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The refrigerator is one of the most important parts of a kitchen. Without it, your fresh produce, cold beverages, and weekly meal prep would simply go to waste. When evaluating multiple brands, General Electric (GE) often comes out on top. In fact, in JD Power’s 2025 U.S. Appliance Reliability Study, the GE side-by-side refrigerator ranked highest for reliability, one of the core reasons why GE remains a top seller across just about every big-box appliance store in the country. It is also one of the few refrigerator brands that manufactures its products right here in America.

However, being a reliable brand just means having fewer problems. When something does go wrong with a GE refrigerator, it tends to be one of a handful of recurring issues. GE fridges are popular, so their problems are well-documented across online repair forums and customer reviews. If you have an understanding of the lifespan of a refrigerator, it should be easy to tell if something’s experiencing a common hiccup or reaching the end of the road.

It is also important to note that since 2016, GE Appliances has been owned by a Chinese company called Haier Smart Home, which also sells appliances under the Hotpoint and GE profile names. From your refrigerator not cooling to unusual knocking and grinding noises that disrupt your quiet evenings, in this guide, we have listed the five most common problems with GE refrigerators and provide straightforward fixes to get your appliances running smoothly again.

You open the fridge to grab a chilled beverage, only to touch a lukewarm bottle. Incredibly frustrating, right? This situation can spoil your food and dairy products if left unaddressed, and it can be extra befuddling when only one part of the fridge stops working, like say, the main compartment. If you run into this problem, here’s what could be happening.

The cold air that keeps your fridge section cool originates in the freezer. A fan pulls the cold air through a vent and circulates it into the main refrigerator compartment. If the fan motor fails or if ice builds up around the evaporator coils and blocks airflow, the main compartment will not cool.

Technicians advise users to first check the evaporator fan hidden behind the freezer’s back panel. If the evaporator unit is heavily iced, it indicates a defrost problem, caused by the faulty heater, thermostat, or control board. If there is no ice buildup, the issue might be a broken door switch failing to activate the fan or a stuck air damper.

Automated ice makers are a huge convenience, but they are also quite prone to mechanical and freezing failures. According to Consumer Reportsan ice maker not making ice is one of the most commonly reported refrigerator problems across all brands, so GE is far from alone here. However, GE models with dispenser systems built into the door frequently experience issues with ice production.

The causes range from simple to tricky. On the simple end, a clogged water filter can restrict the water flow to the ice maker, which is why GE recommends changing the filter every six months. The fill tube, the small line that delivers water to the ice maker in GE side-by-side refrigerator models, could also be frozen. This can be easily fixed by using a hairdryer to dry the frozen fill tube on low heat. According to iFixit’s guideif the freezer temperature is set above 10 degrees Fahrenheit, the internal thermostat will prevent the ice cycle from initiating. To fix this, you should first confirm if the freezer temperature is properly set at or below 0 degrees Fahrenheit.

You should also inspect the water fill tube situated above the ice mold. If a blockage is present, you should remove it using a hairdryer. Blocked or frozen water lines are also one of the main issues resulting in a GE fridge not making ice.

This video will run down a few other potential causes, if nothing we’ve gone over is helping:

Water collecting at the bottom of your fridge or leaking onto the floor is a common issue for GE refrigerators. This is rarely to big cooling parts, unlike the compressor problems seen in LG refrigerators. Instead, it almost always means that the internal drain system has failed. During a normal defrost cycle, ice melts off the cooling coils. This water is supposed to travel down a drain tube into a pan under the fridge, where it dries up.

According to iFixita blocked defrost drain is the main reason for water buildup and leakage. Dust, bits of food, and ice can easily plug it up. GE’s official support document also points out that an interior drain line can become blocked and cause this type of external leak. To fix a clogged defrost drain, you need to take out the bottom storage bins to reach the drain hole. Pushing warm water through the tube should melt the ice blockage and get the water flowing normally again, as shown in the video embedded below.

If you see water accumulated on the floor beneath the fridge, then you should remove the bottom grille of the fridge and check the tray for cracks. For leaks from the front of the fridge, the water line or a misaligned water filter is usually the culprit. There’s a meaningful difference between a leak at the front of the fridge and one from the rear panel. GE repair service recommends diagnosing the location first before attempting a repair.

Refrigerators usually operate quietly, emitting only a faint ambient noise. A harsh grinding, knocking, or squealing sound is not a good sign, and it indicates a physical obstruction or a failing motor. GE refrigerators are known for producing unusual sounds, and it’s easy to find many user reports highlighting that.

According to GE, if your fridge makes a buzzing sound every 10 to 15 minutes, lasting about 5 to 10 seconds, it could be because the home water supply line to the ice maker may be shut off. The brand has also published a list of noises you can expect from most GE refrigerator models and the reasons behind them. However, a persistent knocking sound can also be a sign of a larger problem.

Over on iFixityou’ll find bunch of reasons why your fridge might be making noise. It could be because of an out-of-level fridge, it could be because of the ice maker, evaporator fan, condenser fan, damper, or even compressor.

If you are still having no luck in fixing the noise, this video might offer a solution:

A door that doesn’t close properly or seals poorly is one of those problems that seems minor until it isn’t. The real damage happens over time. Warm air keeps entering, and food starts warming up, and ultimately gets stale. When the refrigerator door doesn’t close correctly, the compressor has to work harder to maintain the right temperature. This is one of the reasons why the sides of the fridge can sometimes get hot.

According to iFixitthe typical causes for this issue include worn or dirty magnetic door gaskets and broken door hinges. When the plastic cams wear down, the heavy doors can drop down, keeping the magnetic rubber gasket from reaching the metal frame, and failing to create a proper seal.

The video embedded above shows how to replace your fridge door cam. You may also want to get the gaskets changed for your fridge model eventually too. In fact, poor door sealing is also one of the main reasons for ice maker water leaking. So, if you are seeing both problems, and door cam seems fine, the gasket is the smart place to start.