Ge WR49X10173 Dispenser Water Tube Heater OEM Part

I read about the water dispenser issue with GE refrigerators. There are many areas in this appliance that can have issues in preventing water from passing through the dispenser housing, or not producing ice cubes. Based on the troubleshooting advice of an experienced appliance repair person at Appliance-repair-it.com, I ordered the GE water dispensing heater, part # WR49X10173, from AppliancePartsPros.com. Later, per the instructions from the heating unit I received, I also bought a tube of RTV102 (silicone white adhesive from a local appliance parts retailer) for $15. The heater part is thin and small, and is made to precisely fit around the "Y" grooved base of the protruding water dispensing tube. Shawn's excellent pictures of the area needing the "fix," and his directions, along with the new heating unit's instructions, were positive aids in my carefully removing the electronic circuit board, wire harness, and cradle assembly from the dispenser housing unit to reveal the base of the water tube as it came out of the rear dispenser housing. My wife noticed a lot of dirty, black mildew growing there, so she assisted me in cleaning that all out, and drying the area with rubbing alcohol. I then applied a small amount of RTV102 completely around the dispenser tube where it came out of the rear housing panel. Then I removed the protective paper covering the sticky side of the tiny foil/wire heater unit. The heater foil was then gently pressed into the "Y" shaped groove just under, and partially around each side of the water tube. I waited for an hour for the heating unit's sticky backside and the RTV102 to cure a bit, then attached the two heater's wires to two of the circuit board's wires (a black & white one and a red one) with the two provided clips. No cutting of wires was necessary because the wire clamp clips make it much easier for a solid connection, if done correctly per the heater instructions. I then connected the heater's wire harness to the electronic circuit board (careful here not to damage the contact points), which fit precisely if done correctly. Now for a quick test before putting all parts back together in the dispenser housing assembly. I plugged in the refrigerator, waited a few minutes, then placed a finger on the new heater foil under the water tube. It felt slightly warm, so now I knew all electrical connections were correct. The test result was a very good feeling, so far, after putting up with a year of many water dispenser failures. I then unplugged the refrigerator and replaced all parts. Within 5 minutes after plugging the refrigerator into the wall outlet, water once again streamed out the dispensing tube. It's been two weeks now, and all is well. Just in time for the Holidays! That was an interesting partnering project with my wife, and we are both very happy with the GE heating repair kit from AppliancePartsPros.Com. The directions and illustrations were well thought out and clearly defined for ease of installation.

I order the heater kit for GE followed the instructions and wow it worked .

Installed this part. Super easy.

Followed the instructions that came with the part and also the information on your website describing what could be the problem and why it wasn't dispensing water from the dispenser. Very good directions and easy to fix and it now works just like new.

Bought after market heater.