Why is My Refrigerator Ice Maker Not Working?

All-Tech Appliance Repair is experienced in refrigerator repair service, including professional services to repair broken ice makers. Learn about some common ice maker failures below:

Ice makers are one of the greatest inventions ever. This is a small luxury most people certainly not appreciate. Ice makers are relatively simple machines that do not feature a lot of complex parts that will go wrong with them.

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 refrigerator, dependent on the brand and model. First, let’s review a few of the causes for an ice maker failure.

If the ice maker is making ice but it is not ejecting it it is usually means there’s a mechanical issue vs. an electrical failure. This happens when reorganizing food around in the freezer unit, you might accidentally jam the control lever up or down. Most of the time the ice maker can be jammed with something else, including a chunk of ice. So, look to see if there is ice or food blocking this from operating correctly.

Before starting the process of clearing out the freezer, be sure the ice maker is turned on. This is done by flipping the metal control arm down. From time to time, moving food around in the freezer unit can put the control in the off position. If the the switch is clear, then there could be something jammed inside of the ice maker or it’s not getting a good connection.

Check the Control Arm

When the switch is down and there’s ice but it’s not dispensing it, this could be an electrical or mechanical failure. This will require a bit more diagnosing. Ready to get started? First, we must inspect the electrical connection. This could become unplugged from the rear of the freezer when moving or shifting the freezer contents.

To check this, first unplug the refrigerator and slide it out away from the kitchen 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 unit. Ensure that it is actually plugged in correctly.

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

Once complete, restore power to the fridge and then turn on the ice maker. It might take the solenoid a few seconds to react and fill the mold. Once the mold is completely full, wait 4-5 hours to see if you’ve solved the problem.

Check for Frozen Lines

More ice maker problems that will cause your ice maker to not make ice are frozen water lines. The water lines have been blocked with frost. This is a pretty simple fix.

Unplug the fridge and locate the shut off valve. Turn the water off and get a hair dryer to warm the water line or let the freezer sit without being on for a few hours until the line is thawed.

Some models that feature a water filter that can clog or ice up. For these cases, locating the water filter is the first step. Then repeat the same process that was done for the iced water line.

When an ice maker isn’t making big enough cubes of ice, there’s an issue with the settings. To adjust the settings, take the upper part of the cover off and find a basic knob that has plus and a minus signs. 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?