Ice maker follies

[sudsmaster]

My circa 2000 KA side by side curved door stainless fridge (cost about $2200 at the time!) is basically good unit. But it does have its quirks. While it was still under extended warranty, the ice maker stopped working. After a couple of visits, the repairman replaced the circuit board for the icemaker. Didn't really fix it. I discovered the problem on my own - I traced it to the water supply line getting an ice plug in it. Once I thawed that out (I think I used a hair dryer), the ice maker started working ok again.

Flash forward about seven years. It's off warranty, of course, and this morning I noticed a puddle in front of the fridge. And the ice maker cube tray was dry. I rolled it out of its cubby when I got home from work and noticed that the water had been squirting out the top back of the freezer compartment onto the floor. I got out the hair dryer and freed up a plug of ice in the rubber tube that sticks out inside the freezer and empties into the ice cube maker tray. A couple hour later the tray was still dry, and there was more water on the floor.

I got out the hair dryer again and directed it at tube going into the back of the freezer, and pulled down as much as possible on the black rubber hose fitting inside the freezer, and directed hot air at that as well. A smaller diameter ice plug made its way out of the black fitting this time. Great... hopefully that resolved the problem. Still waiting for the icemaker to call for more water to find out.

...

 

[sudsmaster]

Ah success at last

Just checked the ice make cube tray. It's full of partially frozen water. So the hair dryer did the trick... after a while...

I am wondering how this thing happens in the first place. As I recall some years ago, I correlated the freezing up of the ice maker water tube with a power outtage (odd, I know). This time I wasn't aware of a power outtage, other than one a week or two ago. But I had put some frozen leftovers in a zip lock freezer bag on the top shelf, and this was kind of getting up into the ice maker territory a bit too intimately. Don't know if that was the cause, but just in case, I've cleared the top shelf so there is better air circulation around the ice maker.

We'll see if it happens again any time soon...

 

[maytagbear]

You might

want to check Whirlpool/KA technical manual updates. This might not be an isolated case.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[rp2813]

Our KA "Architect" series is less than a year old and has icemaker issues too. The bin is in the door but the crescents don't always make it into the bin. We hear them tumbling down to the floor of the freezer. I was pretty sure it was the water supply and replaced the saddle valve with a regular one and got much better flow. Thought the problem was solved but we are still hearing some tumbling action. I think now it might be time to replace the whole unit while it's under warranty. That's the next step according to the tech that was out. Anyone else have this issue with a WP or KA with bin in the door?

Ralph

 

[sudsmaster]

Ralph,

I wonder if it's more of an alignment issue than anything else...? There could be too much of a gap between the door bin and the ice maker mechanism. Might have to replace the whole door if that's the case, which I'm sure KA will resist.

Or is the icemaker trying to overfill the ice bin?

Mine doesn't do that... yet...

 

[tristarcxl]

Ah yes...

The modern "circuit-board" icemakers........WHY did they think that was necessary?!?!?

I'm still on my parents very first icemaker. It's a Kelvinator (Rebadged Whirlpool Old-Style) that came in a coppertone Kelvy when they got married in 1973. So far it's been through 3 refrigerators and just keeps right on going. It currently resides in my 1991 model Estate fridge. Unfortunately I don't think the fridge is long for this world, but we'll see..... Compressor has a loud knocking/banging sound when it comes on!

 

[sudsmaster]

Don't know, exactly, what the circuit board does. I guess it does away with mechanical cams and timers, which do have a limited lifespan, esp when they run 7x24 as they do in a fridge.

Icemaker here still working. I'm guessing I was also partially blocking a cold air vent from the freezer into the top shelf of the fridge (where I was keeping a big bag of romaine lettuce hearts - you know, the ones you get five or six to a bag from Costco). That meant the icemaker and the water delivery tube was getting too much cold air, or something. Perhaps when combined with partially blocking the underside of the icemaker, it's what resulted in icing up of the water tube.

As I recall the repairman said I might notice slightly smaller ice cubes after the circuit board was upgraded. I have noticed they tend not to be as stuck together as they were before the upgrade. Before, they used to be joined by a thin section of ice that bridged them. Now, not so much. So I guess it was an improvement even if it didn't fix the failure at the time.

Just in case I have a late 40's GE fridge that runs just fine sitting in the workshop. It does need an exterior paint job and a door gasket, though. Eventually I'm thinking of retro-fitting (and retro is the right word!) my patio kitchen with it. The KA top freezer there would then go into storage, sold off, or donated to charity. The GE would look more appropriate next to the '58 KA top loader dishwasher there...

 

[tristarcxl]

Kelvy Icemaker

For something that's supposed to wear out, this sucker's been making ice since the early 70s for a family of 4! My parents' modern Whirlpool has plastic gears and cams in it and it's already had to be replaced once since they bought the fridge 3 years ago.

Like the homemade icemaker bucket shelf? The original one was lost sometime in the mid 90s's whem my parents thought it was a good idea to put a bigger bucket under the icemaker...

 

[sudsmaster]

Yeah, plastic gears and cams are problematic in many applications.

I think the move to microprocessor controls even for ice makers is because overall the cost is less than the mechanical versions. The move from metal to plastic gears/cams was for the same reason - and then even the plastic was more expensive than the silicon.

