Home Repairs: Refrigerator Edition

We closed on the house two weeks ago to the day. It hardly seems possible, but we did. Moving with a toddler proved to be more hectic than I could have ever imagined. Thankfully, the weather was nice and we had a group of great friends to help us last weekend. 

It became clear that while our house was in great condition, there were a lot of little things that needed to be taken care of right away. One of the first repairs on the list was the refrigerator. While it functions well enough (although not my choice of style), the freezer was having some major problems that we learned about upon moving in. The freezer door is equipped with an ice and water dispenser that was somehow broken and causing the freezer to fill up with frost. When I looked into it further, I realized that the little flap that is supposed to stay closed until you press the lever for ice was not closing properly, thus letting warm air creep into the door and frost over. Not only was it frosting up the freezer, whenever we would hit the lever for the ice, it would just back up in the door and create a melty ice dam at the opening. It was a mess.

The only solution, I thought, was to take apart the door from the inside (with about a billion bolts). However, I decided to Google the problem and found awesome YouTube videos on how to repair GE refrigerators. I soon learned that it is easy to fix the gizmos on the ice dispensers by simply prying off the front digital panel and unhooking some wires (after you unplug the refrigerator of course). 

Thanks to the videos online, I quickly learned that it was not the flap that needed replacing, but the solenoid (whatever that is). I'm still not entirely sure how this little device makes the door flap open, but I guess that doesn't matter as long as it fixed our frost problem. After pulling out the panel, taking out a few tiny rusty screws, I had reached the problem -- the dastardly solenoid that had given up all hope of opening our ice dispenser flap. Now looking at this photo, it has become clear to me that my next project as a home owner should be to get a damn haircut. Geez.

For reference, this is a solenoid. The one on the left is the replacement and the one on the right is the sad sad pile of rusted-out metal that stood between me and my crushed ice water. I'm not exactly sure the kind of neglect it takes for a part that's buried behind two layers of plastic and barely encounters fresh air to completely corrode, but there you have it. I hooked up the new wires, screwed the panel shut, and the freezer and ice dispenser seem to be back in working order. 

Cost: $41 for the new solenoid

Time: About 15 minutes of my time. Home ownership feels good this week.