PSW23PSTS General Electric Refrigerator - Instructions

The very first symptom here is important! The door water dispenser is not working but the ice macine is working. You may only have a frozen water tube in the door so do the following before diagnosing that your solenoid valve is bad: 1) the tube usually runs under the front of the refrigerator and usually has a quick disconnect. Undo the connection and press the dispenser. If water comes out of the tube you have a frozen or blocked tube in the door. 2) Immediately adjust the temperature in the freezer and warm the freezer compartment as much as you can without destroying the freezer contents. Wait 24 hours. This will usually unfreeze the line. Do not waste your time with a hair dryer. NOW, if this doesn't work and you are convinced you need to order and replace the solenoid, follow these steps. Assemble your tools first. I needed a good ratchet set and a screwdriver. A shop towel is helpful for spilled water. A light is handy. Pull out the refreigerator to gain access to the rear of the unit. Unplug the power and close the water valve (older homes, you may need to actually shut the house water supply). Remove the screws which hold the cover over the lower half of the refrigerator. On the left you will see the solenoid. It's always good to see that your new part matches the one you feel needs replaced. They may not match perfectly due to changing design but they should be very similar. One screw holds this part in place and access is very simple. Now simply unplug the electrical connections. In my case, one blue "blade" type connection (powering the water) and one red "blade" type connection powering the ice maker. They are not the same size and this coupled with the coloring means you will not accidently switch them. pull the tubes clear of the solenoid. This is simple and needs no explantion. Grab your new solenoid and reattach both the electrical and water lines (two, remember, ice maker and drink dispencer). Replace the single screw. Re-attach the rear, lower refrigerator cover and go to the front of the unit to check the water. You can listen carefully and hear the power engage from the new part bringing you water. Clean up, replace the refrigerator back to its place and look really tired when your wife sees that you worked "so hard"! You probably saved at least $50-$80 from a service call which can now be used to take the family to dinner after your "exhausting" 15 minute workout of removing about 10 screws and wheeling the unit in and out of place. Writing this article took longer! My 4 year old worked harder holding the flash light!

After replacing the defrost heater, main board and thermistor I still had the same problem. Called a repair guy and he (with the help of GE on the phone) diagnosed that the temperature sensor was bad. So I ordered from partselect and installed it and it fixed the problem. Been good for a couple months (knocking on wood). To install I had to cut the 2 wires to the old sensor, crimp the 2 new wires on and snap the new sensor to the clip on the evaporator. Very easy. Make sure you seal the ends of the wire crimps so moisture doesn't get in and corrode the connection.

The freezer in my side-by-side kept warming up -- often 20 degrees or more, which of course caused the fresh food side to warm up also. I do a lot of jump-in-with-both-feet home repairs, but never on a large appliance. Not having an ohmmeter, which cost about $100 for a reliable one, I took the symptoms to the internet. Countless self-help sites and U-Tube videos later, I was positive it was one of two possible problems, either the defrost thermostat was broken and the defroster wasn't coming out of its cycle or the temperature sensor wasn't reading the correct temp and thus kicking in the fan motor when needed. Fortunately I found both parts easily on PartSelect.com and the total cost for both, including shipping, was $30, less than 1/3 of the cost of an ohmmeter. Not knowing for sure which part it was that was bad, I ordered both, figuring, since I had to pull out the panel anyway, I might just as well replace them both ... the price was right. (In retrospect I should have order 4 Temperature Sensors as my fridge has two in both the freezer side and the Fresh Food side. Any one of them being bad could have caused the same problem. Fortunately, I was lucky because it was either ONLY the Defrost Thermostat or I just happened to pick the right Sensor, but the repair worked.)

The repair was easy: Unplug the power. A Nut Driver removed the four screws holding on the panel in the back of the freezer. A screw driver removes the one screw holding the lamp cover in place. Remove the light bulbs, pull off the panel and right above the freezer coils you'll see both parts -- plain as day. (If your coils are clogged with ice, you will probably need de-ice first.) Cut the wires to both parts as close to the parts as you can to leave as much wire exposed as possible. Strip the ends of all four wires about 1/2 inch and also on the new parts. Match up the wires in the fridge to the wires on the parts and twist the ends together (Note: both wires on the Sensor are white so they match up either way, but the two wire on the thermostat will need to match up orange to orange and pink to pink.) I used silicone filled wire nuts, which you can buy at any hardware store or use your own wing nuts and fill them with silicone or shoe goo which works just as well ... anything to keep the moisture out and prevent the wires ends from corroding. Tuck the wires up and replace the panel, light bulbs and light cover That's it. Very easy. By far the hardest part was wedging my wide body into the narrow freezer compartment. Some one-handed work added a little extra time to the project.

In my case the freezer fan didn't kick in for about twenty minutes after I plugged it back in, but I assume that it either begins in the defrost mode or it takes that long for it to reset itself ... either way the repair worked great.

I went to a GE repair center to explain my problem, the service center reccomended that I have a techinician come out o look at it. $75.00 for the visit and what ever labor and materials wuld cost.

