stainless-steel-refrigerator-beside-white-kitchen-cabinet-2343467

What to do When Your Ice Maker Isn’t Working

Ice Maker Not Working

It can be incredibly frustrating when you go to get some ice to cool down your beverage on a hot day and you come to find out that the ice maker is not working properly. This could happen for a number of reasons, and it helps to know what to troubleshoot in order to determine why it isn’t making ice as it should. First, you need to determine what the ice maker is (or isn’t) doing. Then you can work to fix the issue if you know what is causing it. Following are some of the most common problems people encounter with ice makers:

Ice Cubes are Too Large or Too Small

When this happens, it means that the ice maker may need a simple adjustment. Take the white plate from the frontmost part of the ice maker and underneath the cover, you will find a “plus” and “minus” indicator, along with a spring and screw assembly. To make the cubes smaller, you are going to want to decrease the amount of water per dose. To do this, move the screw towards the “minus” symbol. Perform the task the same way if you need larger cubes, except this time, move the screw towards the “plus” so your cubes can increase in size.

Ice is Not Ejecting

When ice is not coming out of the maker properly and is instead stuck inside the ice mold, this is because the ice maker is getting water inside of it, which may be an electrical or mechanical issue. To avoid this and to be extra mindful of this in the future, watch out when you move things around in the freezer, because you could accidentally bump the control arm out of its intended position, which can prevent ice from flowing out of the maker.

If this happens, find the metal arm on the ice maker and move it back to the “on” position. This will prevent the ice maker from potentially taking on water and creating the ice mold that is preventing ice from ejecting.

The Ice Maker is Making No Ice at All

If you notice that your ice maker is either not making any ice or if it is having a difficult time producing its usual amount of ice, there may be a clog in the waterline. In order to repair the water line, you have to unplug the refrigerator and locate the water shut-off valve. You can typically find it behind the fridge or under your kitchen sink (or even in the location that the fridge’s water line connects to the house water source line). Turn off the valve and get a turkey baster filled with warm water and pour the water directly out over the water line. If you can’t find your turkey baster, you can always use a hair dryer. Whichever is more convenient to use is acceptable, as long as it melts the ice that is clogging the water line!

The only thing more frustrating than knowing your ice maker does not work properly is having it not work at all and not know why. Knowing what is wrong with your ice maker and the potential cause of the issue can help you solve the problem quicker so you can get back to having an ice maker that is functioning properly.

If you have tried finding the reason behind your ice maker not working properly but can’t seem to pinpoint the issue, contact us today. We can help with your appliance repair!