Why is My Refrigerator Ice Maker Not Working?

ARRC Redlands Appliance Repair offers refrigerator repair in Redlands, including services to fix broken ice makers. Learn about common ice maker problems below:

Ice makers are one of the greatest inventions of all time. This is a small luxury most people might take for granted. Ice makers are relatively simple machines that do not have a lot of complicated parts that will have problems.

As with any appliance repair, there are some basic things that should be reviewed before thinking the worst. And, it’s nice to know, if necessary, you are able to replace an ice maker without replacing an entire refrigerator, dependent on the brand and model. First, let’s review a couple of the causes for an ice maker not working.

When your ice maker is making ice but it isn’t dispensing the ice cubes it is usually a mechanical problem versus an electrical problem. This occurs when moving things around in the freezer unit, you might shift the control lever up or down. Often the ice maker will get blocked with something, even another piece of ice. So, check to see if there’s something blocking this from working correctly.

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

Check the Control Arm

When the switch is down and there’s ice but it is not ejecting it, this could be an electrical or mechanical problem. This will require some more troubleshooting. Ready to begin? First, we have to check the electrical connection. This can be unplugged from behind the freezer or refrigerator when shifting or moving the food in the freezer.

To inspect this, first unplug the refrigerator and slide from the wall. Then, turn off the water supply valve. Locate the valve on the rear of the inside of the freezer. Essentially this is what connects the ice maker into the freezer. Ensure that it is actually plugged in the right way.

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

Once complete, turn on the power to the refrigerator and turn on the ice maker. It may take the solenoid a few seconds to react and fill the mold. Once the mold is completely full, wait around 4-5 hours or so to see if you have solved the issue.

Check for Frozen Lines

More ice maker problems that may cause your ice maker to not make any ice are frozen lines. The water lines might be blocked with frost. This is an easy problem to fix.

First, unplug the fridge and locate the water shut off valve. Turn the water off and get a hair dryer to heat up the line or just let the freezer sit without being on for a couple of hours until the line is thawed.

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

When an ice maker is not making big enough pieces of ice, there’s an issue with the settings. To adjust the settings, take the upper part of the cover of the ice maker off and find a basic dial that displays 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?