Question about Whirlpool GC5SHEXNS Side by Side Refrigerator
This is a side by side Refrigerator/Freezer. Recently we've noticed the door seals are very hot, and it's coming from the metal surface they close against on the Refrigerator. It's mainly coming from the middle divider inbetween the Refrigerator section and the Freezer section. Any idea what's causing this and is it a big repair?
Thanks,
Jeff
If the air flow on the condenser under the fridge is too low, the hot gas won't be cooled enough before it goes to the door jamb to stop condensation. Remove the plastic cover under the doors and look at the condenser (tube/wire thing underneath). If it is clogged with fluff, get a vacuum and nozzle and give it a good clean so the air can pass through. Other than that, your condenser fan may have stopped.
Posted on Mar 27, 2009
If it is too hot to touch the condenser fan is not working to cool the condenser and compressor. I put a electric fan to behind the refridgerator bottom as temporary fix. I will troubleshoot if other parts of the refrigerator is causing the fan not to start. Jimmy
Posted on Jun 07, 2009
Today, I took out the condenser fan motor. Then I put power to the refrigerator the fan worked. So I put it back thinking that there is nothing wrong with the fan motor. Before going to bed I checked the surface between the doors and it was hot and sure enough the condenser fan was not working. I got a stick to move the fan blades and it turned. So what is wrong? Is there a bad capacitor? Is there not enough energy to start the fan?
June 14 2009
I took out the fan once more to diagnose why it needs a push to start turning and confirm that it needs help to srart turning. I discoverd that if the fan blades stop 90 degrees more or less from where it started that the fan will work without help. I called my son who is a electrical engineer and he said that there is a centifugal switch inside the motor and that is probably not working and that my fridge need a new motor. The condenser fan is sold by whirlpool for $ 96 but the panasonic motor part # 2206005 cost about $ 36 from an internet parts store plus shipping.
I have replaced the old motor with the one I ordered from parts.com and the problem is now fixed.
Jimmy
×
Hey Jeff,
I discovered the same problem...albeit long after yours. Due to one of the answers to your problem, I was able to resolve it after having pulled out all of our food to transport to another refrigerator/freezer. The solution was to pull off the front bottom grill and vacuum the radiator of all collected lint and debris. It is amazing how fast the problem developed when the radiator has had to be covered for years. It became hot during the period of a day.
This forum(FixYa) saved me a lot of money! Thanks! Hope this helps someone else! Kevin
Posted on Aug 20, 2010
We needed a new motherboard.About $300.Compressor fan started up in 30 seconds after new board was installed.
frying and egg was an understatement. I too simply removed the grill on the bottom vacuumed off the radiator and within 5 mins. it was noticeably cooler. two words "golden retriever" I suppose this needs to be a yearly thing. thank you all for your advice
×
Vacuum the radiator under the grill especially if you have pets that shed. 5mins later it's cooler.
Posted on Aug 18, 2011
Had same problem on Whirlpool standard fridge. Fan in back wasn't spinning, but did when I gave it a push. Vacuumed out the radiator and found a big piece of insulation back there that probably had been stuck in the fan. Seems to be working fine now and that strip isn't hot.
Posted on Jan 02, 2012
You should get a panda because they can fix everything. Also, for free they make bamboo shoot smoothies while fixing the refridgerator. You can get a free quote on how much this will cost. You can get a panda out to fix your refridgerator from Panda Inc.
Posted on Apr 11, 2009
An expert who has achieved level 3 by getting 1000 points
Hello Jeff;
My name is Peter. I am a retired field service refrigeration technician. I read all of the helpful answers. If the separator between the freezer & fresh food section is warm, the you have a dirty bottom condenser coil. The cleaning of this coil can affect your cooling by as much as 40 degrees F.
If the separator feels hot, then it is a condenser fan problem. At times the condenser fan blade will have interference problems due to the terrible light weight housing, and requires you to bend the frame to free the fan blade. Other times the condenser cooling fan gets stuck from normal grit and grime. When this happens you need to rotate the fan blade. If this is the case, the fan motor is starting to go bad.
Ok, Lets check it out. Pull the refrigerator out to the point where you can easily get behind it. (You want to protect your floor, refrigerators are heavy. Get a piece for of 1/16" Sheet plastic from Lowe's or else where. It should be about 3' X 4'. ) This is called a slider. Take the plastic sheet, place on the floor in front of your unit. Push back on your unit and push the slider in.
Remove, the front grill or toe plate at the bottom front of your unit.
When you look under the front, you will see two hex head screws on each side. These raise and lower your unit wheels. The lower screw is for the front wheels, upper right is for the back wheels.
These are 3/8' or 5/15' hex heads. You need to turn these screws clockwise to raise. You need to raise the wheels to move your unit.
Ok, the unit is ready to move. With the plastic slider in place pull the unit forward until there is enough room for you to easily get behind the unit.
Now, unplug the unit. Remove the lower cover (several screws).
On the right hand side is your condenser fan motor. Try to turn the fan blade. If it does not move because of interference, bend the lite frame to free it up. Interference is you problem. Turn the fan blade until it is free. Plug your unit back in, observe if the fan runs.
If it does not, we need to replace it. If it does not we should replace it, lack of Amps.
Posted on Nov 09, 2014
Peter, THANK YOU so much for your post. I had to replace my condenser fan motor, but your steps helped immensely. I had to come and thank you even if this was posted close to 2 years ago!
