Hello. I apologize in advance for my long post but I wanted to give as many useful details as possible.

I would appreciate any insight into my refrigerator/freezer problem. My GE GSS25VGMDWW fridge/freezer runs constantly and is too cold (about -20*F). It will only stop to go into the defrost cycle for about 15 minutes. Then it starts up again and blows cold air at full blast. The freezer is set to level 1 (out of 9) when it reaches the -20*F.

Refrigerator model:
8 year old GE GSS25VGMDWW side-by-side with ice and water dispenser

Initial symptom:
Water and ice dispenser suddenly stopped working about a week ago. Unplugged unit and left for an hour. Plugged unit back in. Water and ice dispenser started working again. About a day later, I noticed that the freezer seemed too cold and used a thermometer to get temperature. Found the temperature in the freezer to be -20*F with the freezer setting at 1 (out of 9). Fresh food section does not appear to have problems and is between 34*F to 41*F. The water/ice dispenser has continued to work normally since the unit was plugged back in.


Attempted repairs:
After reading a few appliance repair blogs, I tried the simple repairs first. Unfortunately, my simple repairs have not corrected the problem with the freezer temperature and constant runtime. Here are the items replaced so far:

1. Temperature sensor inside bottom of freezer (WR55X10025).

2. Defrost thermostat (WR50X10068) above coils.


Frost pattern:
Noticed quite a bit more frost at bottom of evaporator coils. Not much frost at the top. The coils were not iced-up.

Are there two temperature sensors inside some freezers? I understand that there is usually one in the fresh food and one in the freezer section. However, I noticed (with the freezer back panel removed) that my freezer has something next to the coils that looks very similar to the temperature sensor at the bottom that I replaced. The wiring diagram for GSS25VGMDWW calls it an "Evaparator Sensor". Is that a second temperature sensor in the freezer section? The part isn't identified anywhere except in the wiring diagram.


Is the extreme cold temperature a symptom of a main control board problem, a temperature sensor problem, or something else? Does the frost pattern indicate that I should be shopping for a new refrigerator?


Thanks in advance for your help.