Why is My Refrigerator Ice Maker Not Working?

Crown Citrus Heights Appliance Repair provides refrigerator repair in Citrus Heights, including professional services to fix ice makers that aren’t working. Learn about some common ice maker issues below:

Ice makers are perhaps one of the greatest inventions of all time. An ice maker is a little luxury a lot of people take for granted. Refrigerator ice makers are relatively simple machines that do not feature a lot of complex components that will cause issues.

As with any repair, there are a few basic things that should be reviewed before thinking the worst. And, remember, if necessary, you can replace your ice maker without replacing an entire fridge, dependent on the model. First, let’s take a look at some of the causes for an ice maker not working.

If an ice maker is making ice but it is not dispensing it it is usually means there’s a mechanical failure opposed to an electrical failure. This happens when reorganizing food around in the freezer, you might accidentally jam the control switch up or down. A lot of the time the ice maker can get jammed with something, including a chunk of ice. First, check to see if there’s something blocking this part from operating the right way.

Before beginning the process of clearing out the freezer, ensure the ice maker is on. This is done by flipping the control arm down. Sometimes, moving food around in the freezer unit might put it into the off position. If the the switch is free, then there could be food jammed inside of the ice maker or it is not receiving a good connection.

Check the Control Arm

If the control arm is down and there’s ice but it is not ejecting it, this might be an electrical or mechanical failure. This will require some more troubleshooting. Ready to get started? First, we have to inspect the electrical connection. This could become unplugged from the back of the freezer when shifting or moving the freezer contents.

To check this, first unplug the fridge and slide away from the wall. Turn off the water supply. 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 actually plugged in properly.

Then, remove any ice that’s inside of the ice maker itself. This can be accomplished by pouring in a bit of water to help to get any ice that is in there out.

Once this is done, restore power to the fridge and then turn on the ice maker. It might take the solenoid component a few seconds to react and fill the mold. When the mold is 100% full, wait 4-5 hours or so to see if you’ve solved the problem.

Check for Frozen Lines

More ice maker failures that may cause your ice maker to not produce any ice are frozen lines. The water lines have been clogged with frost. This is a pretty simple issue to fix.

Unplug the freezer and locate the water shut off valve. Turn the water off and get a hair dryer to warm the water line or just let the freezer sit turned off for a couple of hours until the water line is thawed.

Some brands and models that have a water filter that can clog or ice over. For these situations, finding the water filter is the first step. Then repeat what was done for the iced line.

If your ice maker is not making big enough pieces of ice, there’s a problem with the settings. To adjust the the ice maker settings, take the upper part of the cover of the ice maker off and find a standard dial that displays plus and a minus symbols. To do this, 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?