Why is My Refrigerator Ice Maker Not Working?

F&S Fort Worth Appliance Repair provides refrigerator repair in Fort Worth, including professional services to repair ice makers that are not working. Learn about some common ice maker issues below:

Refrigerator ice makers are one of the greatest inventions ever. An ice maker is a little luxury a lot of people not appreciate. Refrigerator ice makers are relatively simple machines that don’t have a lot of components that could have 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 the ice maker without replacing the entire refrigerator, dependent on the brand and model. First, let’s take a look at a few of the reasons for an ice maker failure.

If your ice maker is making ice but it isn’t ejecting it it is usually a mechanical issue versus an electrical problem. This can occur when reorganizing things around in the freezer unit, you accidentally jam the control arm up or down. Often the ice maker might get blocked with something else, including a chunk of ice. First, check to see if there is ice or food blocking this from working the right way.

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

Check the Control Arm

If the switch is down and there’s ice but it’s not dispensing it, this could be an electrical or mechanical failure. This is going to need some more diagnosing. Ready to get started? First, we need to check the electrical connection. This could be unplugged from the rear of the freezer when moving or shifting the freezer contents.

To check this, first unplug the fridge and move away from the wall. Then, turn off the freezer’s water supply. Locate the valve on the rear of the inside of the freezer. Essentially this is what connects the ice maker into the freezer unit. Ensure that it is actually plugged in the right way.

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

Once this is done, turn on the power to the refrigerator and then turn on the ice maker. It may take the solenoid component a few seconds to engage and fill the mold. When the mold is full, wait around 4-5 hours to see if you’ve solved the problem.

Check for Frozen Lines

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

First, unplug the freezer and find the shut off valve. Shut the water off and then grab a hair dryer to warm the water line or just let the refrigerator sit shut off for a few hours until the line is thawed.

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

When an ice maker is not making big enough cubes of ice, there is a problem with the ice maker settings. To adjust the the ice maker settings, take the top part of the cover off and locate a simple dial that has plus and a minus symbols. For this process, 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?