I went on line to see if there were others having this same problem and found that there were many with the same problem.

After reading some of the ways that people found out what was wrong ...it became a matter of three components, the timer, heater or thermostat.

I tried the most common component and the less expensive one first , the thermostat switch I installed it very easily snipping two wires and attaching the news using wire nuts I used the diagram on this website to pinpoint the component and there has not been a problem since.

Model includes filtered ice maker and water dispenser from front of unit. Water maker just suddenly stopped working but ice maker continued to work fine. After some phone calls to trouble shoot at a high level, I figured it was worth a try to buy the replacement part of the most likely culprit and see if it did the trick. Would have cost maybe $150 or more for service tech to make house call, provide the part and do the switch. Buying the part was only $40 and replacement was easy. Remove access panel from behind fridge and identify valve. It has intake water from the filter then has two outbound lines. One to ice maker, one to water dispenser. All function is in one part, but each outbound line has its own functioning valve. Unplug fridge, turn off water supply, disconnect all connections from old valve and reattach to new valve. When re-hooked, be patient in allowing water to re-fill line before coming out of dispenser in front. Likely to doubt it works, but surprised how long it took for water to fill line resevoir.

Unplugged the refrigerator, turned off the water supply, and then removed the back cover/access plate. Observed and made wiring notes to ensure I install the part correctly. Unscrewed the bracket holding the water valve assembly, and lifted it up to see and remove the three water lines (one input, two output). The input or supply line is a compression fitting...just use an adjustable wrench to loosen the nut and lift off the line. Then remove the two output lines by depressing or pushing in on the white plastic rings that surround those two holes ...the lines just slide out, but you have to push in on those rings. Remove the two electrical connectors...just wiggle them off One connector was very stubborn but it eventually came off. Try to be gentle, and pull on the connector heads...not on the electrical wires.
Assemble the lines and electrical connectors on to the new part. The two output water lines just slide in...you dont need to push in on the rings. You'l feel them seat into the valve. Don't worry.
Put it all back the way you found it, turn on the water supply, and plug in the power cord. Check for leaks. I had no leaks and was very pleased. This is so easy a chimp can do it, but let everyone think otherwise! No biggie.

I read in a previous post how to do the job from outside fridge which saved me lots of time. No need to remove inner door lining. Here is my procedure:
1.Turned off power. 2.Snapped off outside trim ring. 3.Located three small holes inside lip just above ice tube. The center hole was not used. 4.Pushed rather firmly up through two remaining holes with small Allen wrench to release front control panel. 5.Removed (3) wire connectors from printed circuit board. Firmly pull/pry them straight out as lifting on retaining clip will break it off. I broke one & had to elect. tape it back in place later although I doubt it would have ever come off. 6.Release secondary panel by removing (4) screws. The problem was obvious as the solenoid had broken the crank arm off the flapper rod & trapped it open 7.Replaced solenoid, crank arm with flapper attached, spring & micro switch. Switch was okay but I changed anyway. 8.Cleaned all areas with 1/10 bleach water to sanitize. 9.Re-installed evrything in reverse order & all is okay. Thanks to someone for telling about those two small holes. Made job easy versus a very hard one.

I removed the old temperature sensor by cutting the wires. I attached the wires of the new sensor with wire nuts and mounted it in the same bracket.

First I removed the shelving from the refrigerator side I then removed the cover to the refrigerator condenser which consisted of a plastic cover and a styrofoam inner chamber cover. The Condenser is held in place with two stainless phillips head screws. I removed the screws and gently pulled the condenser forward so that the Drain pan could be easily removed. The drain pan is made out of thin sheet metal with a galvanized coating that will not hold up it will start rusting in a short time. I inspected the drain pan cleaned it up with a little Muretic acid and it had too many rust holes so I couldn't repair it. I ordered a new Drain pan on Part Select and when it came in I washed it and dried it completely then I sprayed it with Cold Galvanizing compound with zinc particles. You can get this from Home Depot on the spray paint isle. Hopefully the spray Galvanizing will keep it from rusting in the future and leaking inside the refrigerator. The Trough Drain Pan should have been made of Stainless sheet metal or plastic I don't really know why they used the galvanized coated pan. Everything went back together in reverse with no problems. Hopefully this drain pan will last longer than the first drain pan because it was only 4 years old. I remember when the older refrigerators would run for decades.

First unplug then remove all food and the ice cubes from the freezer only..Then removed the traysand then the 2 panel screws. Defrosted the coils with a hair dryer,removed the 2 screws holding the heater and then unplugged the wires from each side.Installed the new heater and now has been fine for 12 days now..The sensor- I just spliced it in the exact way the old sensor was wired.All seems fine so far. Was alot cheaper to buy the parts and install myself than to pay for 1 service call..

one repair man said I needed freon. sears repair man said my evaporators leaked. and should buy a new fridge. I installed the parts for less than $30.
dried the freezer compartment removed back panel and asst parts. removed screws from evaporator assy and replaced def therm. soldered leads/wing nuts. removed cover from sensor temp and again connected leads. working fine.

