Mr Draper, your General Electric Frost Guard Refrigerator is here...

[Ultramatic]

Thanks John.

 

 

Well I discovered why it wasn't turning. Whomever "serviced" this "forgot" to reinstall the retaining screws, so the fan was drooping, it's blades striking the housing. I'll fix this first then I dive in further to see the other fan.

 



 

Another thing, even though it is "OFF", the refrigerator section is getting real warm. The heater for the coils is operating. I guess it's best to unplug the refrigerator?

 

[rp2813]

I think that heating phenomenon is normal.  Something about a heater associated with the serpentine coil coming on whenever the compressor isn't operating.   I'm surprised that this still happens even with the cold control set to "OFF" but I think John may have stated in another thread that it was designed that way, and that you have to unplug to stop the heating.

 

I agree with John that on your model, the freezer fan being impeded wouldn't have any effect on the fresh food section.

 

Generally speaking, with a dead or faulty condenser fan both sections would be impacted.

 

[Ultramatic]

 

 

I spent the evening trying to find screws that would work for the freezer fan. After that, I noticed the rolling basket of the freezer was misaligned.  At some point, the prior owners removed it, and didn't reinstall it correctly. I thought so what the hell. Fixed that and gave the freezer a good scrubbing. Well all this time, the refrigerator was off, so I turned it back on to see if the freezer fan was working again (it was and whisper quiet). To my surprise, the condenser fan started right up as well, I felt the warm breeze coming out of the front grill. And the coils started to get cold and freeze again. I'll pull the back cover off later today to see what gives. Perhaps it's just debris that blocking the fan.

 

[rp2813]

Good report, Louie! 

 

Maybe the condenser fan motor is just tired, and after running a while it either slows down or stops.  At least it's easy to check by just standing in front of the fridge.

 

[Ultramatic]

Thanks Ralph

 

 

Well I spoke too soon. Within 30 minutes of turning the refrigerator on, the fan stopped and the cooling did also. Later today, I'll get to the bottom of this.

 

[combo52]

Refrigerator problems

Hi Louis, the question is the fan quit running underneath is the fan still running in the freezer, is the compressor still running etc. this problem may be very easy to figure out but we need to know what's going on everywhere to even make a reasonable guess as to what is malfunctioning.

Refrigerators can be confusing to figure out but they're actually extremely simple appliances if we just know what's going on.

John L.

 

[Ultramatic]

Hi John

 

 

The compressor is running. But the fan quits after about 20 minutes. I haven't looked back there yet. The freezer fan is fine. But the freezer is also not cooling.

 

[rp2813]

Sounds like it's time for a new condenser fan.  It could be so much worse.  The hard part will be finding an exact replacement.

 

[Ultramatic]

 

 

Well I opened the back, other than the expected large amounts of dust, the fan appears to be OK. No obstructions, rotates freely. So; Bad fan or perhaps something else?

 

 

[rp2813]

It may rotate freely when not receiving power, but does it operate reliably when the fridge is running?

 

[combo52]

Possible bad condenser fan motor

Condenser fan motors can be intermittent an operation when they're failing.

The good news is this is an extremely common condenser fan motor fits 90% of all refrigerators with condenser fan motors built over the last 60 years.

If this is an original condenser fan motor it may have three leads, but it can be replaced with any to lead condenser fan motor.

When I rework these old refrigerators I always install one of the new electronic condenser fan motors that only uses a fraction of the electricity.
John L.

 

[Ultramatic]

 

 

Running normally. Lets see for how long.

 

 

[Ultramatic]

 

 

I don't think it's the fan. However it's certainly going on and off a lot. It's starts to cool, then click, the fan goes off.

 

[Ultramatic]

 

 

OK, the fan goes on for about a minute. Then off for about 3 minutes. I raised the cold control from 2 to 6. No effect. The compressor starts and stops in unison with the fan.

 

Another thing, the drain for the refrigerator coils are clogged. What would be the best way to unclog them?

 

Thanks in advance.

[this post was last edited: 9/22/2017-04:19]

 

[kenwashesmonday]

Without the back cover in place, the condenser coils will not cool, and the compressor will overheat and shut off.

 

[combo52]

Condenser fan motor on an old GE refrigerator

The condenser fan motor on this refrigerator is wired through the compressor relay and if it's a three wire fan motor relay actually starts the fan motor.

Unfortunately it sounds like the compressor itself is having some problems, the thing to do now is put an amp meter on the compressor or the whole refrigerator and if the power draw is over about 4 A compressor shorted and it has failed or is failing. There's a very small chance It's just a bad overload or relay.

Yes the refrigerator should have a back on it to operate properly, but the compressor will not overheat in just a few minutes with the back off it will run with the back off it's just not ideal in the long run.

But if when the compressor shuts off the evaporator fan is still running in the freezer it's not the cold control etc.

John L.

 

[Ultramatic]

 

 

I'm putting the GE on it's side in order to vacuum/clean the coils underneath. I'll pop the back back on and see what happens. Switching out the compressor sounds daunting for me. My dad has done this countless times, and he could walk me through it, but I simply don't have the equipment for the job. If worse comes to worse, I will have to call a repairman.

 

The fan appears to have only two wires. Originally, the problem was the coils in the refrigerator frosting up and not defrosting. Then that problem fixed itself with me turning the refrigerator off. It worked OK until again it's started to frost up. Again I turned it off. Again it's started to cool OK. The third time it did this, it had stopped cooling altogether. The coils would get cold, but not frost over. This is were we are at now.

 

[rp2813]

Gee, now it's starting to sound like the cold control has gone squirrely.   You could try extracting the control, removing the wires, then connecting them together to see if the thing stays running and properly cooling.

 

[Ultramatic]

 

 

I'll try that Ralph. I put the GE on it side and boy were the coils clogged with filth. I got out as much as I could with the vacuum and a brush. Some spots were too tight for the crevice tool to reach. I can't imagine how you could clean this without putting the refrigerator on it's side. Too narrow behind the front grill. Anyway, it's upright now, back panel reinstalled, waiting for the oil to return so I can restart it again.

 

 

[combo52]

Cleaning the condenser coil on this old GE refrigerator

It's always a good idea to clean the condenser but it won't make any difference with this problem.

Is the evaporator fan in the freezer stopping when compressor stops or not?

It doesn't sound like a bad cold control it's a very simple thing to figure out just have to see what's working and what's not.

It's not necessary to let the refrigerator stand upright for a long time after you've had it on its side, the worst thing that will happen if the oil ran out of the compressor is it will take a little longer to start very unlikely.

John L.