GE refrigerator, GSL25JFPHBS, with fried control board

by Joe
(Olathe, KS)

I have a six and a half year old side by side GE refrigerator model GSL25JFPHBS. No issues until recently when everything stopped working except the interior lights. There was a faint burnt electronics smell. Did a little reseach and then opened the compartment up for the control board. Several components were clearly fried; large resister, small capacitor, and two surface mount chips (might be transitors). I ordered a new one and swapped them out. Refrigerator came on for a bit and when I unplugged it and buttoned it up and plugged it back in the refrigerator was not working again - compressor and fan were not coming on. I unplugged it and opened up the control board compartment again and noticed the same large resistor was blackened a bit. I am hesitant to plug it in again and suspect something is drawing too much power (compressor, fan, or other). Not 100% sure on this diagnosis since the fuse on the board was not blown on either board. I could not find a service manual or schematic for the refrigerator on the internet and would appreciate any guidance anyone may have on this issue. Thanks.




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Answer

Hi Joe,

I added a picture to the top of the page. Is this where the original board was brunt? If so fan motor is bad. When the If not then I am not sure what could have caused the problem.

Thank you,
Shawn/administrator

Comments for GE refrigerator, GSL25JFPHBS, with fried control board

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Feb 10, 2011
 Update with picture
by: Joe

Thanks for the thoughts and help. One of the components that is fried is one of the resistors circled. I'm going to try and put a picture of the fried board on this thread in case it may help. I have already removed the fan and there is no visible damage that I can see but that does not mean there is not internal damage.
Feb 10, 2011
 Posted your picture
by: Shawn/admin

Quote from Joe

“I appreciate all the help. I pulled the fan motor and there is no visible damage but that does not mean there is not internal damage. The fan moves freely by hand but I would have guessed a little less friction but I’m not very familiar with refrigerator repair so I’m just guessing. Do you know where I can get a GE service manual for this refrigerator? I’m going to order the fan just in case. Thanks much.”


I posted the picture you sent me on this thread and I do believe there is a good chance the fan caused this problem.

Thank you,
Shawn

Feb 14, 2011
 Final comments
by: Joe

Shawn was correct - it was the evaporator fan motor. I'm guessing the large 3 Watt resister on the left side (see control board picture) is a shunt resister for the evaporator fan motor and when the fan shorted out internally the current in the circuit was most likely too high for the 3 Watt resister to handle. Luckily I did not have the new control board in long enough to cause any permanent damage (just a little discoloration of the 3 Watt resistor from the heat). I dissassembled the old fan motor and I'm surprized this style motor shorted out. It is a permanent magnet motor (magnet on the rotor side) and sealed stator with no commutator. No obvious signs of motor problems. Everything seems to be working now - hope it stays that way. Thanks Shawn.
Mar 25, 2013
 GE GTS22QBMARWW suddenly quit cooling
by: bfreiner

My evaporator fan started making erratic noises, often very loud, a couple of years ago. A repairman came out and put in a new evap fan but evidently put it in backwards (or so he said) as it started making noises again within a couple of weeks so he came back out and replaced it again (at no additional charge to me). It seemed to work fine for several months but then started making noises again but not nearly as often and not as loud so we have just been living with it since the repair was out of warranty. However, a couple of days ago both the refrigerator and freezer sections totally quite cooling overnight. I followed the a procedure to test the main control board on my refrigerator on one of your posts. I have 120VAC power at the input to the main control board but no DC power at the J2 connector on the board. Per that post this means I need to change the control board. One of the two fan resistors on the control board is burnt. Your other post stated that if a resistor was burnt the fan must be replaced as the fan is likely what caused the control board to fail in the first place. The resistor that is not burnt is labeled R96 on the circuit board. However, I can't quite make out the label for the burnt resistor. It looks like it might be R95. How do I know which fan, evaporator or condenser, is controlled by which resistor so I know which fan corresponds to the burnt resistor?
Mar 26, 2013
 RE
by: Shawn/admin

Most of the time when this happens everything will work except the fan affected by the burnt resistor so there is no question about which fan caused the issue. I have never known a condenser fan to cause this issue. I have three boards and each board has different marking so the marking wouldn’t tell us anything. However it is usually the one on the left that is burnt due to the evaporator fan.

