Nifty Naperville Appliance Repair offers refrigerator repair in Naperville, including professional services to repair broken ice makers. Learn about common ice maker failures below:
Ice makers are one of the most convenient inventions ever. An ice maker is a small luxury many people not appreciate. Refrigerator ice makers are simple machines that do not have a lot of complicated components that could go wrong with them.
As with any repair, there are basic things that need to be looked at before assuming the worst. And, it’s good to know, if needed, you are able to replace your ice maker without replacing the entire fridge, depending on the model. First, let’s review a few of the causes for an ice maker not working.
If an ice maker is making ice but it is not dispensing the ice cubes it is usually a mechanical problem vs. an electrical failure. This happens when shifting food around in the freezer, you could shift the control arm up or down. Often the ice maker will get blocked with something else, including a chunk of ice. So, look to see if there is something blocking this from working correctly.
Before beginning the steps of clearing out the freezer, be sure your ice maker is turned on. This is done by flipping the control arm in the down position. Sometimes, moving food around in the freezer unit may put the switch in the off position. If the control arm is free, then there could be food or ice stuck inside the ice maker or it’s not receiving a good connection.
Check the Control Arm
When the control is down and there is ice but it’s not dispensing it, this might be an electrical or mechanical failure. This is going to require a bit more troubleshooting. Ready to begin? First, we must check the electrical connection. This can be unplugged from the back of the freezer or refrigerator when shifting or moving the food in the freezer.
To check this, unplug the freezer and pull it out away from the kitchen wall. Turn off the freezer’s water supply valve. Locate the connection on the back of the inside of the freezer unit. Basically this is what plugs the ice maker into the freezer unit. Be sure that it is plugged in properly.
Then, remove any ice that is inside of the ice maker. This can be completed by pouring in a small amount of water to help get any ice that’s in there out.
Once done, restore power to the fridge and turn on the ice maker. It could take the solenoid a couple of seconds to engage and fill the mold. When the mold is full, wait 4-5 hours to see if you’ve solved the problem.
Check for Frozen Lines
More ice maker issues that will cause your ice maker to not make ice are frozen water lines. The water lines might be blocked 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 then get a hair dryer to heat up the line or just let the refrigerator sit turned off for a couple of hours and wait until the water line is thawed.
Some brands and models that feature a water filter that can clog or ice up. In these situations, finding the water filter is the first step. Then repeat what was done for the frozen line.
If an ice maker isn’t making large enough cubes of ice, there’s an issue with the settings. To adjust the the ice maker settings, take the top part of the cover off and find a simple dial that has plus and a minus symbols. For this process, you could need a flat head screwdriver.
ADDITIONAL REFRIGERATOR RESOURCES
- Refrigerator Noisy
- Refrigerator Water Dispenser Not Working
- Refrigerator Not Cooling
- How Does a Refrigerator Work?