HSS22BDMDWH Hotpoint Refrigerator - Instructions

So I replaced a burnt out defrost heater; replaced the thermostat for good measure and STILL the freezer compartment was freezing up. WHY didn't I look more closely at the ice making system sooner!!?? Thought about it for a while and decided that it had to be that the solenoid in the water valve was NOT shutting off water flow to ice maker (overflowing the icemaker and running over & down interior of freezer compartment making an icberg).

Took off about 4-5 backcover screws with one size nut driver. Moved to a size larger driver to remove 1 screw holding on the water valve. And what some people don't realize is that you can push in the connectors (push them down) and THEN pull the water lines out as long as you're careful and someone hasn't already tugged on the waterlines with some force. You don't have to cut the lines off at the valve. Put the water lines in the new valve and put one screw back in it; then 4-5 backcover screws and you're done!!! At most 15 minutes...that is if you want to clean the condensor unit located behind the backcover (on the newer models within the last 4-6 years).

EASY!!! Do it yourself and save a BUNCH of money. If you're getting a flooded freezer compartment or icebergs created in there then check whenever you hear the icemaker drawing in water and see if water is running down the interior.....problem solved!

Pull plastic trim piece off refridgerator door,unclip printed circuit board and remove wires unscrew dispenser housing,and remove. Transfer Ice funnel to new dispenser housing with old spring. Reinstall dispenser housing and printed circuit board.

My refrigerator's initial problem was as follows:

1. Freezer fan stopped circulating the cooled air. Causing food to thaw at the top of the freezer, and freeze solid at the bottom. Ice in the icemaker thawed.

2. Water dripped from the freezer door gasket when the freezer was in defrost mode & water dispenser would not dispense water.

--FIX (the easy one first..):
2. I removed the inner freezer door panel and found ice filling every void of the freezer door panel-approx 5 lbs of ice dammed in the panel. I thawed the insulation and removed the ice. Also there is a styrofoam insulating surround around the inside of the dispenser panel. The styrofoam had become saturated with water and was freezing, allowing the drinking water tube to freeze, not allowing the refrigerator to dispense water...
THE CAUSE:
2. Overflowing of water from the in-door ice/water dispenser compartment reservoir (just under the grill where your glass sits, when it's dispensing water) was draining into the freezer door panel.
PREVENTION:
2. Check the reservoir more frequently to make sure water does not build up and overflow into the door.

FIX (now the trickier one..)
1. I initially thought it was the main circuit board. I replaced the board. Access is by removing the 3 hex nut screws holding door in place at the rear of the freezer. Disconnect connectors & using a needle nose pliers, squeezed the plastic catches that hold the board in place. Connect the new board (being careful not to touch the components or traces on the board) to the connectors, then snap into place using the white plastic catches.
Close everything up.

NOTE: This may, may not have contributed to the problem, but my refrigerator light went out. I replaced it with a small flouresent bulb. That bulb did not last, and became inop. Shortly afterward, the freezer started malfunctioning. I replaced the board, and the freezer was still somewhat intermittent. I replaced the bulb with an appliance 60 watt. The freezer has been perfect since...

Note: I first ordered the main circuit board, when that didn't immediately fix the problem, I ordered the above parts. I did not need the parts and am returning them. The web page is forcing me to select at least one of the parts needed for the repair, when I used neither.

First my wife and i took the panel off the back, unscrewed the old mainboard, unplugged all the switches from it and prayed that the new one would work. We were without a fridge for 2 weeks beginning 2 days before Christmas!!!!! Gingerly, we put the new board in place, screwed it into the fridge, connected the switches, attached the ground wire, and held our breath as we plugged it back in. Within seconds, the familiar sound of water filling the icemaker was hear and there were cheers all around!!!

While the switch did last for 9 years, the design is poor due to the failure mode. The failure should be to fail off or not able to turn on the lights which would be inconvenient but would not warm the refrigerator contents. Arcing at the contacts eventually caused the switch to "weld" closed. It is not obvious that this is occurring so it took some time to recognize why the temp inside the ref was high while the freezer was OK. Replacing the switch was easy once it was recognized as the problem. All that was required to replace the switch was to remove the screws holding a fiber cover and then pulling off the aluminum cap which covered the switches. Unplug the switch an squeeze the keeper on the switch to release it and pull down. Pop the replacement switch in place and plug the wires harness back in. All in all it took much less time to replace than it has to write this up. T Pope

Checked the internet for reports of similar problems and concluded that it was probably the main control board. Not being particularly handy, I would never have attempted to change the board myself if I had not read the comments and instructions from people on this site. Thanks.

