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

jmbreeze23

As per other previous suggestions, I also taped some insulation to the inside of the freezer behind the dispenser. I used blue painters tape and some insulation that came with a computer component.

Within about 20 minutes, the dispenser was working. I'd replaced the filter and could not understand why there was no water, yet the ice maker was still working. I had no idea until searching this message board that it was frozen.

I hadn't used my water dispenser in a long time as the water does not taste good, even with the $35 replacement filter from Lowes. So, I've been using a Brita water pitcher in the fridge for about the last 2 yrs. Maybe this time the water will taste better.

Thanks to everyone for posting about this. Oh, and btw, my fridge came with my new built house in Oct 2004. Funny how most of us have a 2004 or 2005 fridge.

NausetWillie

I've had this problem a few times and it usually cleared up after a few days. This time I remembered that I had a service contract so decided to take advantage of it. Surprise, surprise, The no-water problem is not covered. No good explanation but having found this web site I can see why they decided to exempt it. They can't afford to recognize it as a design flaw. This is sleaze at its worst. No more GE products for me.

Anyway I followed some advice here and taped a 11 x 11 x .5 inch piece of foam rubber to the back of the ice dispenser unit. Had water in 15 minutes. Thanks for the help.

Nauset Willie
Cape Cod, MA

jmbreeze23

Glad it worked for you too! Yep, no more GE products for me either.

rklingo

I have a GE Monogram Side-by-side model ZISS420DRAS (built in stainless steel model) with the ice/water dispenser in the door. Have owned the house for two years and the fridge came with the house. Before moving in, the previous owner had dispatched GE repair to repair a cracked water tank. Other than that, I haven't had any problems with freezing water lines.

Had a independent repair guy come out yesterday and tell me that he wasn't too familiar with my model and said he couldn't help me and told me to call GE.

I consider myself to be pretty handy and and discovered this website and forum and was glad I did.

Turns out I had a few problems that led to the water line freezing—which was why water wouldn't dispense. Icemaker worked fine—it just wouldn't dispense water. As it turns out, I discovered that I had a frozen water line in the back of the inside of the fridge—behind the vegetable storage drawer. The reason the line froze—which I'm still trying to figure out the cause of—was that the climate control drawer on the bottom of the fridge got really, really cold. So cold, that it was 16F. Way too colder that it should be. Anyway, this caused EVERYTHING on the lower portion of the fridge—including the water line behind the vegetable storage drawer to freeze. My initial assessment was that the climate control drawer was set on MEAT (34F) and with nothing in the drawer, caused the temp to drop. In fact, the GE troubleshooting website confirms that foods may start to freeze if the drawer is left empty and is set at the coolest setting (meat).

Once I was able to stabilize the temperature in the climate drawer to a chilly 42 degrees, I attempted to tackle the frozen water line.

My solution for the frozen water line was to remove the panel on the inside of the fridge behind the vegetable drawers. To remove the panel, you'll need to remove the climate control drawer, and veggie drawers first. Once the drawers are out, you'll need to remove the 4 phillips screws to access the water tank (or in my case, the coiled up tubing because I've already had my tank replaced because it cracked). BEFORE to unhook the water supply line in two places—where the water is supplied to the fridge to the tank or tubing and from the tank/tubing from the tubing that eventually leads to the dispenser door. BEFORE doing that, you'll need to turn your water off—wherever it tapped in to your water pipe or supply.

Once I unhooked the tubing connections, I submersed the tubing (or tank if you have a tank) in a sink filled with hot water. 5 minutes, it was thawed.

I hooked everything back up, turned on the water, checked for leaks, hit the dispenser and the water flowed freely. Repaced the panel, drawers and I was done.

Total time for this repair was 15 minutes and I save myself a expensive visit from GE repair.

Sparkydog

Thanks again to all who have posted regarding this problem. I ended up putting a piece of one inch foam insulation over the back (freezer) side of the door over the location where the line was freezing. I used silicon waterproof caulk to hold it in place, and it has held tight ever since. This solution has worked for me, as I have noted my previous posting was nearly 5 months ago. While I see that others have achieved success using the electric heater, why go to the bother if an easier approach will do the trick? Good luck to all who must deal with this problem.

Cheezums2

I installed the water line heater part last November (see post #98), and for the first 3-4 months it worked great. But problem came back in March, and I had to break out the hair dryer to fix it again. No problems until this week, when it started freezing up every day (fixed only by defrosting it with the hair dryer). The heater part is still working (I can put my finger on it and it's quit warm), but apparently it's no silver bullet. So now I'm going to try the insulation approach that the last few posters have recommended and see how that works.

Doug

wiz28

I installed mine months ago as the posts show and I have had no problem whatsoever with it. Works great and still holding. I am keeping my fingers crossed!

simpson140

I must be the lucky one. I purchased a side by side at Lowe's they offered a 10 year extended policy for $115.95. I'am glad I took it. After water problems and ice freezing the entire ice dispense GE answer was to replace both doors, and a new heating system. Repair man said insulation failure was the main problem and that moisture would build up inside the door causing it to freeze solid from the bottom up. He also said in warm areas of the country the doors would start to rust out from the bottom. Why both doors ? so the color would match.
After several years of perfect operation unit lost refrigeration. Service man replaced a defroster heater part # wr51x10101. Part and service was also covered under extended policy. It runs out soon and I plan to renew it. I guess I have a good GE tech who cures my problems with the first call. Even though it took 5 working days for a repair man to show up to fix a fridge with no cooling at all.

dnl_em

I installed the heater last November. After about 3-4 months, the water tube froze up again.
I had read where someone had taped insulation to the inside of the door. Using that idea, I drilled a 1 1/2in. hole in the inside of the door just under the ice dispenser chute. This is at about the same level as where the water tube exits out the front of the door.
I dug out the old insulation and put in some new foam insulation that I got from some packing material.
I plugged the hole with a plastic plug that I got from the local hardware store. It doesn't look bad, and so far so good.

willwilson

same problem...my solution:

take the wires out of a short section of round phone line, stick the emptied section (call it a tube) as far up the water line as possible (to the point where the ice sits), then blow into the tube. the hot, angry breath defrosts the line in short order!

(keep the tube for next time.)

Will