On a positive note, Della , a case manager, responded almost immediately to me to interface with GE engineers to look into this problem. On the negative side, She too is NOT getting a response back from any engineer despite continuing emails to her and then to them detailing more attempts to reduce the noise and control the temperatures. Following is a summary:
Problems:
1. Noise as reported and presented in Post 911 continues at the same pace
2. Temperature settings were increased 2 degrees for both the freezer and the refrigerator section, now set at 2 degrees and 39 degrees. NO change to the actual temperature readings than before. Still the freeze mainly stays at -10 degrees and the refrigerator between 31 (bottom shelf) and 35 degrees (top shelf). Just what are the settings supposed to control?
At this point I am more concerned about the temperatures and believe they are related to the noise, here's why. To cool to these temperatures and almost keep them there as I am seeing, the refrigerator MUST be overworking the cooling system. The damper is the part of the whole refrigerator that allows the freezer to move cool air to the refrigerator part. Question, why IS it cooling to the recorded temperatures and never above them when set to 39 degrees? After sending cool air to the refrigerator, or at the same time, the freezer's cooling system must turn on to keep the freezer at it's setting since the freezer just exchanged air to the refrigerator! Thus, the freezer cooling system (i.e., compressor turning on and coolant flowing through the coils/tubes) must be overworking. Now, where does the noise come in? The first repair service technician replicated the noise by turning on a function via his diagnostic tools and forced the damper (the exchange mechanism between freezer and refrigerator air) to make the damper operate. So, conclusively, the noise IS the damper. We assumed it was the door. And the Internet is flooded with people having the same or similar noise, some individuals posting the noise on YouTube, who were told by "shop" and "Parts" experts that the damper need to be replaced.
If I have to write another post about this issue with GE, all the emails I sent will appear in it. Let it suffice to say the issue has just about hit the you-know-what-fan and if I don't get a satisfactory response by end of week I will be seeking an executive to communicate with. So, stay tuned.
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Update 11/14/2019: The GE case manager will be scheduling another work order to REPLACE the damper AND to check a list of other things. Here is what the GE engineer said to her:
Rich,
Encouraging
news, I heard back from the
engineer. He apologized, he has
been traveling and has limited
access to respond to emails.
First,
he wasn't able to listen to your
sound clip from your blog. It
may be the international
connections that has blocked his
ability to open it. He said he
will continue to try, once he is
back, and thinks that he should
be able to open it then.
As
for the temperature issue, he
asked if the damper had been
changed. This is a strong
recommendation.
The
noise issue is a little more
complicated. It could possibly
be that the gas is not expanding
or contracting on time (gas
noise), this creates vibration
which is reflected on the
capilar tubes on the evaporator.
He recommended removing the
evaporator cover and detect the
possible affected areas and
placing mastic on it. He said if
none of this resolves the issue,
we may need to replace the
refrigerant.
I
would be happy to arrange a work
order and send these
instructions to the technician.
Would you like me to make these
arrangements?
Thank you for choosing GE
Appliances, a Haier Company!
--------------
--------------
My response in short: Schedule it to replace damper and address ALL temperature control issues, correct operation of settings as a target, operation to maintain temperatures at the target, other areas in engineer's response.
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Update: 11/14/2019: I must say my Case Manager is most responsive to by requests. Big PLUS for GE. Several parts in anticipation of needing them are on their way and service call should be by next Friday. I like GE's concern for the individual. The plan is to attack the least invasive part repairs first and monitor before ripping major parts out to replace. Sounds logical. The Samsson Appliance Repair was the first technician out here. I feel confident with his abilities.
----------------
I found this on the GE website re temperature controls:---------------
Update: 11/14/2019: I must say my Case Manager is most responsive to by requests. Big PLUS for GE. Several parts in anticipation of needing them are on their way and service call should be by next Friday. I like GE's concern for the individual. The plan is to attack the least invasive part repairs first and monitor before ripping major parts out to replace. Sounds logical. The Samsson Appliance Repair was the first technician out here. I feel confident with his abilities.
----------------
*************************
BOTTOM FREEZER:
- Fresh-Food Controls: The freezer supplies cold air to both compartments. Cold air is circulated from the freezer to the fresh food compartment via a damper. The fresh food control regulates the damper between the two compartments by controlling the amount of cold air that flows into the fresh food compartment.
- Freezer Controls: The higher the setting, the longer the compressor runs and as a result the colder both sections become. The freezer setting determines the compressor and freezer fan running times.
- On models where you press
Fridge or Freezer to adjust the temperature (doesn't have
separate up and down arrows), the temperature adjustment only
goes one direction. When you keep pressing the Fridge or Freezer
pad, the temperature setting will go up until it reaches the
maximum limit and then starts over at the lowest limit.
