Wednesday, August 28, 2013

GE WR55X10942 Refrigerator Main Control Board

GE WR55X10942 Refrigerator Main Control BoardIf you are reading this, odds are your GE Profile fridge is quite warm on a Sunday night. You are desperately trying to figure out what's wrong. This board may solve your problems. It is a recalled part so you may be able to get it from GE for free. After what we went through, I hope amazon leaves this review up as a service to their customers. In return, the customers can spend their money on other amazon items.

The problem was as follows. We have a GE Profile fridge, Model PSC23NGSA (from 2005) with the vertical side by side doors. (I think these are called "French doors".) Neither the fridge or the freezer was staying cool. The fridge was making a clicking

sound. Opening the doors, the display on the front was flashing "HRS".

We did some basic troubleshooting. Put the food into coolers to try and save it as well as clear the vents. We unplugged and plugged the fridge back in. We made sure it was not in demo mode. The thermostat had been replaced in the past so that rules that out.

Doing some web searches showed that this has happened to others as well. The original board was recalled by GE on November 7, 2006. There was a letter that was sent out to technicians about this but not to customers. We called GE at 18003861215, option 3. We stated what the refrigerator was doing. We brought up the recall and stated we wanted this part.

Initially, GE was going to ship the part out in 3-5 days. My wife ordered them to overnight it. With President's Day, we got it the following day due to the post office.

Installing it was fairly straightforward for me. Below are the steps I used. Your experience may be different.

Tools required: socket wrench, SAE socket set, needle nose pliers, light

Steps:

Unplug fridge from wall outlet

Move it to where you can get at cover plate

Remove cover plate using the socket wrench

Make a diagram or take pictures of which connectors went to what locations on the board

Unplug connectors. You may have to use the pliers.

Remove old board. It rests on these plastic standoffs

Put in new board

Plug in connectors into new board.

Move fridge back in to place

Plug into wall outlet

I found a parts diagram online. If you've ever swapped a motherboard in a computer, you can definitely do this. The instructions will walk you through it. If you have the model with the freezer on the bottom, one would cut some wires before installing. The instructions go over that as well. After you are done installing the board, it will take about 2 to 3 hours to get back cool. This even in an empty fridge.

I've had it installed for just over a week now. The fridge is back in service. My wife says the freezer seems to be colder. Overall, frustrating, but resolved now. Hopefully this will help someone else out there.

I got a free main board replacement PN: WR55X10942 on Aug 22, 2012. The customer service person was aware of the main board issues and asked for my model and serial number refrigerator to see if it was covered. My fridge is a stainless steel 25 cubic foot side by side, model GSH25JSRF SS with a ship date of Mar 2006. I was informed that the main board was covered, but because it was outside of the 5 year replacement period I was told that the board would be provided free and that I would be responsible for the $100 service call to replace it. I am a mechanical/electrical engineer and feel very comfortable replacing the board myself (as should anyone reading this) I told the GE representative that I have read several posts on the internet where people have opted out of the service call and installed the board themselves. I asked to opt out of the $100 service call and fee, requested them to ship the board to my house, and told him that I would install it myself.

The board could not be any easier to install just 2 screws to remove the cover on my model and 5 or so connectors to remove and plug in on the new board. Here is a how to install it on a different model fridge

My fridge had the following symptoms:

The Water dispenser stopped working and would not dispense water about 4 months ago (this is related to the main board from what I have read)

A week ago the fridge would start clicking with a frequency of about 1 click per second for hours on end until the compressor kicked in and the unit ran. This cycle repeats every few hours. During this clicking I noticed the interior refrigerator lights dim, a weird buzzing sound coming from the box in the top left side of the fridge (defroster unit?) and the fan for the condenser would jerk and turn about 10 degrees, and the compressor and condenser cooling fan would not run. The clicking seemed to be coming from relay largest relay on the board. The relay is manufactured by Omron and has a part number G8P-1C4P. It has a 12VDC coil and a NO ( normally open) contact rating of 20A and 250V.

During my google searches attempting to find the root cause of this mode of failure, so I could attempt to fix the board on my own, I found this letter advising technicians of the main board recall. It was sent from the National Service Manager, Richard Zutterman, dated Nov 7 2006In my google searches, calling home depot, and calling GE I had about six 1-800 phone numbers to call. I decided to try and call the National Service Manager Rickard in the above mentioned letter and got his voicemail. On his voicemail he asks people calling about the main board issue to call 1-800-749-6629. He must hate that people posted that letter on the internet. I called that number. Several people on the internet have commented that GE customer service was very good. I was shocked because dealing with them over my front load washing machine back in 2007 was a nightmare. I work with a lot of very bitchy ladies that had to take customer service training as a department in response to complaints from other departments in the company that had to work with them. I am happy to report that my interactions with the GE customer service today were "A+" quality. It could not have been any better and I am being very critical about that.

