Why is My Refrigerator Ice Maker Not Working?

B&G Round Rock Appliance Repair offers refrigerator repair in Round Rock, including professional services to fix broken ice makers. Learn about some common ice maker failures below:

Refrigerator ice makers are one of the most convenient inventions ever. This is a small luxury most people certainly not appreciate. Refrigerator ice makers are simple machines that do not have a lot of complicated components that will have issues.

Like with any appliance repair, there are some basic things that should be looked at before thinking the worst. And, it’s nice to know, if needed, you can replace an ice maker without replacing the entire refrigerator, depending on the brand and model. First, let’s review a couple of the reasons 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 versus an electrical problem. This happens when moving food around in the freezer unit, you might push or pull the control lever up or down. Most of the time the ice maker can get jammed with something else, including a chunk of ice. So, check to see if there is something blocking this from working the right way.

Before starting the process of clearing out the freezer, be sure your ice maker is on. This can be done by pulling the metal control arm down. Sometimes, moving things around in the freezer unit can put it in the off position. If the control arm is free, then there could be food stuck inside the ice maker or it is not receiving a good connection.

Check the Control Arm

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

To check this, first unplug the fridge and move away from the wall. Then, turn off the water supply. Locate the connection on the rear of the inside of the freezer. Essentially this is what plugs the ice maker into the freezer. Be sure that it is plugged in properly.

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

Once this is done, restore power to the fridge and turn on the ice maker. It might take the solenoid component a few seconds to react and fill the mold. When the mold is completely full, wait around 4-5 hours or so to see if you’ve cleared the issue.

Check for Frozen Lines

More ice maker issues that may 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.

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

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

When an ice maker is not making large enough pieces of ice, there’s a problem with the ice maker settings. To adjust the settings, take the top part of the cover off and locate a simple control that has plus and a minus signs. 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?