If you read this you will conclude that when you change a SETTING for the freezer from 0 to +2 it has NOTHING to do with the temperature you desire in the freezer. That is a +2 does NOT mean maintain it at +2 degrees. Instead it only means that you aren't getting the right sub-zero desired temperature you want and if you set it higher it ONLY makes the compressor RUN LONGER to get it cooler. It also states that a HIGHER setting will result in BOTH fridge and freezer to be colder as it is in my unit. Unless I am completely reading this wrong, the freezer SETTING works contrary to thought and should instead be labeled COMPRESSOR RUN TIME. Please pass this by your engineer if you would and direct me as to how I should use the settings. I am resetting the freezer back to 0 (from +2 ... thought this was a desired temperature and assumed the compressor would run LESS to maintain it when the article above indicates its just the opposite and it will run LONGER) and fridge to37 from 39. I am beginning to feel the electronic settings are meaningless to adjust and quite possibly it will run like the factory wants it to run regardless -- i.e., the temperatures I am seeing! If this is the case, then the temps are normal and the settings are confusing and maybe useless.
I'd be interested in what your engineer has to say. If he agrees with my assessment, we may only be addressing the noise problem. Except, I still want to know if I ONLY change the Fridge setting upward, should I see the actual temperatures rise in the Fridge section, or not?
--------------------------------------------
Update 11/16/2919: I sent the following to GE re the article above:
The article at https://products.geappliances.com/appliance/gea-support-search-content?contentId=19217
from which I copied the excerpt is NOT correct. I set the freezer
temperature DOWN (LOWER) and found the compressor running this
morning and temperature way down to -16 degrees. So the controls
work just the OPPOSITE to what this article says. I believe the
following should correct it:
From: Freezer Controls:
The higher the setting, the longer the compressor runs and
as a result the colder both sections become. The freezer setting
determines the compressor and freezer fan running times.
To: Freezer Controls: The
lower the setting, the longer the compressor runs and as a
result the colder both sections become. The freezer setting
determines the compressor and freezer fan running times.
That's my conclusion. What say
you? Sounds like this instruction came from PRE-electronic
controls where setting a knob higher for the freeze would probably
do as the current article states. This is NOT what happens with
electronic setting.
----------------------------
Update 11/30/2019: As we close out November, I am sitting with 6 parts and awaiting the repairman. I looked at the parts and will posting some pictures of the Kindergarten project to construct the Refrigerator Air Tower Assembly (WR17X12456). I can see the engineers must have recognized a noisy damper within it. An "afterthought" seems to encase the plastic damper with noisy door inside two Styrofoam halves taped together by masking tape. Then cutout sponge seals were attached to that where the freezer opening and refrigerator openings are. These sponge seals aren't seals produced based on size, but instead cutouts of pieces glued around the edges of the hole to approximate complete a fully covered seal. Except, it looks like kindergarten kids got to cut out pieces and glue them around! Am I shocked to see this type of work? No. I expected it to be cheaply constructed, but not look like this. Stay tuned for the pictures. I am waiting to add them because the repairman was going to look at the door operation of the existing damper while still installed. Actually, that will be impossible give the the way this new one is stuck together! Hopefully I'll get scheduled early this coming week. Now that I see the plastic door on the damper and most likely a gear mechanism I can imagine the knocking. However, the double and triple occurrence of the knocking with 5-10 seconds apart puzzles me. If it is the door, what is it doing? Opening and immediately closing (2 occurrences)? And why is the door doing this?
-----------------------------------------
Pictures of INCORRECT new tower assembly with correct damper enclosed within:
------------------
See Part III (post 925) for Unsatisfactory Resolution!
----------------------------
Update 11/30/2019: As we close out November, I am sitting with 6 parts and awaiting the repairman. I looked at the parts and will posting some pictures of the Kindergarten project to construct the Refrigerator Air Tower Assembly (WR17X12456). I can see the engineers must have recognized a noisy damper within it. An "afterthought" seems to encase the plastic damper with noisy door inside two Styrofoam halves taped together by masking tape. Then cutout sponge seals were attached to that where the freezer opening and refrigerator openings are. These sponge seals aren't seals produced based on size, but instead cutouts of pieces glued around the edges of the hole to approximate complete a fully covered seal. Except, it looks like kindergarten kids got to cut out pieces and glue them around! Am I shocked to see this type of work? No. I expected it to be cheaply constructed, but not look like this. Stay tuned for the pictures. I am waiting to add them because the repairman was going to look at the door operation of the existing damper while still installed. Actually, that will be impossible give the the way this new one is stuck together! Hopefully I'll get scheduled early this coming week. Now that I see the plastic door on the damper and most likely a gear mechanism I can imagine the knocking. However, the double and triple occurrence of the knocking with 5-10 seconds apart puzzles me. If it is the door, what is it doing? Opening and immediately closing (2 occurrences)? And why is the door doing this?
-----------------------------------------
Pictures of INCORRECT new tower assembly with correct damper enclosed within:
See Part III (post 925) for Unsatisfactory Resolution!
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