ESS23XGSBWW General Electric Refrigerator - Instructions

Came home in the morning and found that everything in the freezer was defrosted. The fridge and freezer were warm so I checked the web to see what the problem could be. After about 15 minutes I found what the two causes could be. Since the parts were so cheap, I decided to change both the defrost heater and thermastat. It's been about a week since I changed the parts and no problem.

The repair is easy, just pop the grill off around the ice and water door, then there are 4 screwws to take out so the touch pad can be moved out of the way to unsnap the old door assm. and snap in the new one and wait about a year and a hald to order another one!!!!!

I still have not be able to replace the sensor as I've been unable to locate any info, or figure out where it is located. The water valve was easy to replace and took less than a half hour

After looking further into your website I found all the info, diagrams and instructions to replace the Temp Sensor, which was not too involved, thank you. Now to wait and see if this was the cause and my Refrigerator is up and running again

Had to turn off water and remove back panel and with a few tools the part was off and the new part put on in less that 30 minutes!! Finding parts on your website were easily found.

After de-energized unit (by removing electical plug from outlet),I removed the rear panel at bottom of unit. I then removed the mounting screw to the water valve. I then disconnected the wiring assembly from the old unit. I then removed the water supply lines going to the icemaker and water filter. I then placed the water supply into the replacement water valve. plugged in wiring assembly to new unit and rehung water valve inside refrig. Turned water valve on at water supply to check for leaks, finding none I then replaced back panel on refridge and plugged in electrical cord and returned refrige to normal place in kitchen.

Shut off power to the refrige. Removed old icemaker, using large hammer. Installed new unit.

Of course, the first thing I did was remove the ice cube container from the freezer, and dump the ice cubes. (Conservation note: If you're in a place with water conservation rules, dump the cubes in a big pot and save them. If they melt, use the water for your house plants.) Following the advice from another DIYer, I let the container warm up before doing anything further.
Turned the container (I'll call it the "tray" from now on) over, removed the two screws holding the front cover with the Phillips screwdriver, gently pulled the cover out to disengage it from the rest of the machine.
Getting the next part out was tricky because it didn't want to release just by pushing in on the tabs on either side of the front assembly. That's where the two table knives came in, courtesy another reviewer. Be careful here not to jam or twist too energetically because the plastic housing is still quite breakable.
Just to be safe, I unscrewed one more screw that held the little bracket holding the rod with the spring on it and disengaged it. Then I discovered that I had to unclip the part that holds the auger in the front part of the assembly and slide the auger out of the way so I could pull the broken part out.
Having done all that, putting the new part in and reassembling the whole thing was pretty easy.
Slide the new part in, carefully rotate the auger back into its place, slide that assembly back into place, replace the clip holding the end of the auger, be sure the long rod engages the ice crusher gizmo, replace the screw that holds the rod in place, hook the front of the drawer back into the proper slots, rotate the cover back into position and replace and tighten the two screws.
You're done! The ice cubes you took out will probably still be frozen, so you can dump them back into the tray and slide the tray back into the freezer.
If you're cleverer than I am, maybe you won't need to do all the little things I did, but even so the whole exercise took less than 15 minutes--the ice cubes didn't even melt!

First I hired a repairman and he said that it was in the unit and would not be worth the expense to fix.

I started to research on the net and this was one possible source. ( evaporator fan). I had to take it apart to verify it. Then put it back together to use until the part came.

The next time went much faster as I did not have to take near as many screws out to access the fan motor. Very Happy to have it working fine again as a new relacement would cost $1200. Thanks much. Ron

No self defrost. Measured heater coil with ohm meter which was OK (not open). Ordered 2 temp sensors (there are 2 in freezer, 2 in fresh food sections). The original and the new all meaured ~150 ohms. Replaced one by one. This did not fix problem. Ordered defrost thermostat. Original measured ~150 ohms - new one was ~100 ohms. Unpluged refridgerator. Removed coil panel (4 nut screws) in freezer and light cover (1 small phillips screw). Locate defrost thermostat clipped to top of coils (orange / pink wires). Cut wires and unclipped thermostat. Stripped insulation off of wires and reconnect using wire nuts. Clipped thermostat back to coils. Ran refridgerator without panel on coils to see if coils frosted up again and listend for fans/compressor to stop ( took hours). Opened freezer and viewed glow of defrost heater. Problem resolved.

I lifted the old switch with a flat screwdriver, attached wires, and popped into place. Saved 80 bucks for a repair call.

Removed old circuit board and replaced with new

I simply did a google search search for my model number, found the part, thanks to the schematic that is on the site and ordered it. It fit perfectly where the old glass shelf was and now I have restored my shelf space. Thanks PartSelect

De-iced cover and removed two phillips head screws and two 1/4 " nutdriver screws to expose coil, defrost heater and defrost thermostat. Deiced the coil and surrounding area with a heat gun. Removed two screws that hold the defrost heater in place, disconnected the wires to the original heater. The original assy. was a single quartz and the new one was a double quartz. This required rerouting the left wire along with the right one, but was no problem as the wire was plenty long enough. Re-installed the assy. with the two screws. I replaced the defrost termination thermostat, even though it tested good, because I have had experience in that it would be the next to go, and not to in-convenience the owner in unloading the fridge a second time. The only difficult part was fitting into the freezer compartment. As usual, order by 3p.m. and shipping is the same day and is a real joy to use Partselect.com

Moved refrigerator out from wall. On the back of the refrigerator at the bottom there is a metal plate. Removed this plate with a socket wrench to expose where the end of the tube pluged in. The grommet securing the tube, white on my unit, had to be pushed up to release the old tube. I pushed the new tube into where the old one was and it self secured the tube. The other end of the grommet I pushed through the hole feeding the ice maker,first pushing out the broked part with a screwdriver,and securing that end with the attached sticky tape already attached to the grommet. I cleaned the area around the hole with alcohol before attaching the grommet.Replaced metal plate and done. No leaks.

Unplugged refrigerator, removed cover, defrosted with heat gun, replaced Defrost Thermostat, and replaced single element with double element Defrost Heater. All went very well with minimal difficulty, and instructions that accompanied parts along with the instructional video on your site, made the repair quite easy. The repair is going on the 4th week now, and no freeze up yet.