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

lesu

I have the same refrigerator and similar problem with the water dispenser. I replaced the solenoid valve (the valve has three ports, one supply water inlet and two outlets). The water dispenser worked for a week and now it's stopped again. I noticed that the water line to the dispenser enters the refrigerator and coils in the lower right corner of the friz (inside, you have to remove the uppper vegetable bin to see it). The line can either freeze here or inside the door just before it gets to the dispenser. there is a temperature adjustment at the vegetable bin. I've lower the level to min, hopefully this will unfreeze the line. If the problem is in the coil, I think it can be solved by just pulling he whole plastic coil out and tie it to the back of the friz. The consequence would be warm water coming out of the dispenser - but who cares, just drop a few ice cubes in the glass prior to filling it with water) If the probem is in the left door, it would be more complex. I partially removed the gasket to see if there are any screws but did not see any. I think the door was glued together. If you've found any solution please post it.

Thank you

lesu

Update:

I've checked the water line up to the quick disconnect at the bottom of the left door (freezer side) and everything seems to be OK - I removed the water tube from the quick disconnect, activate the dispenser, and there was water flowing through the tube. That means the line from the bottom of the door to the dispenser is frozen somewhere inside the door. I've previously blown hot air on the back surface of the door and was able to unfreeze the line. But it worked for a couple days and stopped again. I've lowered the freezer section temperature setting but it did not help either. The problem now is to access that secion of the line and insulate it. I'd appreciate any suggestion on how to do so.

Thank you

timmy_bimmy

In response to the Frozen water dispenser line: I have found the same results when I defrost the line, it will dispense fine for a day or so, but the problem always returned. Getting irritated, I called GE, and they said that someone could come out (for a fee of course).

The permanent solution I have come up with is so simple, it is beautiful! After the water line is defrosted, I have placed a 10 inch length of weed eater type line up through the dispenser nozzle. I leave about 1 inch of the line protruding from the nozzle, and the water dispenses without interruption. The line will still freeze as the root cause (poor insulation) was not addressed; however, the 1 inch of line serves as a handle to pull the ice plug out.

Very little effort is required to remove the plug, and the water starts flowing as normal when it is removed. Once you fill your glass, just re-insert the line, and continue using the dispenser as normal until you have to "Pull the Plug" again. Seeing how the fix was so cheap and easy, my wife loves me even more now

lesu

Timmy_bimmy:

That was a great fix that you came up with. Maybe you can send it to GE customer support so they can forward it to the owners of the same frig. I was very frustrated with the problem and am very disappointed with GE. It was a poor design, and being that big (company size) they should have fix the problem instead of ignoring it.

Thanks again,

austintx

I also have the same problem. Service man just left and said GE said to replace the door at $500+. Anyone had any satisfaction getting GE to replace this fault?

seadoc

Same deal. After finding this thread, I disconnected the quick-release below the freezer door, found good water flow. Tried blowing out the line going up into the freezer door without any success.

After finally biting the bullet, I emptied the freezer (needed cleaning anyway), and thawed the freezer door. Now my water dispenser works great again.

I agree that GE made a major screwup in the design of the side-by-side refrigerators with water dispensers. Interestingly, we have never had a problem with freezing in the water supply to the ice maker. This tells me that GE knows how to insulate tubing to prevent freezing, they just chose not to.

Thanks to y'all for posting your experiences; had I not found this thread I would not have figured out the fix.

nich534

I had this problem. It started w/ the water dispenser not working right away and a few seconds later it would work. The same thing with the ice. After about a month, it got worse and worse until finally it wouldn't work at all. When I noticed it quit working, one morning the floor was soaked. My fridge and freezer completely quit. I knew it was some sort of electrical issue and the repair man said it was a bad circuit board. It was replaced and now works fine.

