Ge Fridge - Main board burned up or what?

Fridge:
ets22xbmbrbb

Mainboard:
WR55X10151

Bought a Ge Eterna fridge a few weeks ago (used). A couple of days ago it was luke warm. Frustrated, I walked around and smacked the fridge (by the mainboard) and the compressor kicked on. Fridged worked for 2 days and is warm again.

Fan works fine, but the compressor isnt kicking in without a kick in the butt!

So while I was back there getting a Part No for the mainboard, I moved a wire and accidently touched the M3 heatsink and got a little jolt. That leads me to think that something is grounding out or that one of the solder points is touching something it shouldn't.

Any ideas? I know how to use a multimeter, for basic stuff, but this PCB is a little bit above my head.

it looks like it might be a transducer that is bleeding out DC current on the Heatsink. Its bleeding 70 volts.

Hello Chosos, welcome to the forum

I hope someone with experience in fridge-repair will react soon but in the meanwhile: does that mean that by buying a new transducer the problem will be solved?

i'm not sure exactly

In order to pull up hidden warrantys, Google your fridge particulars along with words like

recall
"class action"
"v. General Electric"
"implied mechantability"

As an electronic engineer since the 60's I try to avoid appliances with electronic controls. Nowadays there seems to be no incentive to make them durable.

this board develops cold solder joints their a 3 ohm resistor bias between two theromas stats in freezer and fridg. develops a lot of heat at connections.
sw houston no need to reply.

what would cause the transducer to bleed 70 volts DC on the heatsink?

Maybe the heatsink is supposed to be at 70v. The thermal resistance, case-to-sink, is less if they don't use the insulating mica washer.

what you are calling a transducer is not what it does its a voltage regulator.reference to ground is 70 volts make sure it has a good ground to refir case. i had appliance and tv store for 32yrs.i replaced over 400 boards on this unit also be sure you oil inside fan if air is not at a certain speed this unit will act up.so either solder board like i said or replace it.

sw houston need not reply i have experiance at this.

you're right - it is a voltage reg, not a transducer.

The ground wire on the board seems okay and screws directly into the fridge chasis.

The solder joints on the voltage reg also seem ok. is there any way to check the voltage reg to see if it is ok?


"Thatguy" are you implying that this model may have a hidden warranty i am not aware of?


Hobbist, is this unit supposed to bleed DC voltage off of a Thermal Heatsink attached to the voltage reg? That is very dangerous if so.

I do not quite follow "their a 3 ohm resistor bias between two theromas stats in freezer and fridg." Could you explain that any better, please?

I am willing to repair this myself, I just need a bit of explanation.

Thanks again.

this board is probly no longer avaible their was several law suits against ge.
you may have to fix board look fore dark spot on board may indicate bad solder make sure board is mounted correctly and grounded where indicated

voltage is normal on heat sink so think if bleed off is 70 volts input is 110 what do you think balance should you answer first quiz time.

dc is not dangours because amps is low milliamps

was this board part of the lawsuits? can i have it replaced by GE free of charge?

also, what type of oil do you suggest for the fan?

3 in 1 sewing machine oil

the whole fridge was abortion yes board problem was only the beginning of the problems

i tried finding information on the recall, and it looks like i missed the class action suit and can no longer have this replaced / repaired.

stand by going to research something i have connection because i was a ge dealer hold on a min

http://www.appliancepartspros.com/part_details.aspx? part_id=3140372&pn_=WR55X10151

is this the board

no, mine looks like this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/MAIN-BOARD-ASSEMBLY-CONTROL- WR55X10151-GE- REFRIGERATOR_W0QQitemZ150236447139QQcmdZViewItem? _trksid=p3286.m20.l1116

you have the old version the one i showed you is the replacement plugging is the same if you look closely connectors are in the same place new instruction sheet come with new board.the board you have is not repairable parts were made by hiel of china sub of ge relation were broke off after law suit.replace with new type of board will do the same job

unfortunately, replacing the board is something I do not wish to do, as the cost is ridiculous. if this were a warranty part it would be different

I know there are hidden warrantees on many things. With the Internet it might be easier to find them.

I saved a neighbor $1800 on a head gasket job (the thermostat failed and ruined the head gasket and these cascading failures were due to a design defect).
It was pure luck; I mentioned it to an auto mechanic friend who asked a friend of his who worked at the dealer. It was almost at the level of gossip and you can bet the dealer/salesmen would not have said this to anyone.
The mechanic who ended up doing the repair (the Zone Rep might have got involved) wanted to know very much how my neighbor knew this.
She said, "A little birdy told me."

if this board is not replaced it will damage the compressor 200 of my customers said the same thing and two or three weeks later called complaining.their fault for not doing as i told them.did this kind of work for 31years as a g/e dealer.
so with that said you better not come back want to fix a bad compressor.laws suit recover was over three yrs ago.you will not be able to claim its over.the replacement board is after market and is better than orginal.i have used them many times with out rerepair.new unit is three to five hundred u/s dollars to replace its you call.

thatguy does not know what hes talking about as a dealer i called my resources about recovery its over they do not have board in stock and was turned over to after market venders.

try disconnectiing connectors on board two or three times see if a plug has bad connection. note unplug from wall outlet before doing.

Post edited by: hobbist, at: 2008/09/19 05:44

hobbist wrote:
thatguy does not know what hes talking about [/quote]
What guy?

the point is the after market board is better designed dependable the last ge board i got lasted a week.also i would like to point last compressor i bough from ge was 380.00 U.S.dollars.the replacement board is 95.00 U.S dollars.so he has no choice i he likes the unit thats whats happening. i am 61 yrs old been a tv/appliance repair since i was 16 and fixed my mothers we were poor and 8 chrildren and she needed her washer.i becamed one of G.E.s severce tecks at 17 and still do business with.i know all recalls most are over.so with that said i am not going to get in petty arguments.

the point is the after market board is better designed dependable the last ge board i got lasted a week.also i would like to point last compressor i bough from ge was 380.00 U.S.dollars.the replacement board is 95.00 U.S dollars.so he has no choice i he likes the unit thats whats happening. i am 61 yrs old been a tv/appliance repair since i was

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