My advice is to replace the evaporator fan and the board and you should be ok. The evaporator fan is the one known for causing this issue so I would replace it especially if it were the resistor on the left.
Mar 26, 2013
 New control board and evap fan fixed GE GTS22QBMARWW
by: bfreiner

The resistor that was burnt on my control board was the one on the left so I replaced the board and the evaporator fan. So far so good. The refrigerator is running and seems to be cooling down but it has only been about 45 minutes since I finished the repair so we shall see how it is doing in a few hours. Thanks for your great advice! The new control board is quite a bit different from the original so I'm hoping it is more robust. The new evap fan is a Panasonic UDQT26GE4 just like the last on, which was replaced about 2 or 3 years ago.
Sep 20, 2013
 New control board necessary?
by: Laurie

I have been reading the posts on burnt out control boards. Our GE PSI23SGNA will not get cold. The repairman suggested a new control board and then see if the compressor is in need of replacement too. I exposed both panels on the back. There is no evidence of anything burnt on the board. The condenser fan runs, both fans run in the freezer and the fridge. I really can't tell if the compressor running or not! I replaced the heater defrost unit as it looked burnt out on both ends. The 3lb defrost was on but we re-set that and still no getting colder...Any advice. Thank you for such a great website!
Sep 23, 2013
 re
by: shawn/admin

It is hard to say without knowing if the compressor is running or not. If the compressor isn’t running then it could be the board sometimes have a burnt solder joint on the back of the board that you cant see without taking it off. If not and the fans are running but the compressor isn’t there is a strong chance the board is bad especially if the compressor isn’t warm/hot.


Mar 05, 2014
 Control board problem. Burnt Fuse??
by: Matt

I have a GE GSL25JFPHBS and all that turns on is the lights. I pulled the board and the fuse(?) on the bottom of the board is burnt/blown. Is this a main fuse? It's a clear tube. What would have caused this? Bad evap fan motor?
Mar 06, 2014
 RE
by: shawn/admin

Anything could happen but in my experience it is one of two things. Something on the board caused it or the fuse just went bad. The fans usually burn a resistor on the board (pic at top of page).
Mar 06, 2014
 Fixed
by: Anonymous

Thanks Shawn. Had a board overnighted and just installed it. Turned right on
Sep 12, 2016
 GE Refrigerator
by: Marc

Hello Shawn,

I have a GE refrigerator that is about 5 years old. Last week we noticed the freezer wasn't working as well and then a couple days later the entire unit stopped working. both the freezer and the refrige. Now when plugged in there's no sound at all, no motor, no humming, nothing. I tried unplugging it and plugging it back in but nothing.
The lights are the only thing that work. No digital read out on the temp control either.

Any thoughts?


Hi Marc,

It sounds like the board is bad assuming it is a model that has a board.

Thank you,
Shawn/admin
Jan 31, 2017
 fried control board
by: Anonymous

Hello, the control board on my Amana fridge used to fry, over an over, every 6 months or so.
I've heard from the technician about voltage spikes and how it affects all electronic componants
and he recommended that I purchase a surge protector designed for appliances from these guys www.servaparts.com
Been 8 months now and the fridge runs smooth. Even had a few power outage and the board didn't flinch.
That little gizmo really does the trick. I pluged it in the outlet and it's ready to go.
Each repair on my fridge cost about 315$ so it's really worth the 13$ I paid for.
Mike
Aug 11, 2017
 GE GSCS3KGYAFSS Fridge
by: Heidi

Hello,

I have a GE GSCS3KGYAFSS and the compressor fan stopped running. Luckily I noticed it in time before the compressor overheated because the water assembly was leaking which caused me to pull out the fridge so I noticed the larger problem of the fan not running. Water leaking wasn't as big a deal in comparison.

I turned off the water and put a floor fan running constantly on the coils until repaired.

I replaced the water assembly (very easy) and replaced the compressor fan motor, but compressor fan still didn't run. I looked at the control board and there is "darkening, smoky appearance" around both resistors. Not actually black or charred, just kind dark around both resistors.

The evaporator fan still works great and the fridge is all working well, cooling, circulating, etc.

I ordered a new control board and plan to install that tonight! Could it be, that the evaporator fan caused the resistors to burn even though it continues to function well? I'm hoping I don't fry the new board :)

Feedback appreciated.

Thank you, Heidi


Reply,

Replacing the board should get you back going. The fan that was not working most likely caused the board to fail.

Thank You,
Shawn/admin
Aug 14, 2017
 Follow up, replaced board, all good
by: Anonymous

I replaced the board, compressor fan, now its up and running again. The evaporator fan has made noise for years though and when I press a little on the back freezer cover over the evaporator fan it increases the noise (I think the slight pressure touches fan blades, not sure). I may be taking the back cover out soon to check that out/replace the grommet and fan blade.

Thanks for having this forum, it helps!

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