Icemaker not working

donk · Feb 3, 2007

Hi - I posted recently about how to tap into my water supply to install an icemaker in my fridge. Well, I got it installed fine thanks to your help.
So, all the plumbing is done and not leaking - but for some reason, the icemaker is not working. It's not sending water from the pump up into the freezer. I "know" the pump is getting water, and it "is" connected to the fridge's electrical connector. Also, the wire sensor bar on the maker is in the "on" position. But the pump is just dead silent and not coming on.

Does the pump not work until a certain freezer temp is reached?
Or maybe I have a defective pump or icemaker?

Any ideas are much appreciated.
Donk

Jadnashua · Feb 3, 2007

I doubt there is a pump since it is connected to the water line which is under pressure. Typically, there is a solonoid valve that opens to fill things up.

The ice maker is triggered to work by a lever (usually). Make sure that all packing, etc. has been removed along with any tape, so that the thing doesn't think that the ice bin is already full.

Also, some of the bins pull out a little - make sure that it is fully seated.

Last, check out the owner's manual for some troubleshooting help.

Sponsor · 2022-01-29T12:20:58-0800

donk · Feb 3, 2007

Thanks for the reply. Yeah, you might be right about not being a pump. But it looks like a little pump - and it has an electrical connection to the fridge. The lever is in the 'on' position.
I'll check out the other stuff you suggested.

Randyj · Feb 3, 2007

I can't imagine that there would be a pump. Every one I've tinkered with fills the freezer tray and shuts off by a float switch. The harvest cycle operates on a timer. If you're getting water into the icemaker unit then the problem is in the icemaker unit. Most have a plug somewhere in the freezer compartment where the icemaker plugs into the refrigerator wiring. This is just one of a few possible fault points.

Racer814 · Feb 4, 2007

it sounds like the solenoid....

hj · Feb 4, 2007

icemaker

Freestanding icemakers have a pump. The ones inside refrigerators fill by a timer, not a float switch, so if there is no water to the solenoid valve, none will fill the cups. The harvest cycle is triggered when a thermostat senses that the "ice" is about 15-20 degrees, indicating that it is frozen. If the freezer is not set below that point it will never cycle.

Randyj · Feb 4, 2007

I knew I'd shake a good answer out of somebody. I just wonder how I ever worked on those commercial icemakers all them years without knowing that.

Jadnashua · Feb 4, 2007

It's not a fill thing I was referring to...most icemakers have a lever in the ice compartment that tells the thing when it is full of ice. If that lever is held up, the system will not make any ice. Also, at least on mine, the whole icemaker equipment has a socket - i.e., it unseats from the back wall. If it is pulled out (or not seated!), it won't make ice.

Randyj · Feb 4, 2007

Next time I come across an old icemaker in a refrigerator I'm gonna tear it apart to see how that particular one works. In the commercial ones I'm familiar with they have a bernoulli tube (probe) that senses the cold ice and stops the making of ice. Cubers and Flakers work quite differently. There's a couple of different varieties in home use models. I'm wondering about the use of a timer to fill a tray when there are such wide variations of water pressure in homes everywhere. I've had many a head ache adjusting timers to fill Bunn coffee makers in institution applications....went from well water to city water and flooded the cafeteria floor until we got it adjusted due to the differences in water pressure....probably could have solved the whole thing with a PRV in the beginning....many plumbing lessons ago......

hj · Feb 4, 2007

fill cycle

The variation in pressure is one reason why most of the cubers have a +/- size selector. That adds or reduces to the time the water fills.

Randyj · Feb 4, 2007

I found this cute little link... hope it solves your problem...
http://www.acmehowto.com/howto/appliance/icemaker/diagicemaker.php

HarleySilo · Feb 5, 2007

Donk,

Here is a picture of a typical General electic solenoid valve...

This is what your cold water supply connected to. It is plugged into the refrigerator as you know via two flat plugs. It also supplies water to your icemaker. If you have water available in your freezer door you will have two solenoids, if just icemaker only one. in Picture left one is 2, right is one. No pump as stated above.

They can go bad, but in my experience it's that the plastic housing forms a pinhole and they cause a leak. If your handy with a voltmeter you could check to see if your icemaker is sending the signal to the solenoid to turn on!

donk · Feb 5, 2007

Yep, that pic shows exactly what I've got - just the single one, not the double one. Here's the latest on my icemaker:

It 'does' appear to be working. It pops out one little ice cube about every half hour or so, heh. This seems a little slow to me, but the ice bucket is almost full after about a day and a half. I guess that's the way the solenoid ones work.

Like some other people mentioned... the icemakers I had seen use the float/lever mechanism to fill the tray with water, and then dump the whole tray at once - that's why I though mine wasn't working.

Well, thanks to all who posted. This forum is amazing.
Donk

HarleySilo · Feb 5, 2007

It only pops out one cube at a time? It should pop out like 8-12 or something...... R U sure?

Rancher · Feb 5, 2007

That's a different kind of ice maker than I've ever seen, are you sure it doesn't fill up a tray? What kind is it?

Rancher

Randyj · Feb 5, 2007

Yep... about one little string of cubes every 45min to an hour... enough for a good sized glass of iced tea. Takes pretty much all day to get a bucket full which is plenty for a normal family. Bag it and put it in the freezer if you're expecting a crowd any time soon.

donk · Feb 5, 2007

Yeah, only 1 or 2 cubes at a time, lol. That's why I thought it wasn't working. I opened the door and there was 1 little cube in the bucket. Then about half hour later I looked and there were 2.
But by next evening the bucket was maybe half full. And it's a pretty big bucket - so it'll be ok for just having drinks and stuff.

Thanks,
Donk

HarleySilo · Feb 5, 2007

If you reach you hand back in the icemaker you should be able to stick a finger in the spots where the ice cubes freeze, you should feel an ice cube. You should be able to feel that there are mutiple spots for ice cubes to form. Your ice maker should make more than 1 cube at a time. If it doesn't something is wrong.

Leejosepho · Feb 5, 2007

hj said:
The ones inside refrigerators fill by a timer ... The harvest cycle is triggered when a thermostat senses that the "ice" is about 15-20 degrees, indicating that it is frozen.

Do all/most of them also have a heat cycle to loosen the cubes just prior to ejection? I have a Whirlpool ECKMF94 I want to install in the freezer of our different-brand refrigerator, and I believe it is supposed to do that.

Do you happen to know which wire going into the icemaker is for what? I have black, white, green and brown, and I assume the black, white and green are line, common and ground ... and that would seem to leave the brown wire for going down to the solenoid?

hj · Feb 6, 2007

ice

You don't happen to have a GE refrigerator that makes round ice cubes, do you? If so, the bar the ejects five cubes at a time can snap and only eject to or three, BUT when that happens it still adds enough water to make 5 cubes so the excess overflows and ices up the freezer compartment. Westinghouse made one version that made square cubes and inverted to eject them. If they are crescents, it makes the entire string at one time and ejects them all at the same time. The heater that loosens the cubes, also heats the thermostat so it will not try to recycle too quickly.

Icemaker not working

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