ZIS42CMB General Electric Refrigerator - Instructions

I applied some tips learned by reading other reviews. So before I started I grabbed my trusty vise grip pliers and a small screw driver. I locked onto the switch actuator, the part that the refrigerator door pushes in, with the vise grips and pulled on it just hard enough to get the screw driver inserted in the right side to push in the catch clip so the switch could be pulled out further each time the catch clip was depressed to the next detent. Then I used the screw driver on the left site to encourage the switch past the detents on the left and very quickly the switch was out of the mount. The wires from the refrigerator pulled out with the old switch. I unplugged the old switch from the wires and plugged in the new switch and shoved the new switch back into the mount, wiggled it a couple of times to make sure it was secure and the job was done. Once I applied the vise gripes at first, the whole job took less than a minute.

First I removed the ice maker. Second I removed the back panel and overhead panel above ice maker. Third I pulled down the drip trough it had a styrofoam base under it. The trough heater had to be unplugged to remove the trough as well as the drain hose. Forth I seperated the styrofoam from the trough and peeled off the old heater which had burn marks on the foil. Fifth I applied the new heater plugged it in and attached the drain hose to the trough. Last I reassembled the unit. Refridgerator works great now and it only cost $45.00 for the heater. The GE repair service quoted over $950.00 and did not list the trough heater as the problem so I would be spending more and would have required several repair visits.

Poped out with screwdriver the old swithch and unplugged the two wires. Plugged in the wires to the new swithch and pushed it back in the hole where the old switch was before.

I discovered the ice bucket missing from my rental unit at the beach. I was able to go online with my Blackberry, easily navigate your website using the model number to look up the part information , order it, and have it in place for the next renter.
Without access to a friendly user website, I would have faced considerable delay in getting this part.

While the switch did last for 9 years, the design is poor due to the failure mode. The failure should be to fail off or not able to turn on the lights which would be inconvenient but would not warm the refrigerator contents. Arcing at the contacts eventually caused the switch to "weld" closed. It is not obvious that this is occurring so it took some time to recognize why the temp inside the ref was high while the freezer was OK. Replacing the switch was easy once it was recognized as the problem. All that was required to replace the switch was to remove the screws holding a fiber cover and then pulling off the aluminum cap which covered the switches. Unplug the switch an squeeze the keeper on the switch to release it and pull down. Pop the replacement switch in place and plug the wires harness back in. All in all it took much less time to replace than it has to write this up. T Pope

The existing light switch was very hard to remove. I ended up having to grab it with a pair of pliers and pull it out. Once it was out, it was very easy to put in the replacement and it seems to be working fine.

After gaining access thto the Evaporator Coil, lots of disassembly, I was able to cut the foam (Heater Trough) and remove it first (in pieces). This allowed room to lower the Condensate pan and slide it out to replace the Heating Coil, which was also purchased from you. Don't forget to disconnect the drain hose. Because of the "V" shape of the pan, the rear portion of the foam trough had to be removed to allow reassembly. I still have to verify whether the Defrost Timer is working properly, but the unit is coolingto proper temperatures (Freezer and Refrigerator).

Regards,
Mike Hall

as described, I used a thin screwdriver to wedge in and pull down existing, broken switch. I was able to pull it down about a 1/4 inch, but wasn't quit able to disegage it until I gripped it with pliers. I then pulled it out, unplugged the old switch, plugged in the new switch, and carefully tucked the wires back into the fridge and snapped the new switch into place.

10 minutes total.

I used pliers to pull lightly on the head of the switch, while I inserted a small flat head screw driver into the base of switch and gently worked around the edges to free it from the panel.

We have an older model refrigerator and thought it would be impossible to find a replacement ice bucket for the freezer. Not only did you have the exact part but it came unbelieveably fast. I would use your website again!

After replacing the light bulb and still no light I manually pushed the light switch button. Intermittently the light would come on then go out. I removed the power plug from the power source then replaced the light switch. I plugged the refrigerator back in and now I open the door the light comes on and stays on until the door is closed.

The old switch was hard to remove. Thinking that I may have to loosen the wires I used a socket wrench to remove a clamp. This was unnecessary. In the end the switch did come out using a large size screwdriver. The problem was that the expanding plastic tongue is not visible from the ouside so you have to try to feel your way around. If i had ordered the replacement before and not afterwards I would have seen this before hand.

I ordered two switches, replaced both with a knife in 10 minutes. Interior light works, thanks.

I found instructions on the web about how to do this repair, so I ordered the part with confidence. But the instructions simply said "pull out the old switchlight". That was actually somewhat difficult as the clip on the side intended to hold the part in was stubborn. I eventually used a utility to slice off the clip. From that point, it was just a matter of plugging in the new switchlight , which was very simple.

Icemaker waterline leaking inside by the grommet where the water line comes in the refrigerator . First removed the water line from grommet . Then removed grommet by hand from the fridge. Last, reversed prodedure.