Gross ice maker

[justjunque]

Hi all.

This is actually kind of embarrassing to post, but I figured, if anyone can help me with this, it will be someone here!

We have a Maytag Performa side-by-side that came with our house.
If you're familiar with them, this model had a recall for some problem that had been known to cause fires.
Whatever repair was needed, was done when the previous owners had it.
They left us the paperwork.

Anyway, it has the pictured ice maker in the top of the freezer.
Neither of us had any previous with ice makers, but we tried it just to see if it worked.
It did, but with an asterisk.
The ice cubes came out green, and smelled horrible.
Not wanting to call a repairman for something like that, and not knowing what to do about it ourselves, we just never used the ice maker.
We just store frozen food items in the ice bin.

So, my question is, does anyone know why this happened, and is there something simple that we can do about it?
Is it just from lack of use?
We did let it run a few batches of cubes, and they got a little less green, but they still smelled funny.
Sort of like onions or garlic or something.
Not something that I'd want in my cool refreshing beverage!

FYI; after our initial bad experience, we haven't bothered to try it again for about the last eight years.
I just figured, now that I've discovered this awesome website, maybe someone knows what's up with this thing.
Thanks in advance for any help!

Barry

 

[turbokinetic]

Hey Barry; does your fridge have a water dispenser on it? Some have one inside the fridge compartment in the roof of that area; whereas most would be through the door. If it has one, see if you can purge out all the discolored water through this dispenser.

 

The icemaker is a simple device. The ice cubes freeze in a tray you can see with a mirror looking in the freezer. That's usually coated with a non-stick coating of some sort. I doubt this is where the green is coming from.

 

Working back from the ice cube tray towards the water well, the next thing back in a plastic tube through the back of the freezer, down the back of the fridge, and to a plastic solenoid valve under the unit.  I doubt any of this could make a green color; much less a bad odor.

 

Next would be a filter element. This is a highly probable source of the problem. If the filter element has been neglected for years, and has deteriorated, it can generate an odor. See if your fridge has a water filter; not all of them do. 

 

Next on the way back towards the water source would be the interconnect tubing from the fridge to the water pipe. This often goes under the cabinets and ends up under the kitchen sink, tied into the cold water supply to the faucet.

Here is where I expect the problem may lie. If they use copper tubing for this connection, you have probably found your culprit. Copper corrosion byproducts are often green in color. They also have a strong metallic taste.

 

If you find a copper line between the fridge and water source, then I would replace that with poly tubing and poly fittings. These never corrode, are more flexible and less likely to crack and leak.

 

Hope this helps!

Sincerely,

David

 

[justjunque]

Hi David

Thank you for the reply.
No water dispenser, and I don't know about a filter.
Coming off the back of the refrigerator, however, there is a metal tubing that goes down into the basement to tie into a water line.
I'm guessing it's copper, and probably the source of the green color and bad smell.
I'm not a do-it-yourselfer, and I don't want to call someone in just for this, so we'll probably just continue not using the ice maker.

Thanks again,
Barry

 

[turbokinetic]

Hi Barry. If they used a metal tube it will be copper. If it's going down to a basement water hookup and is several yards long, it's probably at fault. You might just want to leave the ice maker on and keep tossing out the ice until it's clean. It's a shame to abandon the ice maker, in my opinion. I guess in my case I just like having ice too much! LOL!

 

[goatfarmer]

Most ice makers are held in place with a couple of screws, and a plug in wire harness. Easy enough to remove, and clean.

 

[justjunque]

Thanks, Dave and Kenny

I would probably have the nerve to try taking out the ice maker to clean it, if it's as easy as it sounds.
However, I'm thinking more and more that the problem is probably the copper tubing.
I had a gut feeling about that from day one, and some of you have backed it up.
The first thing we tried was letting it run for a while.
I don't remember how many times we let it cycle.
The ice did eventually stop coming out green, but it still smelled funny.
Maybe we just didn't give it enough time.
I'll try again, and just let it keep going. Doesn't hurt to try!

Barry

 

[fisherpaykel]

smelly ice

If you dont't already try the refrigerator baking soda boxes, one in fridge and one in freezer, may help prevent food smell transferring to the ice.

 

[ultralux88]

The tubing could definitely be suspect, I'd probably consider replacing the line and cleaning the thing out!

 

I'd definitely clean it up too, never really cared for ice cube trays... What a bother! 

 

[lorainfurniture]

Look at the ice maker

I’ll bet you a dollar the non stick coating has delaminated and you are getting green corrosion on your cubes. All the tubing in the fridge is plastic.