Ice Maker Questions

[Yee Hah]

Greetings! We have an Amana side-by-side, model SQD26VW.

• The water "tray" isn't filling with water so the ice can't be made. I checked the supply hose that leads into the tray and it doesn't appear to be frozen. The little plastic blades appear to rotate from time-to-time even though there's no ice being made.

• I've never replaced an ice maker before. Is it something I could do myself or should I call a plumber?

Thanks!

[AZ Nomad]

Step 1: get the installation instructions. It should be available at the maker's website.

[gfretwell]

You problem might be as simple as a frozen water tube going into the ice maker.

[Colbyt]

Pretty simple to replace. One or two screws and unplug the electrical. Reverse the process and you are done.

Make sure you need one first. Make sure the water is flowing to the control valve on the back. Make sure the control valve is opening and closing. A plugged line, quite common when a piercing valve was used for the install, could get plugged real easily. A bad control valve may or may not be opening to allow the water to flow.

Most likely it is the ice maker if the water is flowing to the valve.

Shop online. I bought a complete kit with two new valves for less than $100 a few years ago. I expect the price has gone up like everything else.

[gfretwell]

If this is the basic Whirlpool design Midwest Appliance Parts sold me one for about $45. The only think in that type of ice maker that controls the water is a contact behind the gear, adjusted by the little screw (fill level)

[Yee Hah]

Thank you all for the advice. I pulled the fridge out and and did not see any kinks in the plastic tube that went from the wall into the back of the fridge (the tube also runs through a cylinder filter before disappearing into the fridge). Is the control valve located where the tube goes into the wall? If so, do I just need to try turning it?

The last poster mentioned a contact behind the gear, adjusted by the little screw. Maybe it's time to try to find the ice maker manual, but could you please describe a little more where this "contact" is and how I might recognize it?

Thank you again.

[Yee Hah]

p.s. Maybe I should also mention that this fridge has a water dispenser located just to the right of the ice dispenser on the freezer door. The water dispenser appears to work just fine.

[gfretwell]

Go here and figure out which icemaker you have

They will give you some tips about how to fix it. Generally speakinmg, if the "head" (the plate with the motor, gear and contract assembly) is bad on a whirlpool you are better off just replacing the head or the whole unit. The head is only about $10-15 less han the whole icemaker. First see if the valve is working. If water spits out when you take the hose off and the ice maker cycles I bet you have a iced up feed tube. You can jumper the 2 holes at about 4 o'clock on the gear it will cycle. The valve picks while the fingers are pointing up near the end of the cycle.

[Rudy]

So "trace" the source/waterline from the back of the fridge to its source. Ours in in the cabinet under our kitchen sink..some are down amid the rafters in basements or crawlspaces. Ours actually has a small "shut off" where it "Tees" under the sink so in a case like that..make sure it hasnt been turned "off" inadvertently.