen a compressor or a relay that will work sometimes and others not.

Thank you,
Shawn/admin

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