My ice maker went out a few weeks ago. Fridge still works well, but the warranty is gone. American Homeshiled doesn't fix ice-makers...

On Saturday, my wife called to inform me the fridge was leaking; I'm not really wanting to spend $1,700 on that new LG 25.3 cu. ft. side-by-side refrigerator I've been eyeing, but it seems I may have to. I came home, opened the freezer, and found all my veggies, icrecream, etc in a solid block of ice... I shut the water off; chipped the ice off the shelf; melted it down to retrieve my packages; then reloaded the fridge.

Keep in mind, the water is off..

Watching Law & Order last night; we heard a sound we hadn't heard any many weeks' maybe even months. The sound of ice crashing into the tray. I thought- surely the ice maker isn't making ice...

I went in there, and 6 pieces had fallen in. 2 minutes later, 6 more pieces... I said- "Well, I'll be dammed, I guess the ice maker decided to fix itself- because ut's making ice now- with no water supply...

Is this possible? Are there any experts that can chime in on this....

 

I'd guess that the original (no ice) problem was caused by the line freezing. The freezing water inside the line caused it to crack, leaking water into your freezer.

After you shut the water off, there was still some water in the line and in the icemaker valve. I'd guess that your 'defrosting' process involved leaving the door open long enough for the ice to thaw (including the ice in the water line). So when you fired everything back up your icemaker just made ice with what little bit of water it already had.

I'd pull the fridge out and look at the supply line in the back. Check for leaks where it attaches into the back of the fridge. Try and determine where the leak is.

 

Dang-
The water in the line behind the fridge can freeze? I didn't know that...

Jeez...

I'll check it when I get home...

 

cia-agent,

I know this doesn't address your meltdown problem, but you mentioned having your eye on a big side-by-side. We have a big side-by-side, never again. The freezer side has narrow shelves, the Frig. side won't hold a big turkey roaster unless you adjust and clear one entire shelf. We have had a few friends recently that sprung for a lower freezer, upper Frig. unit. Much nicer. Plenty of room top and bottom with the same square footage.

 

I like those upper/lower's too; but selling the wife on those has been tougher than gettign her to trade her truck in on the Crown Victoria LX Sport.

She's one of those people that can't see the "potential", only what's right in front of them... Unable to look beyond (today).

 

Remind her that you use the refrig 20 times as much as the freezer. No bending to get to items in the frig. Nice wide shelves. For the few trips to the freezer you bend a bit.

 

The line going to the ice and water in the door of our side by side busted years ago and soaked the whole kitchen. Never did fix it back.

 

The water tank in my fridge froze and busted about a year ago, leaving the ice maker inop. A local appliance parts house in town had the tank and lines and everything else, I think it took all of $20 or so worth of parts.

 

I'm not an appliance repair man but I have connected many ice makers. I have never heard of water freezing in the water line. Not even the plastic tubing in the fridge it's self. That doesn't mean it doesn't happen, I've just never heard of it.

Let me guess, the shut off for the ice maker is a "saddle" valve? That is a valve that is attatched to the water pipe with a clamp and two long screws. A water source is achived by punching a hole in the water pipe with the "stem" of the saddle valve. If that is what you have then you are probably not actually not shuting off the water.

Thoes saddle valves almost never work and are a bad idea from my vantage point. We always cut a tee in the water line so that we can install a ball valve or stop and waste then an adapter to connect to the ice maker line.

Also, we always use 1/4 OD ref. copper tubing for the connection. I see that a lot of people use the plastic tubing but I have seen that stuff give out many times. Mostly because it ends up touching somthing warm in the back of the fridge and the water pressure expands that spot untill it leaks.

The only downfall to using copper tubing is that if you have a high mineral content in your water scale might build up inside the tubing. This can cause an ice maker not to work. You would need to replace the copper line.

If the ice maker is actually bad there may be replacement parts for it. Try to contact the manufacturer. I usually don't have to install the internal componants but I have a couple times. It's not any more difficult than tinkering with the truck. You just might be able to hang on to that fridge for a while longer.

Good luck!