The job was as straight forward as others have described. The only time I had a problem was pushing in the white tab to be able to pull the old board out. That was a bit of a fiddle.

The only thing I found different was the grounding wire. On the original board, this wire was at the bottom of the board and hooked into a wire that ran into the refrigerator. On the new board, the wire was at the top of the board and had a metal loop on it. If I understand it correctly, with the new grounding system the wire is pushed into the space above the board. Then when the back plate is reattached the metal loop makes contact with it , thus grounding the refrigerator.
I chose to run the grounding wire through the original wire into the refrigerator. That meant cutting off the metal loop, slicing in an extra piece of wire to connect the grounding wire on the board to the grounding wire into the refrigerator.

I also now use a surge suppressor for the refrigerator. The “Moaning Myrtle” syndrome started after Hurricane Ike. I suspect the surge when the power was restored damaged the control board. And as so many people seem to have this “Moaning Myrtle” problem, I suspect the control board has little or no surge protection.

The existing light switch was very hard to remove. I ended up having to grab it with a pair of pliers and pull it out. Once it was out, it was very easy to put in the replacement and it seems to be working fine.

Unplugged the appliance for safety. Removed two 1/4" screws that held the assembly in place. Carefully removed the wire guard that retains the glass shield. Unscrewed old light bulb and replaced with new part. Reversed the steps after cleaning glass cover.

Part arrived very fast as ordered..need to pry old switch out from top..use care to push the retainer down..after old switch was 1/2 out, I used a putty knife for better leveridge.Remove wire connector...after plugging in the wire connector to the replacement switch, make sure the switch is properly positioned so the switch will depress when door shuts.

I had Sears comre and check it out. They wanted $188. for the part and wanted $211 to put it in. They had the part in the truck. The fridg is a GE Profile and only 2 years old. Told them to forget it. Took me literally less than 10 minutes. They did a diagnostics, cost me $77. they told me the problem. I ordered the part here. It came in 3 days and the directions included were awesome. straight forward. Nice to know there is a place to go to avoid getting the shaft from appliance giants. Thank You !

The details: removed the 3 screws, took a picture of the board, didn't need it, unplugged the 6 plugs. pushed 3 clipds holding the board, unscrewed the ground, removed the board, lined up the 3 clips and snapped the new board in place, replugged the plugs and screwed in the ground. Plug the fridg in, done. Literally that easy.

Replaced flapper

The refrigerator was staying in defrost too long allowing the temperature to rise to the point that part of the ice (probably some of the food too) to melt then re-freeze. I first changed out the temp sensor and thermostat because I wanted to try the cheap stuff first but that didn't fix it, I should have gone with the mainboard first as it was the most likely cause. After putting in the new mainboard in the thing has worked perfectly since. The board was extremely easy to change, take the metal cover off with a nut driver. Carefully unplug the wires from old board and remove the board. The board is mounted on some plastic standoffs that expand after passing through the board, some of these came out while i was disconnecting the wires but some were there to stay until I figured out that I needed to squeeze the top of them to release the board. After getting the old board out just put the new one on the standoffs and connect the wires. Put the cover back on and DONE!

NOTES: The new board had some extra connectors that my old one did not, but the correct connectors were still in the old locations. The instructions that came with the board did talk about making some modifications to the refrigerator wiring on certain models, but that didn't apply to me. If I remember right the models requiring modification were all bottom freezer type. But even if you do have to do this the instrucions looked easy, just cut a couple of wires, no splicing or anything.

Remove lower front panel, disconnect damaged union from water hose under freezer door, replace with new union, tighten and reattach front panel. No more water coming from under the unit. Ice maker and dispenser features returned to working order!

Followed video for replacing the ice chute flap solenoid replacement because getting to the ice funnel took same steps of disassemble. Looked at how the existing funnel was set in the housing, where and how one spring was located, where the switch and its activating arm on the ice funnel were located, took old one out and put new one in. Cleaned everything in process.

I ordered the part on Sunday and had it by Tuesday. It only took a few minutes to install. Basically, I unplugged the unit and removed the cover over the motherboard with a nutdriver. The wires were easy to unplug and reinstall. There was no way to incorrectly install since they could only fit in the correct position. I reinstalled the panel pluged it back in and now the fridge is working great.