any GE refridgerator guys out there?

[russperry]

We had a long power outage on Wednesday night here in the sleepy NorCal suburb of Pleasanton. Power came back on in the middle of the night, but in the morning the refridgerator had not cooled down. By evening, both the freezer and fridge were over temp, freezer at about 30, and fridge at 45-50. The motor is running, lights are on, but apparently no cold air coming out of the compressor.

Anyone out there have an idea of what might have happened or how to try and recover this beast. Its a built in unit so there's no easy access to any back panels or such.

Likely going to call some repair dude tomorrow but was hoping someone had a simple cure....

Any/all suggestions welcomed!!

 

[Panman]

A lot of the newer boxes have circuit boards in them, if there was a spike................!

A surge protector is a good idea for the newer boxes something with at least 600 joules or more.

 

[bluesdog]

I am not a fridge guy, but you could try to reset the thing by unplugging it, waiting a minute or so, and then plugging it back in. Some have actual reset switches, which are probably accessible from the back.

Warm beer sucks.

 

[TomInPA]

Russ, I'll assume you can hear the compressor and compressor cooling fans running. If so you may not have severe damage. These units circulate air from the evaporator coils in the freezer to the refrigerator and freezer using fans. The air ports can be blocked by ice. During an outage, ice often melts incompletely and causes a blockage. So the first thing to check are those ports that blow into the meat keeper, produce compartment and elsewhere. If you don't feel good air movement, best bet is to unplug the unit and defrost using a cool setting on a hair dryer that won't melt the plastic or insulation.

If you don't hear the lower frequency sound of the compressor, then you have bigger problems. Insurance will often cover damages beyond your deductible from a power surge. You should be able to access the compressor motor and check if it is running...they get pretty warm and are fan-cooled.

 

[Bustanut joker]

The undersized compressors they use today are highly susceptible to voltage spikes.. I didn't read anything here with regards to that though.

If you did get a spike, I bet 10 to one yer compressor is toast.

 

[Panman]

Here is a little link on a newer GE Box, the technologies have changed a lot over the last few years since I did tec work.

 

[HotRodZilla]

Every time our GE fridge took a dump, it was almost what Tom described. The heater for the vents and coils would stop working and the lines would freeze. Then the fridge would get warm. If stuff started to melt and then got frozen, that may be your issue. We musta had that thing repaired 5 times.

Let it defrost, dry it out and then see if it cools. Maybe try the plug and unplug ideas first. We fixed our GE this last time by replacing it with a Whirlpool. GE can kiss my butt!!

 

[snikr]

I've NEVER had much luck with GE fridges. And I used to work for them (aircraft engines not appliances). Replacing GE with another maker worked best for me.