Hi Michael, a buzz from the freezer while the temperature is still fine is good news: whatever it is hasn’t affected the cooling yet. On a GE side-by-side like your GSS25JFPEWW, a buzz in the freezer almost always comes from one of three places. You can usually narrow it down in a couple of minutes.
1. The ice maker (check this first)
If the ice maker is switched on but there’s no water reaching it (the water line shut off, a kinked line, or a frozen fill tube), it keeps trying to fill. You’ll hear a buzz or hum each time it does. Lift the ice maker’s wire arm up, or switch it off, and listen for a few hours. If the buzzing stops, the problem is the water supply or the fill tube, not the refrigerator itself.
2. The evaporator fan behind the back wall
This is the most common cause on a refrigerator that’s 12+ years old. The fan that blows cold air through the freezer has bearings that wear out, and they start to buzz or growl.
A quick test: open the freezer door and press the door light switch in with your finger. On most GE models that stops the fan. If the noise stops when you press the switch, it’s the fan motor.
3. Ice touching the fan blade
If the noise is more of a ticking or scraping buzz, frost may have built up behind the panel and the fan blade is hitting it. Look for frost on the back wall of the freezer. If you see it, that points to a defrost problem, which should be fixed before it starts to affect the temperature.
Is it worth fixing?
Yes. As long as it’s cooling well, a fan motor or ice maker valve is a reasonable repair even at this age, and much cheaper than a new refrigerator. If a worn fan is left alone, it can stop completely, and then the freezer warms up quickly.
Want us to take a look?
You’re in Kingwood, which is right in our service area. If you’d rather not take the back panel off yourself, call or text us at (346) 625-4289, or book a refrigerator repair online. A short video of the noise sent by text helps us bring the right part on the first visit. We service Kingwood and Humble every day and are often able to come out the same or next day.