Why is My Refrigerator Ice Maker Not Working?

P&G Coral Springs Appliance Repair provides refrigerator repair in Coral Springs, including professional services to repair broken ice makers. Learn about some common ice maker issues below:

Refrigerator ice makers are perhaps one of the best inventions ever. An ice maker is a little luxury many people certainly take for granted. Refrigerator ice makers are relatively simple machines that don’t feature a lot of complicated parts that could cause problems.

Like with any repair, there are a few basic things that need to be looked at before assuming the worst. And, remember, if necessary, you can replace your ice maker without replacing the entire refrigerator, depending on the model. First, let’s discuss a few of the causes for an ice maker failure.

When your ice maker is making ice but it isn’t dispensing the ice it is usually means there is a mechanical failure versus an electrical problem. This occurs when reorganizing things around in the freezer, you might jam the control lever up or down. Often the ice maker might be jammed with something else, including a piece of ice. First, look to see if there’s ice or food blocking this from working correctly.

Before starting the process of clearing out the freezer, ensure the ice maker is on. This can be done by flipping the metal control arm down. Sometimes, moving things around in the freezer unit may put it in the off position. If the control arm is clear, then there may be food or ice stuck inside of the ice maker or it’s not getting a good connection.

Check the Control Arm

If the control is down and there’s ice but it is not ejecting it, this could be a mechanical or electrical issue. This will need some more diagnosing. Ready to begin? First, we need to inspect the electrical connection. This can become unplugged from the back of the freezer or refrigerator when shifting or moving the freezer contents.

To check this, first unplug the refrigerator and move it out away from the kitchen 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 plugged in properly.

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

Once this is done, turn on the power to the refrigerator and then turn on the ice maker. It could take the solenoid a couple of seconds to engage and fill the mold. Once the mold is 100% full, wait 4-5 hours or so to see if you have solved the issue.

Check for Frozen Lines

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

First, unplug the refrigerator and locate the shut off valve. Shut the water off and grab a hair dryer to heat up the water line or let the refrigerator sit shut off for a couple of hours until the line is thawed.

There are some models that have a water filter that can freeze or ice over. In these situations, locating the water filter is the first step. Then repeat what was done for the frozen line.

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