Why is My Refrigerator Ice Maker Not Working?

Noble Norfolk Appliance Repair is experienced in refrigerator repair in Norfolk, including services to fix broken ice makers. Learn about common ice maker failures below:

Ice makers are perhaps one of the greatest inventions ever. This is a little luxury most people not appreciate. Refrigerator ice makers are simple machines that don’t feature a lot of components that will cause problems.

Like with any repair, there are some basic things that need to be reviewed before thinking the worst. And, it’s nice to know, if necessary, you can replace your ice maker without replacing the entire refrigerator, depending on the model. First, let’s review some of the reasons for an ice maker failure.

When your ice maker is making ice but it isn’t dispensing it it is usually a mechanical issue versus an electrical issue. This occurs when reorganizing things around in the freezer, you shift the control switch up or down. Often the ice maker can get blocked with something, including a chunk of ice. First, look to see if there’s something blocking this part from working properly.

Before beginning the process of clearing out the freezer, check that your ice maker is on. This is done by flipping the metal control arm in the down position. From time to time, moving food around in the freezer may put the control into the off position. If the control arm is clear, 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 is down and there is ice but it’s not dispensing it, this could be an electrical or mechanical problem. This is going to require some more diagnosing. Ready to get started? First, we have to inspect the electrical connection. This can become unplugged from the back of the freezer when shifting or moving the food in the freezer.

To inspect this, first unplug the freezer and pull from the wall. Then, turn off the freezer’s water supply valve. Locate the connection on the rear of the inside of the freezer. Basically this is what connects the ice maker into the freezer unit. Ensure that it’s actually plugged in properly.

Then, remove all of the ice that’s in the ice maker. This can be accomplished by adding a small amount of water to help get any ice that’s in there out.

Once complete, turn on the power to the refrigerator and then turn on the ice maker. It might take the solenoid a couple of seconds to engage and fill the mold. After 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 problems that might cause your ice maker to not produce ice are frozen water lines. The water lines might be blocked with frost. This is an easy issue to fix.

Unplug the fridge and find the shut off valve. Shut the water off and grab a hair dryer to heat up the water line or just let the refrigerator sit turned off for a few hours until the water line is thawed.

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

If an ice maker isn’t making large enough pieces of ice, there’s an issue with the settings. To adjust the settings, take the top part of the cover of the ice maker off and find a standard dial that has plus and a minus symbols. To do this, you may need a flat head screwdriver.

ADDITIONAL REFRIGERATOR RESOURCES

• Refrigerator Noisy
• Refrigerator Water Dispenser Not Working
• Refrigerator Not Cooling
• How Does a Refrigerator Work?