I think our customer service consultant would agree, the GE customer service person I talked to was outstanding.....simply perfect. I am not just saying that because I got a free board.....but it does help I got exactly what I wanted.

If you have a dishwasher manufactured between Dec 2006 and 2010 then do not call GE about it to see if it is under recall. It is locking up their phone lines right now (I was on hold for 20-30 mins) go to

Buy GE WR55X10942 Refrigerator Main Control Board Now

My 2 year old bottom freezer refrigerator started to have the classic symptoms, not always cooling, one second clicking sound when not cooling. Some times the refrigerator cooled but not the freezer part. Sometimes neither part cooled while the fridge started to click. (Clicking is from relay noise).

I ordered this universal board for my fridge from Amazon.com. I took advantage of the FREE shipping. It arrived quickly in a timely fashion. It was a sealed GE factory board and not a brand X board. First class! The board came with clear instructions to be used for your particular refrigerator.

In my case, I removed the small rear panel on the back side of the fridge to expose the board. You then unplug the fridge, pull out the connector plugs from the board, remove the ground wire under a screw, remove the board off of 4 plastic standoff spacers, install the new board onto the spacers and then plug in all the wire connectors onto the new board. My new board had many more parts on it then the old board. You cannot plug the wrong connector into a wrong socket. Each connector has a different number of pins on it so any one plug will fit into only one socket.

In some cases a wire needs to be cut on one of the plugs per the instructions, but for my model this was not neccessary. Also, for BOTTOM FREEZER refridgerators, you need to take the lower panel off exposing the compressor and check if you have a start capacitor on your fridge. (The diagram shows you where the start capacitor would be located if you have one). If you have one, you need to cut a ground wire off a plug. In my case no wire needed to be cut as I had no start capacitor on my fridge. In short all I had to do was to swap out boards on the fridge and then put the panels back in place with screws.

For tools I needed a Phillips screw driver, but to remove the old board a pair of needle nose plyers helped removing the old board off the stand off legs as they needed to be squeezed before the board could be lifted off the standoffs one at a time. There are 4 plastic standoff legs holding the board in place. I didn't need to cut any wires but if you did need to cut one or two a small wire cutter would be handy. Otherwise a pocket knife would do the job.

If you follow the clear instructions you won't make a mistake. In my case I could replace the board again now that I did it once in less then 5 minutes. Doing it the first time, so you don't mistake, should take you no more the 15 to 20 minutes being very careful.

One last thing, THE BOARD FIXED THE REFRIGERATOR! (Please understand after reoplacing the board and turning the fridge on again, once plugging it back into the wall, will require hours of operation before the fridge and freezer are cold enough to turn the compressor off. In my case, with an empty fridge, I got tired of waiting to see if it would turn off after three hours of operation watching it. When I checked the next day, it was cold and not running. Everything was working just fine. It took a long time before it shut off even when the fridge was empty. (So be patient).

You can do the repair yourself and save a lot of money! The part from Amazon cost about half the list price of the board, no tax, and I also saved the cost of the repairman's labor. In my case I had actually called a repairman, two weeks later he had the board but never showed up on his appointment. I fired him and did the job myself quicker and for less money.

Lee

Houston,Texas

Read Best Reviews of GE WR55X10942 Refrigerator Main Control Board Here

Had a problem with my GE fridge, not cooling and acting erratic. After some online research pinpointed the problem to this board..... Ordered from Amazon. Received part faster than expected and as described in the listing it was a Brand New Original GE part still Sealed in the box. Instructions were easily understood and installation was a snap.

Want GE WR55X10942 Refrigerator Main Control Board Discount?

Purchased a GE side-by-side refrigerator in 2007. Thing started moaning, howling and we've put up with it for 2 years. Finally pursued a fix by researching online. Turns out the main control board by the OEM (original equipment manufacturer), a subcontractor for GE, used boards that made the fan in the freezer section run at either the incorrect frequency or what I interpret as a variable frequency. Took a chance and purchased the card based on some posts on separate websites about the issue. Card was a success, easily installed with a pair of needle nose pliers and a 1/4" socket wrench. Board came double-boxed with bubble wrap as well. Official GE instructions were included. Quiet has been restored.

By the way, GE was no help in this matter. Despite seeing posts online about GE possibly providing new boards, three separate calls to GE were unfruitful. GE asked the standard questions: when did the warranty expire, did I have an extended warranty. The troubleshooting line was not prepared to perform analysis beyond the most basic of issues. The entire GE interaction was disappointing to say the least.

If you have a GE fridge and it moans or howls, consider a main circuit board replacement. Any price under $125 is an easy beat of the prices GE will offer from their own sources.

Save 53% Off

No comments:

Post a Comment