This was the second time in two years I had to replace a broken drive cup. Remove four screws that fasten the ice bin to the frame. Remove one screw that fastens the cube-crushed ice lever to the bin. Do not remove the lever and spring from the bin. Move the lever to expose the connection to the cube-ice shield. Push the lever to compress the spring and remove the lever end from the cube-ice shield. The cube-crushed ice assembly is a press fit and should pry away from the bin. Two issues. 1- The threaded plastic bearing on the dispenser end had turned all the way in causing the end of the dispenser screw shaft to bore through the housing and trap the shaft onto the housing. I had to insert a pry between the housing and the dispenser mechanism to release the shaft from the hole it had bored. Then the dispenser mechanism separated easily and the drive cup replacement was simple. 2- Why was the drive cup breaking? When I used "quick ice" the freezing tray over-filled causing the cubes to freeze together at the top. The bonded cubes then got trapped in the dispenser screw and jammed a lump of ice into the end of the bin causing enough pressure on the plastic drive cup to break it. Lesson - Check the ice bin frequently for frozen lumps of ice. If present, empty the bin and make sure only properly formed cubes are present. Run the dispenser frequently to prevent ice cubes from freezing together.

I first shut off water flow to the fridge. Examination of the package (which was not exact in appearance to the original) demonstrated that the electrical connectors were well-insulated so I arrogantly and successfully proceded without disconnecting the power. My fridge is old enough that the model doesn't appear exactly on anyone's list so I wasn't alarmed that it took an extra 10 minutes or so to noodle out how to adapt the slightly different inlet cowling and electrical cord with extension, but the device is pretty simple.
Soon I loosened the two mounting screws with a nut driver, used a screwdriver to pry away the plastic snap-in housing over the electrical socket on the fridge inner wall and pulled away the electrical plug. The original water fill tube remained in its cavity, ready for re-use.
The new unit's mounting points matched the original screw locations perfectly, as did the fill cowling - which on the replacement icemaker has two possible attachment points. The new unit's electrical connector required an extension pigtail to adapt to my socket, but it was included in the package. The extra cable posed a minor cosmetic issue because it hangs in the collection basket a bit, but that will soon be remedied with a tie wrap.
After the water was restored and an anxious wait of a few hours, we had well-formed ice cubes that weren't all stuck together and the stalactites haven't reappeared.

A week earlier, we had frozen water all over the freezer section which obviously dripped from the icemaker. We turn off the icemaker and cleaned the freezer. Upon turning the icemaker back on, water continuously pours out of the ice tray. This time, even turning off the icemaker does not stop the water from flowing through. I checked and cleaned the water valve, reinstalled it and it still does not work. I had to crimp the water line and even remove the water filter to make sure there will be no water leaks.

When I got the new water valve, installation was a snap as I have already removed the old one. After installing the new valve and putting back the filter, everything is back to normal.

Procedure for removing/replacing the water valve:
(1) Unplug the refrigerator and move it so that you have some working space in the back. If there is a mechanical valve in the water line, close it so that when the hoses are unplugged, there will be no spills. If there is no mechanical water valve, you can simply crimp the hose with a rubber band or a cable tie.
(2) Use an adjustable wrench or a screw driver to remove the screws on the bottom panel. My refrigerator has 4 big screws and 1 small one that is used to anchor the water hose.
(3) Pull the panel up slightly to remove it. The water valve is mounted with one screw at the bottom-left corner.
(4) Use a screwdriver to dismount the water valve.
(5) Unplug the electrical connections to the water valve. My refrigerator has one Brown and one Blue connector. Remember which plug goes to which connector.
(6) Place a towel under the water valve and use the adjustable wrench to remove the main hose connection.
(7) Next, remove the hoses that to into the water valve outlets. On my refrigerator, these hoses are of different sizes and have quick-disconnects. I simply have to press on the collar at end of the hose, pushing it towards the valve to release the hose, then pull on the hose.
(8) Prepare the new water valve by removing the plastic cover that protects the connector for the main water line.
(9) Connect the main water line to the new valve using the adjustable wrench.
(10) Connect the two hoses of different sizes to the valve. You only have to push them all the way into each valve and slightly tug on them to make sure they are locked in place.
(11) Re-connect the Brown and Blue electrical connectors to their original location.
(12) Mount the new water valve into the back of the refrigerator (one screw).
(13) If possible, quickly check that the new valve is working properly: If you have a mechanical valve in the water line, open it and make sure there are no leaks near the valve or inside in the icemaker. You may have to plug in the refrigerator power to complete the initial test.
(14) Replace the back panel with the 4 screws and anchor the hose to the back with 1 screw.
(15) Once everything is back in its place and the refrigerator is on, cycle the water dispenser several times to run fresh water into the hoses and the new valve.

I unplugged the electrical connection. Then I removed the 2 screws holding the icemaker in place. I lifted out the old icemaker unit and put the new one in place. Then put the 2 screws back in and plugged in the new unit.

The icemaker started making ice very soon after turning the unit on.