Why is My Refrigerator Ice Maker Not Working?

Mayes Appliance Repair offers refrigerator repair service in Texas, including professional services to repair broken ice makers. Learn about common ice maker failures below:

Ice makers are possibly one of the best inventions ever. This is a small luxury most people might take for granted. Ice makers are simple machines that do not have a lot of complicated parts that can cause issues.

As with any appliance repair, there are a few basic things that need to be looked at before thinking the worst. And, it’s good to know, if needed, you can replace an ice maker without replacing the entire fridge, depending on the model. First, let’s discuss a few of the causes for an ice maker failure.

When the ice maker is making ice but it is not dispensing the ice cubes it is usually means there is a mechanical failure vs. an electrical issue. This occurs when reorganizing food around in the freezer unit, you might accidentally push or pull the control lever up or down. Often the ice maker will be jammed with something else, possibly a piece of ice. First, look to see if there’s anything blocking this from working correctly.

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

Check the Control Arm

If the switch is down and there is ice but it is not dispensing it, this could be a mechanical or electrical failure. This will need a bit more troubleshooting. Ready to proceed? First, we need to check the electrical connection. This can be unplugged from the rear of the freezer or refrigerator when moving or shifting the freezer contents.

To inspect this, unplug the freezer and pull from the kitchen wall. Then, turn off the water supply valve. Locate the valve on the back of the inside of the freezer. Basically this is what connects the ice maker into the freezer. Ensure that it is actually plugged in correctly.

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

Once complete, restore 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 full, wait 4-5 hours to see if you’ve cleared the issue.

Check for Frozen Lines

More ice maker problems that can cause your ice maker to not produce ice are frozen water lines. The water lines could be blocked with frost. This is an easy issue to fix.

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

There are some models that feature a water filter that can clog or ice over. For these cases, locating the water filter is the first step. Then repeat what was done for the frozen water line.

If an ice maker is not making big enough pieces of ice, there’s an issue with the ice maker settings. To adjust the the ice maker settings, take the top part of the cover of the ice maker off and locate a standard knob 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?