Somewhere along the way, however, Whirlpool evidently failed to do the basics: keeping the water delivery tube to the ice maker from freezing up and then leaking out the back of the freezer. Unfortunately one can't rip apart the top of the freezer to investigate just why it leaks under pressure... it shouldn't leak at all even if plugged up, but with the ice plugs removed at least the leaking has stopped and the ice maker is functioning normally again.

 

[rp2813]

Rich, we've had two techs out here to look at it. The first guy adjusted things a bit and said to remove the flap that hides the assembly just to see if that fixed things. We did that and it didn't help. Plus, we didn't pay for an Architect series fridge to have to remove parts of it to make it work right.

The second guy who came out said the water flow wasn't enough to fill the trays completely and showed us how the crescents are supposed to be joined together at one end when they are turned out into the bin, then break apart upon impact. We had stray loose ones falling out one by one. OK, so he went on his way, I replaced the saddle valve with an actual valve and the water flow was greatly increased. We now have ice crescents that are attached to each other. But we are still having stray crescents tumbling down to the bottom.

I'm placing another service call today. Both techs have said if what they tried/suggested didn't fix things, that the entire icemaker will need to be replaced. That's what I'm hoping for as a result of my third request for this problem to be resolved.

Ralph

 

[mysteryclock]

Water dispenser spout

Good timing for the message -- I have a circa-2001 version of this fridge and the little spout that dispenses water on the right side of the ice+water dispenser just broke off right after the square plastic piece with the brass screw. I can still get water out but it jets out at an awkward angle.

I checked Repairclinic and it looks like you can't just buy the spout but you have to have to get that plus (apparently) a whole supply tube, and according to the folks at KitchenAid it isn't a separate part despite the fact that the spout is clear plastic and appears to just plug into the black supply tube.

So... if I buy the part do you think I can plug it into the supply line in the door or am I looking at disassembling the whole [blank]ing door just to fix the little spout??

 

[sudsmaster]

Ralph, interesting.

My fridge gets its water from a saddle valve - it's on an old steel cold water pipe in the crawl under the fridge area. No problem with getting enough water from it, though.

Frankly I don't think the presence or absence of the ice bridge attaching the crescents to each other has anything to do with the problem your icemaker has. The problem is that the pitcher is throwing balls the catcher can't handle. LOL. It really sounds like a physical alignment issue to me.

These fridges seem to have a general problem: the foam used to insulate them seems to shrink a bit as it ages. This can pull the outer cabinet inward, or the inner cabinet outward. I suspect that's what's happened with yours: the inner door panel has been sucked in, away from the ice maker, so that there's too much of a gap between the top of the ice bin and the bottom of the ice maker. Unless you stick a video camera inside the freezer, probably going to be difficult to prove this is what is happening, though. And of course the repair guys can't sit inside the freezer to wait for the ice to drop, either.

Does your ice bin lock into place? The door panel on my fridge was warped enough that I had to do some adjusting of the catch/latch to get it to lock into place.

You might try shimming the ice bucket, with a wooden stick or chopstick or something - so that it sticks further into the freezer... see if that prevents the ice cubes from missing the bucket.

 

[douglasdc6]

Wow , Freezer compartment of that all time clasic sears coldspot - One of the best refrigerators ever built - They must have made them for kelvinator

 

[yogitunes]

my aunt has a whirlpool SXS, it slides in between cabinets of her kitchen, and after 15 years, for some odd reason, the ice maker tubes in the back freeze up solid, and so does the drain tube to the pan underneath...after much searching and defrosting and cleaning...we discovered if she places the fridge on another wall by itself...it works perfect...slide it back in the slot and problems all over again...go figure

 

[twintubdexter]

tristarcxl

Your parents were married in 1973?...you must be a bambino.

 

[rp2813]

Well Rich, I'll be really disappointed if your shrinkage theory is correct. We had a Superba fridge at the old place with the same icemaker and never had a problem. That one was a few years old when we left it behind. This Architect isn't even a year old and it's been doing this ice dropping the whole time. A few months ago we got fed up and made a service call. There will be a third visit this week, so we'll see what they do.

Ralph

 

[kenmoreforever]

Just goes to show you that somethings flashy are all show and no go for your appliance dollar. Sorry to hear of all your troubles. Has anyone considered anything to do with the defrost timer on this lil doggie? That could cause ice damming in that line I'm sure of it if its not cycling precisely on time everytime. Just my thoughts, I'm just a tech who cares and one who gets worn out with incompetent techs who play god with our appliances.

 

[rp2813]

Well, they came out again, third tech to look at it, and as a result of two previous calls with the problem not resolved, he changed out the ice maker.

Things are much better, but there is still a stray crescent missing the bin sometimes. They aren't tumbling to the bottom anymore though. Just down a shelf or two. It may be enough of a fix but I'm keeping the bin emptied and icemaker producing to make sure the problem won't resurface. The KA warranty expires in a month and my next call will be to them directly if necessary, but I will need to make that call within the next couple of weeks.

None of the techs that have been out have advised that there is any problem with the line freezing up and the crescents are being produced in the correct size.

Ralph

 

[sudsmaster]

Ralph,

I think the law in California is that if you reported a problem during the warranty period and it still was not fixed by the time the warranty expired, the mfg is still on the hook to fix it at their expense.