GFU17F7GW0 Gibson Freezer - Instructions

I accidently threw away both freezer keys to our upright Gibson and G.E. Freezers!!!! I had no luck finding replacements locally, so I got on the internet and came across PartSelect.com. I called them on the telephone; and after giving the model numbers of my freezers, the keys were on their way!! I received the keys very quickly and both worked perfectly. I would highly recommend Partselect.com. Charlotte M. Bishop

The old gasket was obviously gapping, partially from age and partially from damage during a move. To make the repair, I loosened the screws that are under the gasket and hold it in, but did not remove them. Once all were loose, I removed the old gasket, then starting at the top, ran a thin bead of food grade RTV under the portion of the door that captures the gasket. I put the sealant on that edge only, then carefully worked one of the short edges of the gasket under the plastic and tightened all but the corner screws. I then ran the RTV down the inside of the hinge side of the door and repeated the process, this time tightening the top screw and the hinge side screw at the top, but leaving the bottom most screw loose. I repeated the process on the opening side of the door. The bottom was the hardest because the gasket seemed just a little long and it was hard to get the RTV up and behind the door portion, but after a couple tried I got a good bead of sealant then slid the gasket under the door capture and tightened all the remaining screws. After closing the door, it was obvious that there were places were it did not seal well. I used some cardboard strips, cut from the box the gasket came in, to place inside the freezer, between the hard plastic of the door and the inside of the gasket where it laps over the screws. This helped a lot, but there were still a couple small areas, so I used more cardboard, from the outside, between the main portion of the gasket and the rim of the gasket. This eliminated all the gaps. I let this sit overnight and this morning removed all the cardboard for a great sealing freezer.

After silencing the alarm, it seemed to be running as normal without any unusual noises, but food was starting to thaw from the top shelf on down and condensation was dripping from the roof. We were able to place most of the food in 2 large ice chests and then the rest in the freezer compartments of 2 fridges we have in the house. I then turned down the temp dial to the coldest setting and let it run for an hour or so; no change.

After researching on the internet, it sounded like our symptoms could be pointing to a defrost timer issue. I pulled the freezer away from the wall, located the timer and used a large screwdriver to slowly advance it. While doing this, at one point I could hear the compressor kick in. I pushed the quick freeze button and let it run for a while. When I checked it in a few hours, the alarm light had gone out and water that I had placed inside was frozen. We took a chance and put the food we placed in the ice chests back in the freezer. Everything was fine several hours later.

I ordered a new defrost timer, it arrived in a couple of days, and replaced the old one with it in a matter of minutes by disconnecting the wire harness from the old timer, removing the 2 screws holding it onto the bracket, screwing the new timer to the bracket, reconnecting the wires harness, and done. It's been a week or so and no problems.

We ordered the part, which was a key, tied it on the freezer door handle, locked the door and voila, the problem was fixed. (We still have the children. :-)

slid freezer away from wall - - bottom left hand corner was the frost timer - - removed two philip head screws - - unpluged timer and installed new timer - - turned timer past first click to a little past second click (freeze cycle) - - slid freezer back FINISHED - - YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST WITH YOUR WEB PAGE AND HELP!!!!! Next day freezer was at 0

It was very easy to remove the broken parts of the freezer door handle still secured by screws and then attach the new handle. However, I was shocked to find that the door handle screw cover plate was not included as part of the door handle replacement issued, which I felt was misleading. Fortunately that portion from my old broken handle was still intact, though is yellowed with age, so was able to snap that in place on the new partial-handle replacement which you sent. It seems to me that to omit this portion as part of the complete handle replacement didn't make much sense, as it rendered the new replacement handle incomplete.

Watched the defrost timer to see that it wasnt moving, looked the part number up on your site and it even had a picture of it so I knew I was getting what I needed, ordered it when it came I took out the screws holding it in place unplugged old one and plugged in the new one, freezer works like new... :))

One day my freezer's overtemp light/warning came on. I knew the compressor was working properly (as it was still running) and that there were no leaks.

I was able to research about how this freezer worked and learned of this mechanical timer on the back of the freezer. It turns on/off the defrost mode of the freezer.

I manually turned the knob on the back to see if I could get the freezer to defrost. Turns out the timer was no longer working and when I manually ran the defrost, the freezer started to freeze again.

I just replaced this part and my freezer is working like norma.. Simple as all it takes is a few screws and you are done.

Removed old gasket by loosening all the screws. Inserted new gasket. Be careful to prop up the plastic shell so that ALL screw holes line up, especially at the bottom, and that shell is not tilted. Then carefully insert gasket inch by inch and fasten very other screw, best from bottom up. Make sure that the gasket lip is clearly under the shell and engaged with it. Before you do anything you have to straighten out ALL the kinks with a heat gun. Do not get too close. It takes a while.

I removed the cover, used a multimeter to test the compressor circuit, and found the compressor start relay to be defective.
Ordered a new one and installed it when it arrived.

I knew that the problem had to do with the timer so I went online and looked at the schematic diagrams on Partselect and identified the part that should handle the problem. I ordered it and it arrived fairly quickly. It took a Phillips screw driver and about fifteen minutes to remove the old part and replace it with the new one. Very easy repair. It is working as it should now.

Looking on-line at your diagnostic for this problem, I saw the most common part to cause this problem was the start capacitor, so I purchased one & installed it with no positive outcome. I then purchased the next recommended part which was a defrost timer & installed it with no run again. Frustrated, I looked at another diagnostic web site that claimed 90% of the time the problem is caused by the cold control thermostat. I tested mine and it tested bad, so I bought a control elsewhere, since your site did not list a PN for that device. I installed the new control and the freezer started up correctly. Looking at the wiring diagram for these parts, I see the start capacitor and defrost control are downstream of the cold control thermostat, and to my mind should have been the first part recommended for testing versus the parts I bought, so I am somewhat disappointed in the diagnostics on your site, where I spent about $80 for parts that were functional.

Removed two screws and wire harness from old motor. Put in new motor and connected wire harness.

The called for part is the wrong size due a false correlation between the called for part number and the PartSelect number. I order twice and each time it was a 31 by 65 in. gasket not the appropriate 31 by 60 in.. Both were returned but no resolution.

Had to drag the full freezer out from the wall to expose the name plate, got the Model # and S/N and found the key on the partselect website in minutes. It was cheap so I got two. Other than FEDEX not knowing my address correctly, when I finally got the key it worked fine. Not a problem anymore.
Thanks