Hello,

My GE PSS23MSWSS side-by-side refrigerator will not get as cold as it needs to. I checked the fan, and that is running okay, and cleaned the condenser coils, and that is now clean. I'm assuming the compressor is working as there seems to be cold air blowing into the freezer. I noticed there is frost buildup on the back wall of the freezer.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

Hi, Sounds like your low on freon. If you have service valves on the high and low side, look on the compressor or Identification tag it will tell you the type of freon to use. Some freons are very expensive maybe a lot more than getting a new refrigerator.

DO NOT mess with the refrigerant (Freon is a brand name.). There is no reason to think that any refrigerant would have leaked out, and if it did you have a major repair to first find the leak, then remove all refrigerant, fix leak, install filter drier, vacuum down, and weigh in charge. The most likely problem is that your defrost system has failed, which happens after so many days of operation. You have a defrost heater, defrost timer (on many models, but with some the timer is built into the circuit board and rarely needs changing), defrost terminator which is a button type thermostat wired in series with the heater and attached to the side of the freezer coils. However, your refrigerator uses an entirely different type of defrost system with a reversing valve and uses thermistors to sense the temperatures in different areas of the unit. More than likely, one of them is bad. You will have to test each one by following the test procedures in these booklets:&nbsp;https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8010163/GE_Profile_Side_by_Side_refrig.pdf<br>https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8010163/GE_Profile_Artica.pdf<br>You will need a good digital meter to diagnose this refrigerator (Try Radio Shack.). A sure fire way to kill this refrigerator permanently is to guess at something or try to hook up gauges to it and add refrigerant. You will kill the compressor as fast as you add an extra ounce or two. These refrigerators are not something to play with adding "freon." It's the dumbest thing anyone can ever do to anything.