Why is My Refrigerator Ice Maker Not Working?

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

Ice makers are perhaps one of the best inventions ever. This is a small luxury a lot of people certainly take for granted. Ice makers are simple machines that do not feature a lot of parts that will cause issues.

As with any repair, there are some basic things that need to be reviewed before thinking the worst. And, it’s nice to know, if necessary, you are able to replace the ice maker without replacing an entire refrigerator, depending on the brand and model. First, let’s review a few of the causes for an ice maker failure.

When your ice maker is making ice but it is not ejecting the ice cubes it is usually means there is a mechanical issue vs. an electrical failure. This occurs when moving food around in the freezer unit, you accidentally push or pull the control switch up or down. Most of the time the ice maker will be blocked with something else, including a chunk of ice. So, look to see if there is ice or food blocking this part from working properly.

Before beginning the steps of clearing out the freezer, ensure your ice maker is on. This is done by flipping the control arm down. Sometimes, moving things around in the freezer unit can put the control into the off position. If the the switch is clear, then there might be something stuck inside of the ice maker or it’s not receiving a good connection.

Check the Control Arm

If the control is down and there is ice but it is not dispensing it, there might be an electrical or mechanical problem. This will need a bit more diagnosing. Ready to get started? First, we need to inspect the electrical connection. This can become unplugged from the rear of the freezer or refrigerator when shifting or moving the freezer contents.

To check this, unplug the refrigerator and move away from the kitchen wall. Then, turn off the freezer’s water supply valve. Locate the connection on the back of the inside of the freezer. Essentially this is what plugs the ice maker into the freezer. Be sure that it is actually plugged in correctly.

Then, remove all of the ice that is in the ice maker itself. This can be accomplished by adding a little water to help to get any ice that is inside of there out.

Once done, restore power to the refrigerator and then turn on the ice maker. It could take the solenoid a few seconds to react and fill the mold. When the mold is full, wait 4-5 hours or so to see if you’ve solved the issue.

Check for Frozen Lines

Other ice maker failures that will cause your ice maker to not make any ice are frozen lines. The water lines could be blocked with frost. This is a pretty simple fix.

Unplug the freezer and locate the water shut off valve. Shut the water off and then get a hair dryer to heat up the line or let the fridge sit turned off for a few hours and wait until the line is thawed.

There are some brands and models that have a water filter that can freeze or ice up. For these cases, finding the filter is the first step. Then repeat the same process that was done for the frozen line.

When your ice maker isn’t making big enough pieces of ice, there is a problem with the settings. To adjust the the ice maker settings, take the top part of the cover off and locate a standard knob that has plus and a minus symbols. To do this, 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?