This was very helpful. I have inherited a fridge/freezer unit with my new (to me) house, and the housing between the two where the door sealed was extremely hot to the touch. With your advice, I was emboldened to take off the cover and check for impediments - two desiccated dead mice were preventing the fan from turning. I removed them, gave everything a good dust, and the problem seems to be solved. And no expensive call out for a service person - big win. Thanks again for the clear advice.
Thanks for the tips! I have the same problem (hot separator between freezer and fridge). I took the back cover off and the condenser fan was running fine. I also vacuumed the radiator at the bottom front of the fridge. There is still dust inside the radiator that was very hard to reach. How do you guys completely clean the coils? The separator bar is still very hot. Please help!
×
Transom between fridge and freezer is usually haeted to stop condensation when you open freezer door. suspect you have no fault
Posted on Jul 14, 2008
Thank you! Saved a lot of time and money. Found dead mouse laying on fan blade causing it to stop!
Posted on Jul 11, 2020
If anybody else is having this problem it's not the gaskets that are heating up it's the strip between the fridge and freezer where the gaskets close into that's getting hot from either a clogged condenser coil that should be cleaned at least once a year or the condenser fan motor isn't spinning either from something stuck in it or the motor is bad,if you ever find that the condenser fan motor is bad you can stick a window fan behind the machine with the bottom rear panel off where the compressor is and blow the fan onto compressor and on the coil and it will take the place of the damaged fan motor that's there so you don't loose your food because the compressor will start to overheat and either stop working or it will get damaged and you'll have to replace the machine.hope this helps someone out
Posted on Nov 20, 2017
Thanks for the tips! I have the same problem (hot separator between freezer and fridge). I took the back cover off and the condenser fan was running fine. I also vacuumed the radiator at the bottom front of the fridge. There is still dust inside the radiator that was very hard to reach. How do you guys completely clean the coils? The separator bar is still very hot. Please help!
Posted on Jun 24, 2017
We purchased a used whirlpool side by side refrigerator. Hooked it up and it works great but almost immediately we noticed that the strip between the doors seemed really hot. I pulled it out and removed the cardboard panel at bottom to see if I could see something wrong. The coil was a little dirty so I blew it off with my compressor. I saw that the fan was running but something wasn't right. I unplugged refrigerator and noticed that the fan blades were actually bent the wrong angle and instead of blowing air toward the compressor it was blowing away from compressor. I saw that the blades are very flimsy so I started bending them the right way. As soon as I did this the strip was no longer hot. The blades can only be bent one way, if bent the wrong way the blades will hit the outer housing. Hope this helps
Posted on Apr 16, 2017
The metal piece between our fridge and freezer started getting really hot today - where the door seals sit. Based upon the above comments, we moved the fridge out, removed the rear panel at the bottom, and found the condenser fan had a blade that was rubbing on the housing, preventing it from moving. We bent it back a bit, and now the fan runs just fine. The metal strip in front cooled off in just a few minutes, very easy fix thankfully!
Posted on Sep 26, 2015
My water line cracked under the fridge and caused the insulation/cardboard under the compressor to swell and thus block the fan. So the heat was never dissipated. So my fridge had those same hotspots. I pulled out the damp insulation when repairing the water lines and it freed up the fan to run. The hotspots are now gone.
Posted on Oct 14, 2014
It shouldnt be that hot that the seal becomes soft and flexable. normally comressor should pass hot gas through condenser first to get rid of majority of heat then to go to the mullon heaters(outer frame). By this time it would be a lot cooler.
Posted on Aug 18, 2008
Hi,
Here is a tip that I wrote about the reasons why the sides and/or seals could be getting hot on your refrigerator.
Refrigerator Trouble The Outside of Refrigerator Hot
heatman101
52,450 views
Usually answered in minutes!
Side by side Refrigerator/Freezer model ED25RF.The (middle) door seal is very hot,. Is this normal and if not what is the repair solution?
Having the same problem. section between the 2 doors when open is VERY hot and rubber seal around inside of each door is VERY hot. It should not be like this. I took off the front grate and back bottom panel and vaccumed out all the lint. Atrocious! I think the fan isn't working though. Tied a small string to the back panel and it isn't moving all the time. Any thoughts?
My problem is identical, execpt for every time this happens we see water on the floor too.
After shutting the fridge down is works again fine for weeks, until it happens again.
Kenmore Elite Side by Side Refrigerator
Same problem. I notice there are no solutions posted, only the problem. It is too hot not to be a problem, especially when this is a new issue.
Same exact issue. Fan not running. Center section very hot to touch. It is getting so hot in fact that it cooked the ice maker tubing to the point of cracking. Please help!
same issue
same issue, what do i do to fix it?? will it catch on fire? its really hot
Same problem, but different model (Amana 25' side by side). I read DaveBern's solution #3 and discovered that my compressor fan wasn't working. I replaced the fan motor yesterday and vacuumed the cooling coils. This morning the door seals are back to normal - not to cold and certainly not hot!
if anybody else is having this problem it's not the gaskets that are heating up it's the strip between the fridge and freezer where the gaskets close into that's getting hot from either a clogged condenser coil that should be cleaned at least once a year or the condenser fan motor isn't spinning either from something stuck in it or the motor is bad,if you ever find that the condenser fan motor is bad you can stick a window fan behind the machine with the bottom rear panel off where the compressor is and blow the fan onto compressor and on the coil and it will take the place of the damaged fan motor that's there so you don't loose your food because the compressor will start to overheat and either stop working or it will get damaged and you'll have to replace the machine.hope this helps someone out
×