Why is My Refrigerator Ice Maker Not Working?

Rowe Appliance Repair performs refrigerator repair service in CITY, including services to fix ice makers that aren’t working. Learn about some common ice maker failures below:

Refrigerator ice makers are perhaps one of the greatest inventions of all time. This is a small luxury many people might not appreciate. Refrigerator ice makers are relatively simple machines that don’t have a lot of complex parts that could go wrong with them.

Like with any repair, there are a few basic things that need to be looked at before assuming the worst. And, it’s nice to know, if needed, you can replace an ice maker without replacing an entire fridge, dependent on the model. First, let’s discuss 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 problem. This can happen when shifting food around in the freezer, you accidentally push or pull the control lever up or down. A lot of the time the ice maker might be blocked with something, even another chunk of ice. So, check to see if there’s ice or food blocking this from working the right way.

Before starting the steps of clearing out the freezer, ensure your ice maker is turned on. This can be done by pulling the metal control arm down. From time to time, moving things around in the freezer unit may put the switch into the off position. If the the switch is clear, then there could be ice jammed inside of the ice maker or it’s not getting a good connection.

Check the Control Arm

If the control arm is down and there is ice but it’s not ejecting it, there might be an electrical or mechanical problem. This is going to need some more diagnosing. Ready to proceed? First, we must check the electrical connection. This can be unplugged from behind the freezer or refrigerator when shifting or moving the freezer contents.

To check this, unplug the refrigerator and pull from the wall. Turn off the freezer’s water supply. Locate the valve on the rear of the inside of the freezer. Basically this is what connects the ice maker into the freezer unit. Ensure that it is actually plugged in the right way.

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

Once complete, turn on the power to the refrigerator and turn on the ice maker. It could take the solenoid component a couple of seconds to react and fill the mold. When the mold is completely full, wait 4-5 hours to see if you have cleared the issue.

Check for Frozen Lines

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

First, unplug the fridge and find the water shut off valve. Shut the water off and get a hair dryer to warm the water line or let the refrigerator sit turned off for a couple of hours and wait until the line is thawed.

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

If an ice maker isn’t making big enough pieces of ice, there is a problem with the ice maker settings. To adjust the the ice maker settings, take the upper part of the cover off and locate a simple knob that has 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?