GSS22IBTC General Electric Refrigerator - Instructions

I called the repair tech who obviously did not want to come out, thank god. He told me to remove the back panel of the freezer and also check fan on back side. Told him there was alot of ice on freezer condenser and he advised that defrost heater was probably shot, and referred me to partselect.com. I unplugged the frig/freezerer, and removed the heater and saw it was blackened and cooked. I used a hairdryer to thaw the condenser, and the new part arrived the next day. I reattached the 2 plugs, 2 screws, and put the back panel of the freezer back on. I plugged the appliance back in, checked it 6 hours later and the frig is cold again. It was a VERY easy repair and took less than 30 minutes from start to finish. I was quoted between $40-$78 for the part at 3 different places in the phone book, which would have also required a 45 minute drive. I got it here for $38 including shipping and it arrived in 24 hours !
With the "blow-up view" appliance feature on this web-site, and simply being guided to the correct part by entering the model number, it was a very easy ordering process and repair.

Removed the two drawers. Unscrewed the side rails that cracked away from the screws.Replaced the new side rails in place screwed in the screws and waalaa all done....easy as pie. Oh by the way I am a woman with little experience of tools...Just have to say the pictures of the parts made it really easy to pick out the correct part. Thanks

First I removed the two screws that held the old slide to the refer side wall, (after unloading the shelf and taking out the Veg. draw). I then put the screws in the new slide spots and screwed them into the refer wall using a hand screwdriver (phillips) and put everything back in place. It was about as simple a repair of anything I have had in the past 75 years. I didn't even have to swear.

Removed cover in freezer over evaporator,unbolted element ,plugged ,and replaced, very simple. Should be first thing checked when theres a problem.

By the time this failure (failed defroster heating element) is evident (top of freezer starts thawing), the entire freezer coil is encased in a block of ice & frost is visble on the back freezer panel.
Empty the freezer & unplug (or turn circuit breaker off) then remove all racks and the light bulb then remove the two lower drawer guides using a phillips srewdriver (2 scrwes each). Use a 1/4" nutdriver to remove the two panel screws on either side of the light bulb socket and pull the panel out, unclip the green grounging wire and set panel aside. this exposes the freezer evaporator coil which is probably encased in ice. If so, use a heat gun or hair dryer to melt the ice away. This takes a half hour of heat application and a bowl or other catchpan should be placed under the coil to remove some of the resulting melting runoff so the evap. pan under the fridg/freezer unit won't be overwhelmed with the excess water.
Replacing the defrost heater & bracket assembly itself is just a matter of removing two phillips screws on either side of the bracket assembly, pulling the bracket free and then uncliping the two electrical terminals. Clip in the new unit to the eletrical terminals & replace the screws, reinstall the rear panel (don't forget to reconnect the ground wire), install the drawer backets, light bulb, shelves and drawer & reapply power. Replacing the bracket itself w/o the defrost proceedure takes about 15 minutes.

Note: If this symptom occurs and is diagnosed (the heater tube will be black and electrically read as "open" using an ohmmeter) and you cannot get the heater assembly & bracket assembly immediately, you can use the heat gun (hairdryer) manual defrost proceedure noted above to get the the unit running while you await the parts arrival. I used the manual defrost procedure and there was just some moderate frost on the coils after five days when I was able to install the replacement part.

i unplugged the fridge, first i removed the racks, then unhooked the grounding clip. the i tool off two 1/4 nut screws holding the backplate. then i used my wifes hair dryer to thaw out the ice. after it thawed out i unscrewed the element bracket which is secured by two philips screw. after taking the screws off, its just unplug one end at a time and plug it to the new one to avoid confusion. then reverse install to put back together.

The most difficult part of the repair was the melting of the ice and preparation. I did change a single element heater for a dual element heater, which required a little manual flexing of the sub-frame, but it assembled with little issue. I was lucky, I did not have to splice the extended harness connection. Rerouting my existing gave sufficent length.
Not sure if the single elements were changed for dual, but it did have the same PN as the unit I replaced.

This is such an easy fix!
1-Unplugging the fridge and emptyi it. Remove all shelves.
2-remove the 2 screws at the top of the back panel with a 1/4 inch nutdriver. You'll have to tilt ithis panel forward and sideways to get it out.
3- DO NOT CHIP AT THR ICE COVERING THE COOLING COILS? Replace one shelf and rest a hair dryer on low heat on the shelf.. Plug the drain hole at the bottom with a rag so all the melted ice water doesn't flood the floor under the fridge. Soak up the water with a rag and bucket- this should take 20-30 minutes.
4-Remove the red and blue power cables from the element. Only 2 philips head screws hold the defrosting element in place. Once it's out you can tell it's burned out because it looks black like a burned out lightbulb.
4-Plug in the red and blue power cables to the new unit. You will need to reroute the blue power cable because the new unit has both power connections on the same end.
5-Replace the cover panel by sliding it in at an angle and replace the 1/4 inch screws.
6-Replace the shelves and plug in the fridge.
That's it!

After I have checked oline , I ordered the parts wich Igot a day early and fix it , it took me about 15 minutes and I saved at 250.00 dollars . Thanks for all the help.

J Serpa ,Ma.

I must thank yo for sending the fan so fast. If I ever have to deal with any appliance again, you are first on my list.

replaced the drawer, amazing to me that I managed to order the right drawer and it fit

Attempted it on my own with the aid of the video on your site, but could not remove the fan shroud due to additional copper lines that prevented me from getting it out.
Gave up and called an appliance repair guy. He had a novel approach: Don't pull the fan shroud (with motor attached) out, but instead remove one of the screws holding the motor into the bracket, then bend the bracket to get the motor out.
All good until we powered the fridge on again. Now the fan works, but spins faster (and makes more noise than) the original fan.
The repair guy's comment: "I've seen that before with some of the aftermarket fans."
Nice! I'd appreciate getting the right part when I order the part from your website based on my fridge model number.

At first the part appeared to be too large because of the change from one heater to two heaters in the replacement part. It was necessary to push a copper refrigerant line back out ot the way about an inch or so before the part would fit properly. This might take a little courage from the do-it-yourselfer, but it moved easily and seems no worse for the move. Currently the fridge is working well(two weeks) with no buildup of any frost on freezer panel as previouly noted. Overall experience was just fine. Makes d-i-y guy look good!

Unplug the unit and pull away from wall. Remove the screws from the lower back panel. Locate the condenser fan motor and the bracket holding it in place. Unplug the wire clamp connecting the motor to the power supply. Remove the screw holding the bracket onto the condenser coil. Pull the entire assembly from the unit. Pull the fan off the old motor. Remove the motor bracket from the larger bracket. Replace the motor. Assemble again with the rubber grommets, motor bracket, and fan. Reinstall larger bracket, now with new motor, into the unit. Ensure the bracket prong is received into the coil bracket. If all aligns well, screw the bracket back onto the coil. Plug the new motor into the power supply. Temporarily plug in refrigerator to confirm motor functions. Unplug again and replace lower panel.

Removed ice bucket, and unplugged ice maker. Removed light cover. Removed ice maker. Pulled fan blades straight up and removed. Pushed new blades on to motor shaft. Fairly easy .