Why is My Refrigerator Ice Maker Not Working?

Appleton Appliance Repair is experienced in refrigerator repair in Appleton, including services to fix broken ice makers. Learn about common ice maker problems below:

Refrigerator ice makers are one of the best inventions of all time. An ice maker is a little luxury a lot of people might take for granted. Refrigerator ice makers are simple machines that do not feature a lot of parts that can have issues.

As with any appliance repair, there are a few basic things that need to be looked at before thinking the worst. And, it’s nice to know, if necessary, you can replace the ice maker without replacing the entire fridge, dependent on the model. First, let’s take a look at some of the causes for an ice maker failure.

If the ice maker is making ice but it isn’t ejecting the ice it is usually a mechanical issue versus an electrical failure. This can happen when reorganizing food around in the freezer unit, you could accidentally jam the control lever up or down. Most of the time the ice maker might be jammed with something, including a chunk of ice. First, look to see if there is ice or food blocking this from working the right way.

Before starting the process of clearing out the freezer, ensure the ice maker is on. This can be done by flipping the control arm in the down position. From time to time, moving things around in the freezer can put the switch into the off position. If the the switch is free, then there might be something jammed inside the ice maker or it is not getting a good connection.

Check the Control Arm

When the switch is down and there is ice but it’s not ejecting it, there could be a mechanical or electrical failure. This will need some more troubleshooting. Ready to get started? First, we must inspect the electrical connection. This could become unplugged from the back of the freezer or refrigerator when shifting or moving the food in the freezer.

To inspect this, first unplug the freezer and slide it out away from the wall. Then, turn off the water supply. Locate the valve on the rear of the inside of the freezer unit. Basically this is what plugs the ice maker into the freezer. Ensure that it’s plugged in correctly.

After that, remove any ice that is in the ice maker. This can be done by adding a small amount of water to help get ice that’s inside of there out.

Once this is done, restore power to the refrigerator and turn on the ice maker. It may take the solenoid a couple of seconds to react and fill the mold. After the mold is 100% full, wait 4-5 hours to see if you’ve cleared the issue.

Check for Frozen Lines

More ice maker problems that might cause your ice maker to not produce any ice are frozen water lines. The water lines could be clogged with frost. This is a pretty simple problem to fix.

Unplug the fridge and find the water shut off valve. Shut the water off and grab a hair dryer to heat up the line or just let the freezer sit turned off for a couple of hours until the line is thawed.

There are some brands and models that have a water filter that can clog or ice over. In these situations, finding the water filter is the first step. Then repeat the same process that was done for the iced line.

When an ice maker is not making large enough pieces of ice, there is a problem with the ice maker settings. To adjust the settings, take the upper part of the cover off and locate a standard control that has plus and a minus symbols. For this process, you might need a flat head screwdriver.

ADDITIONAL REFRIGERATOR RESOURCES

• Refrigerator Noisy
• Refrigerator Water Dispenser Not Working
• Refrigerator Not Cooling
• How Does a Refrigerator Work?