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Back wall ice buildup, fridge not cooling but freezer is fine other than ice. Back wall of refrigerator squishes with sound of water behind it. Have had it unplugged for 24 hours, ice gone.
Re: Back wall ice buildup, fridge not cooling but freezer...
Anytime you have ice buildup in back of freezer it indicates that the auto defrost mechanism is not working. Check the defrost timer, heater element, defrost thermostat for proper operation.
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Annonymous, what problem are you trying to solve? Is the water at the bottom of the refrigerator because the fridge is not cooling? If that then unplug the fridge, Keep the fridge and the freezer doors open after salvaging food items. Keep it unplugged for about 12 hrs and any ice buildup in the back wall will melt. You will see a pool of water on the floor. Clean that and the inside of fridge and freezer. Re-connect. You might get lucky!
Check to see if you have airflow in the freezer and that it is also blowing into the fridge section. Also, check to see if you see any ice buildup on and behind the back wall of the freezer.
Post back to me here.
It sounds like it is doing some cooling. Check to see if your evaporator fan is running and there is not ice buildup on your evaporator (indicating a defrost issue, common on ge refrigerators, usually heater goes bad), you would either see ice on the back wall of freezer or if you take off the back wall you will see lots of frost. Also check if your condensor fan is running and clean the condensor. The compressor is running since it is getting down to 27 but if it is not being cooled it will shut down. Another common problem on the ge refrigerator is the main board contacts going bad and not running the compressor. If your compressor is running the whole time and none of the other conditions exist it sounds like you have a leak or restriction in the refrigerant or sealed system.
I had the same problem and I discovered it was the defrost element that was shorted out which keeps the ice from building up located behind the back freezer wall.
Possibly sounds like the heating element on your defroster is burnt out or the drain hole for the defroster is blocked, not allowing the defrosted water to drip underneath the fridge to evaporate, thus causing a buildup of ice. That buildup may be blocking that vent that goes bwtn the freezer and fridge. The heating element is simply checked and/or replaced by removing back panel of freezer. It's about the only thing behind that panel and likes like a row of fins. Google images for a better understanding of what you are looking at. If its a block of ice, you know there is a problem. The element is replaced by simply unplugging it and replacing with a new one. You should also see a small hole at the bottom of the freezer. Try pouring a little water in it and listen to see it its running into the plastic pan that's underneath the fridge (usually visible if you take the grill off). Some models have a hose that kinks up attached to this small hole. Had an Amana freezer that did this on several occasions and cause the whole bottom of the freezer to become a block of ice because the water had no where to go.
If the frozen side is colder than normal and some extra frost is forming where the fan blows,and there is ice in the bottom of freezer compartment, and the cool side is not cool enough, their is a good possability the defrosting unit is not removing all the frost and ice . the defrosting unit has a timer (usually near thermostat) that turns off the cooling fan and compressor and turns on a small heater around the evaporator ( about 20 minutes every 2 days) (evaporaror is cold heat exchanger coil inside the back wall behind a cover near the recirculating fan0, the fan circulates air to both compartments through two small openings, if these openeing are closed by ice buildup cool air can not circulate to the cool side. cure 1. remove all food and leave fridge off for 24 hours with doors open (take precautions to ensure children can't get locked in side and suffocate, if you get a qt of water in bottom of unit (may leak on floor) ice buildup that the defrost heater can not remove melted and was your problem . turn frig on replace food on unit. cure 2. turn frig off, remove food from both sides, remove shelves that block access to evaporator, remove cover over evaporator if you see the evaporator coils free of ice look at openings (2) to other side, one may be blocked with ice the other with frost, carefully melt ice with hair dryer.
If the evaporator coil is solid ice heater or timer or fan has failed. good luck
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