Monogram Fridge is fine, freezer not cold enough

Refrigerator & Freezer Repair
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1

Sorry for the long first post, but I wanted to give all the info I have. If anyone can help me figure out what to do next, I’d really appreciate it.

We have a GE Monogram ZIS480 built in side-by-side fridge/freezer. Within the last couple of days we noticed that the freezer was running a lot but wasn’t staying as cold as it should. The fridge is set at 37 degrees, and the freezer is set at zero. The fridge stays at 37, but the freezer is presently at 23. That’s cold enough to freeze water, but some of the other things in there aren’t frozen as solid as they normally would be.

I’ve checked several things, including:

Compressor seems to be running (and since fridge is cold, I presume it is).

Compressor fan is running.

I can’t see the evaporator fan, but it appears to be running, as I can feel plenty of air moving through the vents in front of the evaporator.

The evaporator coil ices up after a while. It looks like a complete sheet of ice across the whole coil, though I have not taken the freezer apart enough to see the entire coil yet. I’m just looking at the part I can see through the vents in front of it (by sticking my phone in there and snapping a photo).

I’ve tried defrosting the evaporator with a hair dryer, but that doesn’t solve it. (It does defrost it, but it still doesn’t get cold enough).

I’ve checked that the freezer isn’t overloaded and vents aren’t blocked (I only see one vent at the bottom right of the freezer and it isn’t blocked).

Today I got ahold of a service reference for it and checked the resistance of the defrost heater (38.5 ohms vs expected of 37), and the four thermistors. The thermistors read as follows:

Fresh food 1 & 2: 14 kOhms at 37 degrees.

Freezer thermistor: 18 kOhms at 23 degrees

Evaporator thermistor: 19 kOhms at 23 degrees.

The thermistor reference chart shows 10 kOhms at 50 degrees, 16.3 kOhms at 32, and 27.6 kOhms at 14.

I’m not really sure how to interpret the thermistor ranges – the values I read on mine all fall within the ranges of the next higher and lower temperatures on the reference chart. So does that mean they’re good?

Has anyone seen this scenario before (cold fridge, warm freezer)? What should I check next?

3

Update: I took everything out and took the covers off so I can see the evaporator fan. It is definitely running.

Also, I may just be imagining it, but it seems that if I have the door open for a while messing with it, the compressor will shut off and the coils will defrost. Then after a while it starts running again, but it still doesn’t get cold enough. I’m going to let it run a while and then pull the top cover and see what that reveals.

4

Hi Mork, my fridge is showing the same problem. I disassembled the access panel to the cooling coils (by removing ice maker etc). Defrosted everything with hair blow dryer.
And still the same issue.

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Hello Mork,

It looks to me like there is a problem with the sealed system. You have to call a pro to check the pressure.

Gene.

6

I had the fridge repair guy over today. In my case he said there is a leak in the sealed system and we wouldn’t recommend a repair.
The repair would be expensive (>$2000) and he warranty for the new parts are only 90 days. I am disappointed that I need a new fridge.
I have to sleep over this.
I am also thinking to get a smaller fridge (I don’t really need 48" worth of fridge).
And change the cabinets to accommodate the smaller fridge and a little computer desk or something like that.

7

I guess that’s what I’ll have to do, though I’m not so sure there’s a leak. I had to go do some other things today, so the fridge was left running all day, undisturbed. The freezer was 45 when I left, and the fridge was 37. When I got back, the freezer had dropped to 32, but the refrigerator had risen to 45. That’s a new one.

The evaporator coils are not iced over now. I put the cover back on the evaporator fan before I left, but I didn’t put all the screws back in so it wasn’t very tight. I’ll put the screws back in – maybe I messed up the airflow – and will see if it gets any better overnight. If not, looks like I’ll have to make a call…

8

— Begin quote from eichstam;798513

I had the fridge repair guy over today. In my case he said there is a leak in the sealed system and we wouldn’t recommend a repair.
The repair would be expensive (>$2000) and he warranty for the new parts are only 90 days. I am disappointed that I need a new fridge.
I have to sleep over this.
I am also thinking to get a smaller fridge (I don’t really need 48" worth of fridge).
And change the cabinets to accommodate the smaller fridge and a little computer desk or something like that.

