I know fridges aren’t designed to last forever, and I didn’t want a thru the door ice maker at all.
But…my five year old fridge…the ice maker isn’t making ice. Water flows fine through the door, but the ice maker just isn’t working.
Any ideas?
We have ice cube trays…if this can’t be fixed
I’ve had this happen twice on my fridge. The first time the tube that delivers water to the ice maker was clogged and it was easily fixed, by a repairman not me. The second time it was the electronic module that controls the ice making and would have cost over $300 so we elected not to fix it.
We move every couple of years for my H’s job and rent because of that. Our last home had a refrigerator with an in-door ice/water dispenser. The water worked but the ice did not. I submitted a maintenance ticket and they tried to fix the ice maker. They finally determined that the issue was wiring inside the door itself and it couldn’t be fixed without replacing the door. The refrigerator was older and parts were no longer available.
I asked the rental company if they would provide a new refrigerator with a working ice maker, and they said if they purchased a new refrigerator, it WOULDN’T include an ice maker. Not sure how cheap a refrigerator has to be to not have an ice maker; the rental was advertised as an “executive home”.
Long story short, I made ice cubes every day in an ice cube tray for the almost 3 years we lived there.
I purchased an ice making device (kind that plugs in and sits on your counter) and did use it some times, but it was easier to use the trays.
Long answer to say it’s possible to have the water working and not the ice. A repair person could tell you if it can be repaired (for a price, of course).
I moved to a new state in June, new home rental, and am so excited I have a refrigerator that makes ice! I work from home and drink water all day, and ice is something I use every day.
Ours broke, we fixed it once (not cheap), then it broke again soon after the repair warranty expired. We make our ice the old fashioned way now and store it in the ice bin in the refrigerator.
Mine has been broken for the last year. We tried all of the simple fixes like making sure the water was flowing that nothing was clogged, etc. but it didn’t work. We are just using ice cube trays as well. The fridge was only six years old.
Does your refrigerator have a filter? Ours stopped making and dispensing ice when the filter needed to be replaced.
If ice and plenty of it is important to you (it’s VERY important to my H) then in that new of a unit I’d pay the service call fee just to see what the fix will cost you. If doing ice cube trays daily is ok with you and you have the space to dedicate to that, try it for awhile and see if it’s a hassle or not.
Those counter top or cupboard ice makers are a hot item now for ice aficionados!
Our ice maker broke at about 15 years old. Having been retired, we went on line, ordered replacement parts and repaired it watching a you tube video. It was a 2000 kitchen aid. Then after 25 years the water filter no longer was made and the door didn’t shut well. We ordered a new GE refrigerator with an ice maker this year.
The thru-the-door icemaker/water dispenser repairman I had fix the last refrigerator told me next refrigerator just get the ice bucket in the freezer, there is no long term fix for GE or Samsung or whomever, they all break and will break again and are not worth fixing. So, we did - we bought a new refriger with water dispensiver inside the refrigerator and the ice dump bucket in the bottom freezer. Much less frustration.
I have replaced the icemaker inside the freezer of our 2005 fridge multiple times. I order one from Amazon for $50 or whatever, hook it up, and then it lasts a few years. This is not a difficult DIY job. Mildly tedious. Trying to avoid spending thousands on a new fridge.
thru-the-door ice makers have the highest failure rate on refrigerators.
Could be a frozen water line which feeds the ice maker. Depending on location, kinda hard to defrost. Could be a bad valve, a $15 part.. (My GE has separate valves for the cold water line and for the ice maker.). At the other extreme, could need a completely new ice maker. Look up your year, make and model for the parts price of a new ice maker to get an idea. Add in ~$200 labor, and you can decide whether that repair is worth it.
I’m somewhat handy, so enjoy tinkering. Some units are easy for DIY, essentially plug-and-play, but other manufacturers I won’t touch.
Ours would freeze up and have to be defrosted. They said faulty gaskets since it sat in frig instead of freezer. After a coupe repairs We just quit doing it. Fortunately we had an old fridge in the basement that had a functional ice maker. We just emptied it into freezer bags and put them upstairs. I did eventually get a on counter ice maker but it makes soft ice that doesn’t last as long.