Evaporator Drip Pan

First I removed the shelving from the refrigerator side I then removed the cover to the refrigerator condenser which consisted of a plastic cover and a styrofoam inner chamber cover. The Condenser is held in place with two stainless phillips head screws. I removed the screws and gently pulled the condenser forward so that the Drain pan could be easily removed. The drain pan is made out of thin sheet metal with a galvanized coating that will not hold up it will start rusting in a short time. I inspected the drain pan cleaned it up with a little Muretic acid and it had too many rust holes so I couldn't repair it. I ordered a new Drain pan on Part Select and when it came in I washed it and dried it completely then I sprayed it with Cold Galvanizing compound with zinc particles. You can get this from Home Depot on the spray paint isle. Hopefully the spray Galvanizing will keep it from rusting in the future and leaking inside the refrigerator. The Trough Drain Pan should have been made of Stainless sheet metal or plastic I don't really know why they used the galvanized coated pan. Everything went back together in reverse with no problems. Hopefully this drain pan will last longer than the first drain pan because it was only 4 years old. I remember when the older refrigerators would run for decades.

For several years, had problem with water accumulating in the bottom of the refrigerator...took out the "custom cool" drawer and assigned my kids the responsibility to dry it out daily after supper (about a fourth of cup of water daily)...the water was condensing and dripping down the left side of the refrigerator... NOT coming from the refregerator evaporator drip pan area. Then the refrigerator and freeezer had erratic cooling...paid 4 grand for this GE stainless steel on the front/sides frig about 5 years ago... then my wife said she wanted a new refrigerator...what the heck...went on to numerous websites and finally decided to do my own "overall"...had nothing to lose except the price of the parts. A helpful web site is the GE technician site at...www.manualinstruction.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/ge-sidebyside.pdf. I ordered the four thermisters, a new freezer defroster (the old one was probably OK...the freezer coils were not "iced Up"), and a new defroster thermonmeter. While I was at it, I ordered a new refrigerator evaporator drip pan that was rusting a bit. As per other instructions in this website, just spliced in the new thermisters,used wire twist caps and eletrical tape to seal them. The GE site is a bit more elaborate on the "correct" way to do this. The refrigerator evaporator coil is a bit tricky...see the above ge site...but I just cut the rubber thermister holder down the middle and then tracked the thermister through the holder and stuck it in the block and taped the holder back together...(removed the block first ) and then zip-lined the block back to the coil like it was originally. It was about 3 hours to do everything...and guess what...temp in the freezer is -5...temp in the frig is 36...and NO MORE WATER IN THE BOTTOM OF THE REFRIGERATOR, NO MORE WATER DRIPPING DOWN THE LEFT SIDE OF THE REFRIGERATOR...what will my kids do...I feel like the refrigerator guru now. Wish I had done this several years ago. The parts I ordered came in 3 days. I'm lovin my refrigerator now and my wife is lovin me. It's really easier than I thought it would be...the GE tech website has some "diagnostic" info to isolate different problems... but I just decided to replace "everything" since the parts were not that expensive and it was going to be a "do or die" on getting a new refrigerator.

On the PartSelect website, I chose the 'refridgerator is too warm' problem choice. The site sugested replacing the sensors so I purchased them. The drain trough on the refrigerator side was leaking and it and the defrost thermostat were not too expensive so I bought them too.
Once the parts arrived I installed them. I had already disassembled the inside of the freezer. The sensors and thermostat had to be connected electrically. So I cut off the old parts and stripped their wires. (the new parts' wires were already stripped.) I then used wire nuts to connect the new wires to the old and stuffed the wire back into its compartment and installed its cover. The defrost Thermostat has to be clipped to the refrigeration line. So after attaching its wires I had to work it into its place.
I then reassembled the inside of the freezer and let it sit for an hour before turning it back on. Once it was turned on it seemed to work well, but after only 3 or 4 days the coils began freezing over again.

turned out to be a rusty drain pan in the refrigerator section behind the fan fixture attached to the wall.I followed the instructions of a prior customer on the website and it worked like a charm. Super happy to have done it myself!! Can't believe they don't use plastic for this part as it would rust again if I didn't coat it with the rustproofing spray.

Removed three screws holding the evaporator cover. Removed screws holding the evaporator to the back wall of the compartment. Removed the drip pan which was rusted through. Inserted new drip pan. Cut and spliced new tempature sensor and inserted it onto the aluminum block which is attached to the back side of the evaporator. Installed new cover which includes a new fan. GE wanted almost six hundred dollars to do this repair. I paid $180.00 for all the parts, installed them in about an hour and the unit works like new.