— End quote

I’m sorry to hear it. Such price for such job?! It’s way to much! If they told you that the refrigerator has to be removed from the cabinet then it’s a lie. Did you try to call GE authorized service?

Gene.

9

— Begin quote from mork;798514

I guess that’s what I’ll have to do, though I’m not so sure there’s a leak. I had to go do some other things today, so the fridge was left running all day, undisturbed. The freezer was 45 when I left, and the fridge was 37. When I got back, the freezer had dropped to 32, but the refrigerator had risen to 45. That’s a new one.

The evaporator coils are not iced over now. I put the cover back on the evaporator fan before I left, but I didn’t put all the screws back in so it wasn’t very tight. I’ll put the screws back in – maybe I messed up the airflow – and will see if it gets any better overnight. If not, looks like I’ll have to make a call…

— End quote

Good luck! I hope your service company will be more knowledgeable and honest.

Gene.

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I hope so too. I took everything out of the refrigerator side as well and now the temperature on both sides is slowly rising. I wonder if it was really cooling at all, or just slowly stealing the cold from the frozen foods. I will call for service today.

11

Keep us posted.

Gene.

12

The fridge and freezer are both at room temperature now. No cooling at all. The GE Authorized service people will be out on Monday. I’ll update with whatever they find.

13

The service call on Monday said there was a leak in the sealed system at the drier. They’re ordering a new drier and will schedule another repair visit to install it and recharge. It’s going to cost me $350 (the vast majority of which is for labor and diagnostic), which is more than I wanted to spend, but certainly a lot less than it might have been.

14

Sounds right and price is pretty reasonable. Good luck.

Gene.

15

The drier replacement fixed the fridge right up. Freezer is back at 0, fridge at 37. It returned to normal temperature in just a few hours, and has stayed there since.

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I’m glad to hear it’s up and running. Thank you for the feedback.

Gene.

17

My post a few months ago saying the drier leak repair fixed the fridge was premature. It did fix it for a while, but a month later it was slowly warming up. By the time we got to 45 days, I was convinced it was failing again and called the repair guys back out.

They checked it again, and said it was the evaporator coil leaking. So after a big check and a week’s wait, I had a shiny new evaporator coil, another new dryer – this time with UV dye to detect leaks, and another recharge. Worked like a charm – again, for about a month.

So I got them back out here again. They checked all over for any UV dye, and found that the condensor coil was leaking. They let me look at it through their UV glasses and light thing, and I could see bright purple dye all over the condensor coil ends. So, another fat check and two weeks later, I had a new condensor coil.

This time it only took 48 hours before it failed again. So they sent a senior tech out, he checked everywhere, couldn’t find any more external leaks or any further UV dye, then did some more testing and said that it was leaking in the condensor loop (yoder loop). That piece is apparently fused into the cabinet itself, and cannot be repaired, so the only option would be to replace the fridge. (Hey, at least they didn’t say I needed a new compressor first.)

Given that every time they recharged it, it took a month before it was no longer cooling again, and this time it failed within 48 hours, I am wondering if there might be anything else – something they overlooked, maybe? I have tried turning it off for 24 hours, then turning it back on, and now it just doesn’t cool at all.

The evaporator and condensor fans are running, and the compressor is vibrating the same way it usually vibrates when it’s running, though now it isn’t hot. Not even a little. The compressor and all the lines feel like they are at room temperature.

Is there anything else it could possibly be, or is really just an extremely expensive cabinet at this point? (Made all the more expensive by the insane amount I’ve just spent on repairs only to be told it can no longer be repaired at all.) Would there be any merit in getting a second opinion? The repair company I’ve been using is a GE authorized service center, and I actually made initial contact with them through GE’s website.