GE Monogram inadequate cooling in freezer

Refrigerator & Freezer Repair
,
1

Hello,

I have a 13-yo GE monogram built with a compressor that runs almost all the time and inadequate cooling, primarily the freezer side.

A repair tech (should have checked here first) came over and said the defrost heater was working, which I believe he tested by sending a current through a wire- the compressor shut off immediately thereafter.

Then he disassembled the freezer panel, put his hand by the evaporator coils, and said that he could not detect frost, therefore we had a sealed system leak. I should mention the fridge had been off for several days and was turned on 8 hrs before the tech came.

He charged us $100 for the trip and said he could refill refrigerant for another $100 and include a diagnostic dye for another $25. However, he recommended against that saying the leak was probably in the evaporator and that costs $1200 to repair.

I kept it running without food inside and measured 33 F in the fridge side and 11 F in the freezer side. The ice maker worked. The compressor would shut off sometimes but not very often.

Does the technician diagnosis seem accurate? Is it worth attempting to diagnose further? I checked online for the cost of the evaporator and have seen it as low as $250 although that doesn’t include labor. This is a very expensive fridge ($5000+ new) so I want to make sure I make the right decision here.

Thanks in advance!

3

For a refrigerator that old, the diagnosis is believable. You can confirm this yourself by looking at the eveporator and seeing the frost pattern. If the system is fully charged, you should see an even frosting (just a thin coat) over all the evaporator, possibly extending slightly onto the cooling fins. If you see only a partial, or a "spotty" frost build-up, I would start saving up for a replacement refrigerator.

4

The evaporator on my built-in fridge is pretty hard to access and see directly, but I managed to stick my phone in to take a picture. It looks like there’s little or no frost, as you can see from the pic below. Looks like I’m shopping for a new fridge :frowning:

Thanks for your help though.