Customer Questions and Answers for Refrigerator Temperature Sensor by Ge

Hello Tom,

I would suspect a sealed system issue. Either a freon loss, a restriction, or an inefficient compressor.


The first is easy to check for. Remove the rear wall from the freezer compartment and look at the frost pattern. If there is an iceball at the top where the freon lines enter the compartment, you have a freon loss.

If no iceball is present, the next think I mentioned is a restriction. This is where the unit still has all of its' freon, but there is a clog preventing the compressor from adequately circulating the freon through the sealed system. The only real symptom of this without breaking into the sealed system and attaching guages is the compressor will run so hot that you can barely hold your hand to it.

The last is an inefficient compressor. This issue cannot really be diagnosed without either putting gauges on the sealed system or the use of a watt meter to check the units' draw on the power supply.The compressor will be warm or cool because the compressor motor is running, but has lost the "load". This is usually attributed to a reed valve in the compressor breaking or sticking, which lets the compressor run kind of like a car that is running at an idle while rolling down hill. It's running, but not performing work.

Any of these three senarios require a technician with a freon certification by federal law.