I've had this same problem with my GE front load dryer. The main board went bad. I've never had problems with any appliances except for GE.

rockhopr

GE Side by Side Refrigerator
MODEL # GSH22KGPB
PURCHASED 8/25/2003
PRICE $1,030

I had the same problem - the water dispenser line is freezing up. Fridge is 4 years old and this just started happening now. The ice maker and ice dispenser works fine.

To unfreeze the water dispenser line, I rigged up this contraption. Unfroze the line with the freezer door closed in less than 60 seconds and cost me $3.00.

To make it, you will need:
- Thin clear plastic tubing (I bought mine in Home Depot for $3 – it is Power Care Fuel Line 3/32” I.D. by 3/16” O.D. by 2 feet long, and is by the lawn mower & string trimmer accessories section in the store).
- A clean, empty Hershey’s Chocolate syrup squeeze bottle
- Some electrical tape

Take the flip cap off of the Hershey’s bottle, and feed one end of the plastic tubing through the opening in the flip cap on the Hershey’s bottle, in the direction heading out of the bottle. It will be a little bit loose fit, so wrap 3-4 turns of electrical tape around the other end of the plastic tubing and pull it into the opening on the underside of the flip cap on the Hershey’s bottle, should be snug and leak-proof now.
(You could also use a Heinz ketchup bottle 32 oz – the new one that stands up on the cap – it is a perfect fit for the plastic tubing, no need to tape it up)

Now, fill the Hershey’s bottle with hot water, put the cap on, and insert the end of the plastic tubing into the water dispenser outlet on the front of the fridge, keep inserting until it hits the ice plug. On my fridge the ice plug was about 4 inches inside the dispenser tube. Squeeze the bottle gently, and keep a cup or small pot under the water dispenser to catch the drips. Push the plastic tubing further in every 5 seconds or so, and before you know if the ice in the dispenser line is gone. Start to finish for my fridge was about 40 seconds.

Then run the water dispenser for a few minutes to flush it out.

That was the good news. The bad news is the line froze up again in 5 hours, so I did this again and put the trimmer line is as advised above!

Is it worth complaining to GE about this? I am going to anyway, but will they do anything to fix the icing problem without charge?

Thanks,
Mike

rgould67

To all,

I have GE model number GSL25JFPA BS. About 4 yrs old. Water dispenser started to intermitently work about 2 years ago. The GE owners manual said this could happen due to AIR in the line. What BS. The owners manual said to hold the dispenser open for about 1 hr and it should work. Sometimes it did , sometimes it did not.

Ice maker has always worked fine so i agree GE poorly insulated the water dispenser line. They wanted to have cool water come out but did not design it right, who cares anyways as just add some ice cubes to it, better that then have water not work.

I have another solution. Use a hair dryer. When it stops working just use a kitchen item like a large plastic serving spoon to hold open the dispenser. Then use a hair dryer and direct the hot air towards the water nozzled for about 5 min. If no water do it again, it will work.

Note: I tried this a couple of times and it worked. However, the line would just freeze the next day so it got frusterating to keep doing it. Also, the last time I did it, it seemed the mechanism to keep the ice dispensing door shut got weakened. Now sometimes after I get ice the door remains open which means about a 3" diamter hole leading to the freezer so cold air leaks out. I now have to push the ice door shut manually after I get ice. Not sure if the heat from the hair dryer weakened it. Try just setting the hair dryer on warm not HOT.

I am going to complain to GE as well. They should fix or offer a solution.

mbr

We own GSL25JFPA BF for four years now, the last two years had been tough, coz' the water intermittent issues. We tried all kind of things including: replacing the Filter several time, fixing the water line, removing air, etc.

My wife has been nagging for quite some time, so I decided to look in the Net and found this forum. The symptoms is very similar: Crushed Ice and Cubes are working great. Only water will work for few days, and stop again for months. Before something happen, and the water will work again. Nothing in particular.

I think we have enough case to file complaint to GE to request a fix for free, because it seems like it is a design defect.

We will attempt to contact GE about this, and if we didn't get a good response, we would like to inform more people about this issue.