Why is My Refrigerator Ice Maker Not Working?

La Mesa Appliance Repair is experienced in refrigerator repair in La Mesa, including professional services to fix broken ice makers. Learn about common ice maker problems below:

Refrigerator ice makers are perhaps one of the best inventions of all time. This is a little luxury many people might take for granted. Refrigerator ice makers are simple machines that don’t have a lot of complicated parts that will cause issues.

As with any appliance repair, there are some basic things that should be looked at before thinking the worst. And, remember, if needed, you are able to replace your ice maker without replacing the entire refrigerator, dependent on the model. First, let’s review some of the causes for an ice maker not working.

If an ice maker is making ice but it is not dispensing it it is usually a mechanical problem opposed to an electrical failure. This can happen when moving things around in the freezer, you jam the control switch up or down. A lot of the time the ice maker will be jammed with something else, including a chunk of ice. So, check to see if there is anything blocking this part from operating correctly.

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

Check the Control Arm

When the control is down and there is ice but it’s not dispensing it, this could be a mechanical or electrical failure. This will need some more troubleshooting. Ready to begin? First, we must inspect the electrical connection. This could become unplugged from the rear of the freezer when shifting or moving the food in the freezer.

To inspect this, unplug the fridge and slide it out from the wall. Then, turn off the water supply. Locate the connection on the rear of the inside of the freezer unit. Basically this is what plugs the ice maker into the freezer. Be sure that it is actually plugged in properly.

Next, remove all of the ice that’s in the ice maker. This can be done by adding a little water to help get any ice that is in there out.

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

Check for Frozen Lines

More ice maker issues that can cause your ice maker to not make ice are frozen lines. The water lines might be clogged with frost. This is a pretty simple fix.

Unplug the refrigerator and locate the shut off valve. Shut the water off and then get a hair dryer to heat up the line or just let the refrigerator sit without being on for a couple of hours until the water line is thawed.

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

If an ice maker is not making big enough cubes of ice, there’s an issue with the settings. To adjust the the ice maker settings, take the upper part of the cover of the ice maker off and find a simple control that displays 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?