Why is My Refrigerator Ice Maker Not Working?

Champion Appliance Repair performs refrigerator repair service, including professional services to fix ice makers that aren’t working. Learn about common ice maker issues below:

Refrigerator ice makers are perhaps one of the most convenient inventions ever. This is a little luxury many people certainly take for granted. Refrigerator ice makers are simple machines that do not feature a lot of complicated parts that will go wrong with them.

Like with any repair, there are basic things that should be looked at before thinking the worst. And, it’s nice to know, if needed, you can replace your ice maker without replacing the entire fridge, dependent on the model. First, let’s take a look at a couple of the causes for an ice maker breaking.

If your ice maker is making ice but it is not dispensing the ice it is usually means there’s a mechanical issue vs. an electrical failure. This occurs when shifting things around in the freezer, you might push or pull the control arm up or down. A lot of the time the ice maker will get blocked with something else, possibly a chunk of ice. First, check to see if there’s ice or food blocking this from operating the right way.

Before starting the steps of clearing out the freezer, check that your ice maker is turned on. This can be done by moving the control arm down. From time to time, moving food around in the freezer unit can put the switch in the off position. If the the switch is clear, then there might be ice stuck inside of the ice maker or it is not receiving a good connection.

Check the Control Arm

When the control is down and there is ice but it is not ejecting it, this might be an electrical or mechanical problem. This is going to need some more diagnosing. Ready to begin? First, we have to inspect the electrical connection. This could be unplugged from the rear of the freezer or refrigerator when shifting or moving the freezer contents.

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

After that, remove all of the ice that is in the ice maker itself. This can be accomplished by pouring in a little water to help get ice that is in there out.

Once complete, restore power to the fridge and then turn on the ice maker. It may take the solenoid component a couple of seconds to react and fill the mold. When the mold is full, wait around 4-5 hours to see if you have solved the problem.

Check for Frozen Lines

More ice maker issues that may cause your ice maker to not make any ice are frozen water lines. The water lines could be clogged with frost. This is an easy issue to fix.

Unplug the freezer and find the water shut off valve. Shut the water off and grab a hair dryer to warm the line or let the refrigerator sit without being on for a few hours and wait until the water line is thawed.

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

When your ice maker is not making large enough pieces of ice, there is an issue with the ice maker settings. To adjust the settings, take the top part of the cover of the ice maker off and locate a basic knob 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?