GE ClimateKeeper Dual Evaporator System
Refrigerator Not Cooling
The ClimateKeeper dual evaporator system is incorporated on some GE energy star
refrigerators including GE Profile refrigerators, GE Café refrigerators and
Monogram refrigerators. What this means is there is two evaporators rather than
one so the fresh food section and the freezer cool independently from one
another. Traditionally, refrigerators have one evaporator in the freezer so all
of the cold air for the fresh food section comes from the freezer. This is good
and works well but there are huge advantages to a dual evaporator system. Have
you ever said or heard someone say that their ice taste bad? This because
airflow from the fresh food section mixes with the air in the freezer causing
the ice to taste like food in the fresh food section. In other words, what you
taste is the onion from the fresh food section. Another good advantage is that
the humidity of the fresh food section is significantly higher. This allows
fresh produce and unsealed foods to stay fresh longer. Moisture sensitive foods
can be stored on open shelves without a lot of moisture loss.
Some of dual evaporator refrigerators use a variable speed compressor. What this does is allow the
compressor to slow down and speed up when the situation calls for it. This also
gives it the energy star rating because this compressor uses far less energy.
As we know in the ClimateKeeper dual evaporator system, the fresh food section and the freezer section cool independently from one another so when repairing them we treat them as two separate refrigerators to a certain extend. But when both the fresh food section and the freezer section are not working you must treat it as one refrigerator. This page will discuss how to diagnose these refrigerators when this happens.
If this is not what your refrigerator is doing, here are other pages
on GE ClimateKeeper refrigerator repair.
GE ClimateKeeper
Freezer Not Freezing
GE ClimateKeeper
Fresh Food Not Cooling
Main Board
The main board controls temperature in the fresh food section and the freezer
on a GE dual evaporator refrigerator by monitoring feedback from the thermistors
in various locations of the refrigerator, then “decides” when to turn the fans
on/off, when to turn the compressor on and when to shut off refrigeration flow
to one of the evaporators. Therefore, the main board can cause both the fresh
food section and the freezer section to stop cooling.
One way the board can cause this type of problem is the low voltage side of
the board can fail. When this happens the fans will not run properly and if you
are dealing with a variable speed model (talked about below) the compressor may
not get the correct “commands” from the board. Typically when this happens you
will see problems with the dispenser such as when you try the dispenser, the
light dim or the controls will dim. Sometimes the control lights will not
eliminate when you have this type of problem. The best way to check this type of
problem is to check the fan supply voltage.
To check this, locate the board on the back of the refrigerator. On the board
you should see a connector marked J2, this is the fan motor plug. Set your
voltage tester to read 14 VDC (most meters have a 20V scale). Test for voltage
by probing pin 3 (third pin from left) with your black lead and your red lead on
pin 8. You should get 12-14 VDC and if not replace the board.
The main board can also cause this type of problem by failing to run the
compressor when it should. This is talked about in the sections below.
Compressor Not Running
I said before that when
repairing a GE refrigerator with the ClimateKeeper dual evaporator system, you
treat the freezer and fresh food section as two separate refrigerators. This is
because there are separate refrigeration systems. But both are ran off of one
compressor, therefore if both sections are not cooling then there is a good
chance the compressor isn’t running. There are two types of compressors on these
refrigerators, single speed compressor and variable speed compressors. To tell
which compressor your refrigerator has, look for the clues below. On
refrigerators with the variable speed compressors, there will be a sticker on
the back that says, “this refrigerator is equipped with a variable speed
compressor”. Also if it is a variable speed compressor, there will be an
inverter attached to the side of the compressor and if it is a variable speed
compressor the main board will have a plug marked J15 with a wire connected to
it. If your refrigerator does not have these things then your refrigerator has a
single speed compressor.
Single Speed Compressor
If your GE ClimateKeeper dual evaporator refrigerator has the single speed
compressor It will be easy to tell if it is running or not. You will be able to
hear it running and it will be hot. Also you will feel vibrations on the
refrigeration lines. If the compressor is not running, the condenser fan can be
the problem. Look to the right of the compressor and you should see a fan, if
the compressor is running (or supposed to be running), the fan should be
running. If not refer to this page for fan motor testing GE Fan
Motor Diagnostics
Read the section on condenser fan motor.
If the fan
is running but the compressor is not, then the main board is more than likely
the problem. But it could also be start relay. If the start relay is bad the
compressor will try to start every so often (every 3-5 minutes). If this is
happening replace the start relay and if not the main board is the problem.
Variable Speed Compressor
It can be very hard to tell if the variable speed compressor is running on
the GE ClimateKeeper dual evaporator refrigerator because it runs so cool and
quiet. The best way to definitively tell if the compressor is running is to
access both the freezer and the fresh food evaporator. One or both of them
should be frosty if the compressor is running. You can unplug the refrigerator
and place your hand on the compressor then reconnect the power and you should
feel the compressor vibrate when it comes back on.
If you determine that the compressor isn’t running then the problem can be
the main board, the inverter-board, the compressor or the thermistors. If both
the fresh food section and the freezer section are not cooling then it is
unlikely the thermistors are the problem because you would have to have at least
two thermistors bad at once for the compressor not to run.
Locate the main board on the back of the refrigerator. On the board there
will be a plug marked J15. Check for voltage coming from the J15 plug and there
should be 4-6 VDC (wires must stay connected) if the main board is calling for
the compressor to be running. Note that you will only see the J15 plug on GE
ClimateKeeper dual evaporator refrigerators with a variable speed compressor. If
the main board is not calling for the compressor to be running, the problem is
the main board or the thermistors. Like I said before, if both sides are not
cooling, two thermistors would have to be bad to cause this problem so I feel
like it will be the main board but this page tells how to test the thermistors.
Testing
GE Refrigerator Thermisotors
If you are getting voltage at the J15 plug but the compressor is not running then you have a bad compressor or inverter. Disconnect power to the refrigerator and remove the inverter. Using an ohmmeter test for continuity from each of the three terminals on the compressor. There should be 9-11 ohms across each terminal and if not the compressor is bad. Replacing a compressor is not a do-it-yourself repair job. If the compressor checks ok, replace the inverter. Note that this is not a 100% accurate test but there is no good way to definitively test the inverter due to the fact that a lot of voltage testers will not read output voltage from the inverter because of the variations in frequency.
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