Ice maker problem

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retro-man

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I have a whirlpool sxs with ice maker built in door. It stopped for a day or so and the ice ran out. Checked no blocks of ice built up all was clear. Took the hair dryer to it to make sure nothing melted out. This was about 5 pm. About 4 am the next morning it dumped a load. It now runs very slowly, sometimes 3 to 4 hours before it will dump again. Sometimes it is will run in a 35 minute period which it always did. 2 days now and it about half filled. Any ideas why it is slow to run at times and other times it will act normal? Maybe the heater to loosen the cubes or is there a timer that regulates how often it runs? I can make cubes faster with a manual ice tray at this point.

Jon
 
 
Assuming there hasn't been a design/engineering change, harvest is triggered by temperature, not time.  A thermostat on the mold initiates harvest at a specific temp (the mold stays warmer until the water freezes, then cools further).  Harvest won't trigger and/or take longer to trigger if the freezer isn't cooling sufficiently, even if the cubes are frozen.
 
may not hurt to unplug the fridge for a short time....

and if you have this option, select 'AccelerIce'.....

mine went screwy one day, started tossing out ice and water onto the floor....the amount of water from the icemaker that filled inside the door and froze in place was a nightmare to defrost.....

unplugging fixed the odd issue, but the little motor that turns to stir the ice has stopped working....

I am not wild about this in-door design.....capacity alone is my first complaint

all I can say is try it and see what happens....can't hurt....

keep us posted
 
The freezer is running fine, temp is holding steady at -5 degrees. 2 trays of ice cubes stacked freeze solid in about 90 minutes. I can hear on regular intervals a noise that comes from the somewhere in the back that it always has made, that happens when it starts to go into dispense mode. Then it stops and then I believe the heater goes on to start to release the ice. I don't think the heater is working properly anymore maybe. Will try unplugging the fridge today to see if that helps. Thanks.

Jon
 
Its probably just time to replace the ice maker. The noise from behind is just the water valve opening and closing to refill the ice maker. Your freezer temps are fine. Just make sure the cubes are still normal size to rule out water valve restrictions of some kind. Unplug the ice maker, remove it and get the model number off of it, and go searching for a replacement.
 
No that noise is not the water valve. The water valve only comes on after the ice has been dispensed. It has always made this noise when it is starting to going into dispense mode. It makes the noise and then within 3 or 4 minutes the ice would be dumped into the bin, then the water inlet opens to refill. Fridge is 8-10 years old so don't hold out much hope that it will run for more than a year or two. It is not a simple ice maker sitting open in the freeze. This is built into the door and it is necessary to remove part of the interior door to get to the unit. When is does make a batch they are full size as normal. It just doesn't want to give them up. lol

Jon
 
I don't have anything to add to the advice above, but I do have a 2009 KA SxS with the ice bin in the door.  The actual ice maker is mounted at the top of the freezer.  While I haven't had any trouble except for the occasional hung-up crescent, which generates a sort of springy, clicking sound to tip me off, the door bin design is flawed.  Open the door for just a short length of time while digging through freezer contents and crescents in the bin will begin to melt just enough to stick together, which can prevent dispensing.  I'd trade bin capacity for a thicker, insulated bin to prevent this from happening.  It wouldn't require a rocket scientist to design one. 

 

Placing the entire system in the door strikes me as just asking for trouble.  I hope you manage to identify the problem and resolve the issue.  I would hate to live without an ice maker.
 
Well it continues to try and dispense ice to no avail. So time to get the tools out and take that sucker out of the door and see what is going on. I am leaning towards the ice tray heater is not working so not able to release the ice. Either I fix it replace it depending on price or maybe continue to make ice manually. Don't know if the heater itself is replacement piece or part of the unit. Will look on parts direct if this is possible. Should there be a meter reading on the heater to tell if is still functioning? No ice dispensed since Thursday now.

Jon
 
well if the unplug method doesn't work....

for the most part, you have to replace the whole ice maker....the parts diagram shows you can replace piece by piece, provided you can diagnose which part is needed, and find it.....or it comes as one complete unit, and pricey at that...

I just had to rip my completely apart down inside as the little motor that drives the auger got water inside and froze....

a unique design/setup, as long as it works.....next time, I am going back to the standard icemaker mounted inside the freezer, with the large bin and auger....never had an issue with my GE based Kenmore....

my part number shows it as a whole assembly W10122576...

keeping my fingers crossed for you.....


yogitunes-2020112111044703646_1.jpg
 
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I tried shutting the unit down for an hour and nothing changed. Looked at a lot of info on the net yesterday and it does not appear to have a replacement heater. Must be built into it. I am going to take it out of the fridge tomorrow and have a look over. Thanks yogi for the link for the refurbished ice maker. I found on a parts direct site a new one for $197.00. Will probably order that one and just install it. We shall see what I do after removal. Thanks

Jon
 
 
If W10122576 that Yogi referenced is the item of target, the go-to source I use PartsDr.com has it $138.

PartSimple.com lists $94 with free shipping (remanufactured/refurbished/repaired item).

McCombsSupply.com says $99 (substitution item, not FSP)
 
just make sure you check your model number so that you order the correct one....

keep us posted on how you make out.....

my brother has a Frigidaire SxS.....not quite 5 years old yet, but I have replaced his ice maker 3 times already....it just stops producing ice...the only fix is to put a new one in....hard to believe I am hitting a bad batch of IM that all malfunction...

I may have to pull my panel off, some ice makers have slots to put in a jumper wire, where you can force it to add water, rotate/dispense, trigger the heater, or run a complete cycle....not all IM have this option...

this guy is giving you an example of triggering the unit to work.....using a jumper wire on V + H will trigger a whole cycle....V + N will trigger the water valve....good to know for troubleshooting....start at 1:50
 
<blockquote>
$99 (substitution item, not FSP)

</blockquote>
Can hardly do much worse than FSPs that fail like clockwork.   They're all made in China anyway, aren't they?  And by evidence, designed to fail.  They weren't always like this.  I've never had a bad one.  I've also never had one made later than 1985.
 
When we installed our KA French Door counter-depth unit in the upstairs kitchen, I refused to run the water line to it even though we had one for the built-in Sub that this unit replaced when we did a mini-remod. Icemakers in general suck and AFAIC it's easier to buy 5# bags for $1 at Dollar Tree as needed when there are get-togethers.

 

Jon- do you know if there's a diagnostic mode for your refrig/icemaker? With Miele we had one that would give us a series of flashing lights to indicate the issue, though about 80% of them indicated to replace the icemaker as parts were not replaceable. There was also advanced diagnostic testing that gave us values for the various pins in the molex receiver the icemaker plugged in to.

 

Good luck,

Chuck
 

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