Customer Questions and Answers for Refrigerator Defrost Heater And Bracket Assembly by Ge

Hello Leticia, This is a defrost issue. You can verify this by checking the back wall of the freezer compartment for a frost build-up. There are only a few components of the defrost system. They are the defrost heater, the defrost thermostat, the temperature sensors, and the main control board. Most of the time on these, the defrost heater burns out and the replacement takes care of the issue. Other units have a bit deeper issue which requires the replacement of the temperature sensors and the main board. You can test the defrost heater with a test meter, but normally if the glass tube is blackened, the element has burned out. The defrost heater and the defrost thermostat come as an assembly WR51X10029 with the wiring harness on these units. This is in your favor as it can sometimes be difficult to determine if the issue is with the defrost heater or the defrost thermostat. Be aware that changing only one of the heating elements instead of the entire assembly will shorten the life of the element and I have heard of the new element burning out in the first three minutes. The part comes with an instruction sheet to explain anything you don't understand or you can post a question on here and we will help you out. Also be aware that the defrost circuit cannot melt away any more frost than the frost build-up between defrost cycles. This means that you will have to melt away the ice with a hair dryer to restore normal operation.