I have a GE side-by-side refridgerator with a ice maker and water dispenser. In the last 3-4 months the water dispenser shuts off intermittently, but comes back to life on its own. I have changed the water filter as well as cleaned the water line, but haven't been able to identify the problem. The ice maker works fine.
Any thoughts?
Thanks

Mrcrowley

Hey that sounds like something I can do BUT where do I get the heater from ?

esmond125

This is very frustrating. I bought my refrigerator less than 2 years ago and now it only dispenses water for about 5 days after putting in a new filter. I have already spent $120 on three filters in the last one month, thinking that maybe I had a bad filter.

After looking at all these complaints, I will never buy a GE product again. If they can't stand behind their products and fix problems that are clearly design flaws, I am happy to take my business elsewhere.

dlamp

Here is a response that pretty much sums it all up.
Originally Posted by kenw00d
I experienced the same problem with the water dispenser not working at all. The problem is a frozen line in the door. I'll skip the hassle of dealing with GE. Based on all of the other postings you should know by now that GE does not stand behind their product and that you should never purchase a GE appliance.

That said, I purchased an electric heater kit specifically designed to fit the GE side by side refrigerators with the water dispenser. I purchased it from repairclinic.com for $42.50 plus $6 for shipping. The item # is 1381601.

Installation was pretty easy and took a total of 15 minutes. On a scale of 1 to 10 for difficulty (10 being the most difficult), I would rank it as a 4. The instructions that came with the heater kit were VERY helpful. The heater kit should not cost $42.50, but it beats dealing with GE. You can install this yourself. I installed mine at 9pm and by morning the dispenser was working again.

Steps:

1. Pry off plastic frame.
2. Lift control board out.
3. Disconnect the 3 wire harnesses from circuit board.
4. Unscrew the dispenser unit. (4 Phillip Screws).
5. Peel and stick the heater in the recesses area. See instructions from heater kit for picture on where the heater should go.
6. Splice wires according to instructions that came with the heater kit. Splices are provided. Very easy to do. Just follow the directions. Splice one heater wire to the harness red wire (position 2) and the other heater wire to the (black&white) harness wire (position 6).
7. Plug in the just the one harness to the control board and in 60 seconds you will start to feel the heater area getting warm. That's how you know it's working.
8. Put everything back together and you are in business.

snowman154

I am going to try the easiest solution that I have seen posted by hesshouse on Jan 6, 2008, 04:45 PM
I fixed mine by leaving the light on the dispenser on. It took about 6 hrs, but the heat from the light bulb was enough to defrost the water line.

dlamp

Sounds like it might defrost the line, but when the light goes off again, it will probably freeze up again. But, not a bad idea. Mine has the heater and lately it has been freezing up intermittently. Maybe because it is winter and the temp in the house is down to 16C during the night. Summer its 23 or 24C in the kitchen so maybe that is the difference. Definitely the heater helped.
Cheers,
Doug

ncshakespeare

My GE refrigerator (owned since 2003) just started showing this problem 2 days ago (this is the 2nd time, the last time it happened). I am glad I saw this post to realize that the problem was about the frozen dispenser water line. Thankfully, turning the freezer off for an hour fixed this problem.

I am sure that the problem will come back though. I am going to call GE tomorrow to complain about this basic design flaw.

wiz28

I too have had this same problem in the past. Used to just thaw out and no problem for a few months. Now it is every 8 hrs have to thaw so it has become an inconvience to say the least. I called GE 2 times to complain and emailed once about this problem. I finally broke down and bought the heater everyone is talking about. I am in the process of installing it which should take no more then 15 min. Reason I am writing here is to let everyone know that I called GE again today and they are offering to pay me back for the cost of the heater. I have to fax the bill to them and they will send me a check. If you complain enough to them, you should get the same result. Good luck everyone!

cleveland_30

I too have the same problem with my GE that I bought 4 years ago. I decided to use heavy duty double sided tape and residential foam board to the inside of my freezer door. It's working well for two weeks now. I'll try to remember to re-post in another month. If this doesn't work I'll probably buy the heater and try and install it myself.
Thanks for everyone's input.

cleveland_30

Thanks especially to davette59 for his foam board idea.

cleveland_30

One month now and the foam board is still working well.