I had purchased my GE refrigerator only a few years before. Last year in the fall the freezer evaporator fan would intermittently make a very loud vibrating noise when it turned on to circulate the cold air from the freezer to the rest of the refrigerator. The freezer and refrigerator seemed to be keeping their respective cold temperatures but I knew the loud vibrating noise couldn't be a good thing for the long run. I did an internet search for my model number. There were a few YouTube videos that showed how some models of GE and other refrigerators would get ice build up and how that could cause this fan noise problem. I moved everything from the freezer and placed it in the refrigerator and I unplugged the power from the entire refrigerator.I used the YouTube video for reference. It took a few minutes to disassemble the parts in the freezer area so I could reach the fan. It didn't appear that I had an ice buildup problem but I decided to let the existing frost to melt while I took a look at the fan. I removed the fan mount assembly and there didn't seem to be anything wrong with the fan motor at the time but I suspected it might need a little oil on the bushing/bearing. I also suspected that the evaporator fan motor might need to be replaced because of bushings/bearings that had worn loose. Before deciding to buy and replace the entire evaporator motor I wanted to see if the bushing was simply freezing up and needed lubricant. I put a few drops of Teflon based oil on the fan motor spindle and let it soak into the bushing/bearing area.
After about twenty minutes of letting the freezer defrost I reassembled the fan motor with its mount and the rest of the items back into the freezer. I plugged the freezer power back into the electrical socket and the refrigerator turned on. I didn't hear any excessively loud noise but the loud sound from the evaporator fan had been intermittent before so I waited and listened. It seemed as though my effort had mostly solved the problem of the fan noise...kind of. The fan would still not sound right at times but it make the noise as frequently nor as loud as it had been before.
The noise from the fan in the freezer had improved but it still was a little noisy at times. This continued for six months until the late spring and early summer this year when the freezer fan condenser motor started sounding extremely loud again. After some searching and cross checking to make sure I had the right GE (Hotpoint, etc.) fan motor part I looked here on Amazon and ended up purchasing this exact evaporator motor part WR60X10141. The fan evaporator fan motor was shipped the next day from the seller and I received it very promptly just a few days later. During this time my original evaporator fan motor would continue to cycle from a little noisy to very noisy and back to a little noisy.
A week after receiving the new fan evaporator motor part that I purchased on Amazon I decided it was time to change it out. Just for good measure I put two drops of Teflon oil on the lower part of the motor spindle at bushing and let it soak into the bushing/bearing. I repeated the procedure to disassemble the items in the freezer area. I moved the food in the freezer, unplugged the refrigerator and followed the YouTube instruction video. This time I had to remove the fan blade and disassemble the fan motor housing to replace the old fan motor with the new one. There are two rubber motor mounts that hold the motor and absorb any vibration while the fan spins. These rubber motor mounts can be replaced but mine seemed to be in good condition. Just for good measure because the front motor mount had probably been worked a lot from the vibration of the previous motor I decided to swap these rubber motor mounts by moving the back mount to the front and front mount to the back of the motor.
Before you replace the old motor with the new one and before you remove the fan from the motor spindle you should take notice of the fan's positioning on the metal motor spindle and how far the spindle sticks out from the fan when the fan is mounted on it. It will help with this next tip. During reassembly I decided to slide the fan blade slightly father back (between a sixteenth of an inch to an eight of any inch) more than it had been mounted before I removed the fan. This would give the fan a bit more room away from the metal evaporator cover and fan vent hole in front of it. I left about a quarter inch or slightly more of the metal fan motor spindle exposed in front of the fan blade part itself which was just a slight bit more space than it had before.
I suspected that when the fan had made the noise before that it might have been hitting the hole in that metal cover that it blows air through. Moving the fan slightly farther back on the motor spindle also seated the fan itself a little closer to the fan motor mount (and closer in distance to the fan motor) which according to basic physics should make the entire assembly a little more stable and have less tendency to want to wobble and wear out the motor bushing/bearing. For those who replace this part and watch the YouTube video beforehand you will understand why I am recommending this slight adjustment from how the fan was originally placed on the metal motor spindle. This adjustment is simple but don't push the fan too far back or it will be too far from the hole for the fan and the fan could strike the motor mount assembly itself. When you push the fan back onto the spindle just make it a little bit farther back (between 1/16th to 1/8th of an inch) towards the motor than it was before your removed it.
Conclusion: This is a fairly easy project to do. If you suspect your noisy evaporator fan motor needs to be replaced make sure you have the right fan motor part number for your model of refrigerator. During my online search I noticed that many different sellers are selling this same part for similar GE and Hotpoint models. You can pay up to eighty dollars for this part through major online vendors. Some are certified GE parts that cost the seller more money and I suspect may just be the exact same motor replacement part manufactured in China. While it may be identical the official GE part might be mandated for their own warranty repairs or it is possible that GE may or may not do additional quality testing on the motor before they put the exact same motor in an official GE box. My part came in a simple little brown box and this much less expensive costing replacement motor (at time of purchase less than $25) that I received from the advertised seller SupplyEdge was brand new and looked absolutely identical to the motor that it replaced and that included the WR60X10141 model number and etched markings on the back. The Amazon vendors by far seemed to have the best prices for this evaporator motor and just as it was my experience the other most of the other Amazon reviewers said the part was shipped and received promptly. I recommend this product as an excellent replacement part. I would also recommend that everyone follows the YouTube instruction video for reference. Simply do a search for "GE refrigerator evaporator fan motor replacement" or "GE refrigerator fan noise".
You tube has a great Video if you need to know how to do it and are not that handy..
Motor works just like the orig lets hope however it lasts longer than 4 years.
Buy GE WR60X10141 Refrigerator Evaporator Fan Motor Assembly, 1/8 X 2-1/2 Inch, 115V, 3 watts Now
Great price, and easy to install myself. I can buy several for the price of a service call, and spend less time on the install than I would waiting for the tech to show up.I installed it using a YouTube video as a guide. Uneventful. What else is there to say? It's a fan.Shipping was super fast. Product was identical to the original replaced fan motor. The packaging could have been a little more padded I believe, as I was concerned about the shaft being susceptible to bending, but it was fine. Absolutely no wobble or imbalance after installation. Quiet as a mouse!Save 57% Off
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