GE Side by Side Refrigerator Water and Ice Dispenser Problem

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When I joined forces with Brian to create the Handyguys Podcast I had no idea that so many subjects for future posts existed in my kitchen. The newest is a water and ice dispenser problem with my GE side by side. My dishwasher problems (and fixes!) keep this site busy. My GE side-by-side refrigerator is now in a competition with the Kenmore elite (Whirlpool made) dishwasher as the worst appliance ever owned by Handyguy Paul. Last night I fixed one more water and ice dispenser problem that has driven the kids crazy.

Let’s review previous problems with this unit.

Model: GE side by side stainless steel gss25tsre.SS. Purchased 10/2005:

1. Shelves too small in freezer causing them to crash to bottom of freezer. GE sent replacements.

2. Water tank leak. Fixed 10/2011.

3. Defrost problems causing the freezer coils to freeze up which makes freezer and refrigerator compartments too warm. Temporary solution was to remove back wall panel of freezer and melt ice on coils with hair dryer. That solution lasted for about a month. The permanent required replacement of the control board. Fixed 12/2011.

4. The water and ice dispenser problem began intermittently on 3/2012. The original solution was to wait overnight and hope my water and ice dispenser problems went away. It did begin working again for a few days at a time. A few weeks later it only worked for a few hours at a time. After 4 weeks from when the dispenser stopped working, the dispenser went dead for good. I finally grew tired of the problem and fixed it.

There are several potential causes of the water and ice dispenser problem.

Water and Ice Dispenser Problem – Water not dispensing but Ice is….

First identify what exactly is not working. Does any aspect of the dispenser work such as the water, ice, light, etc.? If only the water flow is broken, you may have a bad water valve on the back of the unit. Or, more likely, the water line is frozen or clogged. If the water is not working, wait a day or two and see if the problem self-corrects. In some cases, the defrost cycle can cause=e the line to freeze because it does not have adequate insulation in the door. If the problem persists, investigate proper water flow on the line . You can open up the kick plate at the bottom of your unit and look for the coupler under the freezer door where the water line is routed from the back of the freezer up to the dispenser. Disconnect this coupler and see if you have water coming out. You should only get a trickle. Then depress your water dispenser switch and see if water begins shooting out. If the water does begin flowing, then your clog is in the section of tube in your freezer door. You can try putting all your food in an ice chest and thawing out the freezer to see if you can get the tube working or you can just replace the tube.

Water and Ice Dispenser Problem – Water and Ice not working

If neither your ice or water are working from your dispenser you could have the following problems:

1. Bad dispenser switch. You will have to investigate this by removing the button panel and getting access to the switch. You can usually hear whether the switch is trying to activate.

2. Bad electrical connection to the dispenser. This was my problem! I removed the kick plate at the base of the unit and looked for the electrical connection under the freezer hing. There is a coupler there which connects the electrical wires that run to the switch. In my case I could see that there was corrosion on the wires. I cut out the coupler and reconnected the wires using appropriate crimpers and electrical tape. Problem solved. See Video for more details.

3. Bad control board. The other cause of this problem is when the main control board located on the back of the refrigerator stops working correctly. This is a common problem. If you have checked 1 and 2 above, you can order a new control board at repairclinic.com (search them with the search below this post). They have a 365 day return policy in the event that this does not solve your problem.

Water and Ice Dispenser Problem – Only Ice Not Dispensing

Assuming the chute from the ice box to the dispenser is not clogged, there could be an issue with the ice auger mechanism. There are various posts around the internet dealing with this issue so consult google. But still check out our video!

Check out the video I made for more details on the water and ice dispenser problem and see the revenge I take on my refrigerator unit.

Thanks to http://www.youtube.com/user/R0bCB for the visual effects!

The post GE Side by Side Refrigerator Water and Ice Dispenser Problem first appeared on The Handyguys.

The post GE Side by Side Refrigerator Water and Ice Dispenser Problem appeared first on The Handyguys.