Ge WR51X10055 Refrigerator Defrost Heater And Bracket Assembly OEM Part

I unplugged the fridge and took all the food and shelving out of the freezer and then proceeded to take off the bottom sliding drawer rack on both sides off (4 Phillips head screws). Then took off the light bulb cover and then the light bulb. Then the back wall that covers the coils and tubes that the refrigerant runs through ( 2 screws with hex head). After sliding out the back wall I could see that the entire coil area was frosted and iced up. I took a blow dryer and melted all of it over about 40 mins and cleaned up the excess water mess it left in front of and behind the fridge. I immediately looked at the bottom of the coils to where the heater bulb is and could tell that the bulb was burned out and fried on one side of the connector piece the bulb assembly. I then proceeded to put it all back together and plug it back in so as to keep it functioning while I awaited the parts I ordered. The fridge and freezer will function and cool correctly for a week minimum while the coils frost over again slowly. I ordered the 2 thermistors and the defroster limiter as well as the defroster heater assembly just to ensure that all components that run the defrosting were fully functioning. About 76 dollars including shipping. Once the parts were in I went through the previous mentioned steps (MAKE SURE YOU UNPLUG AS BEFORE) and once the coiled area is defrosted I first took out the defrost heater assembly. There is a aluminum bracket that covers access and it is 2 phillip head screws. The heater assembly disconnects on both sides where the wires run down the freezer into the tan porcelain ends of the heater bulb assembly. Reinstall the new one in the same way and screw bracket and assembly back on. The defroster limitor is at the top of the coils sitting under the light bulb area. Just carefully pull off the coil pipe and snip and strip the 2 wire with a pair of wire snips/strippers. My advice is to watch the instructional videos on the website on replacing the defroster limiter and the thermistors. You will need the type of wire connectors they show on the videos that can be crimped and can easily find them from a local auto store or home repair store or a hardware store. PAY ATTENTION HERE, the wires for thermistors and defroster limiter have no positive or negative side so it makes NO difference which of the 2 wires connects to each other. I verified this with customer service and thus my unit has worked perfectly since the repair. FYI the first freezer thermistor is near the defroster limiter and the second is located at the bottom left corner tucked away. Both can be seen on instructional videos. Hope this saves someone a lot of time and irritation.

I am a home owner with no technical experience on doing refrigerator failures diagnostic/repair. So, I look for internet DIY type of help describing the symptoms. I found recommendations from Appliance Parts Pros going from the easy to the complex potential parts failures and decided to order the compressor start relay and the compressor overload. While waiting for the overnight delivery, came to my mind and decided to look to the freezer compartment and found frost all along the coils panel. Made another review on potential parts failure and found the defrost heater and defrost thermostat on the list. I removed the panel frost and used hair dryer to facilitate the panel removal. Then found the coils entire compartment frosted. With the use of the hair dryer focused on the defrost heater side, removed and found that it was a bad part (disconnected and burned from one end contact). Called in to Appliance Parts Pros and discussed with the customer service agent on my new dilemma now of having ordered parts that probably didn't had to order. He gave me an RMA for those parts and we put on overnight order the defrost heater and the defrost thermostat for double assurance. Parts arrived, and it was not easy due to the slim size of freezer but managed to replace the defrost thermostat with good butt-splice terminals and covered them with electrical tape too and replaced the defrost heater. Reinstalled cover panel and turned back on the refrigerator. I noted after one hour, that the compressor was too hot to my opinion. So, I called back to Appliance Parts Pros and described entire story up to this point to the customer agent. She told me that I had to replace the compressor start relay and the compressor overload (parts that I did not returned with the RMA). So, I replace both components, covered the refrigerator back and turned it on again. It took 24 hours to reach "0" and "34" degrees as normal settings.

Long story but appliance guy could not diagnose. Recommended changing touchpad control panel since it has the button issues. Admittedly he wasn't sure that would fix it. I had my doubts since many stories on the net of replacing motherboards with no fix, and inspection of both boards revealed no visible issues. Besides, this part is now unavailable from GE. I happened on a very helpful site, http://www.appliance-repair-it.com/refrigerator-thermistor.html which has a procedure for testing thermistors in ice water with a multi-meter. My thermister by the evaporation coil tested bad with high resistance (real easy to test comparing to resistance/temp chart provided). I replaced that and the freezer thermistor with new GE replacements from AppliancePartsPros. The freezer thermister was good however since I decided to replace the defrost heater anyway (icing issue), I was right there. Separately on the controller, I removed the panel, on the affected micro switches I popped off the back of the switch, small parts, but, there is a small brass disk within which completes the circuit when depressed to set temp. I cleaned the tarnish off the disk with brass cleaner, checked continuity and popped back together, and sealed with a dab of polyurethane. All working perfectly. Saved 4000 to replace the fridge and fix cost less than repair visit with no fix. Parts from AppliancePartsPros were GE replacements and worked perfectly. Minor soldering required for thermistors. I spent many days researching and deciding approach and ordering parts. Parts came promptly in a few days. With parts in hand, it took 3 hours to repair per above. My fridge has 4 thermistors to test, I think 3 is more common. All of this work obviously with the refrigerator unplugged.

Opened the rear panel of the fridge, and found the coils completely iced over. I took off the defrost heater at the bottom of the fridge, and it was evident that the burner was burnt out. I tested with a multimeter to verify there was no continuity in the element. To get by, I defrosted the coils with a hair dryer, soaking up the water with a towel at the bottom of the freezer directly below the coils. I wrapped the leads to the heater element with electrical tape to prevent moisture getting into the leads, and reassembled the fridge. This will bought me enough time until I could receive the part (it takes several days for the coils to ice over to the point where they are impeding airflow). Once I received the part, I repeated the process. Removed the back panel, defrosted the coils with a hair dryer, and installed the new defrost heater.

I followed your "Diagnosing a refrigerator" on your web site. Your information suggested I remove the panel at the back of the freezer. I did, and the evaporator was covered with ice. I defrosted it with a hair dryer and then tested the defroster heater. It tested open. I ordered the heater and a thermostat at 3:00PM and had them mid-morning the next day. I replaced the components later in the day. The next morning I had 32dgrees on the fresh food side and 0degrees in the freezer. I've played with settings since and now have 38 degrees and 5 degrees. Very satisfied!!!! Thank You very much. Jerry VB