Amana Icemaker

[Carl J. Mosca]

I've got a 10 year old Amana refrigerator with the freezer on top. The original icemaker stopped working.

I have replaced the icemaker and the automatic valve (I have good water pressure) and the unit(s) do not work.

I've since seen a good bit about testing/replacing the icemaker and valve. Putting the test jumper does not cause the unit to operate. I have approximately 50 volts at the connector and right at 120 volts at the refrigerator outlet. The voltage is also low at the test points on the icemaker itself. I read somewhere things are OK as low as 80 volts although even that voltage seems low to me and hard to explain. The refrigerator/freezer/lights operate normally except for the icemaker.

Based on the simple schematic on the back of the refrigerator I see no reason for the voltage difference but then it is a simple schematic. There was ice in the tube that feeds the icemaker so it's possible/likely the harness got wet but I have used a hair dryer on it a few times now. I can't really get to the whole harness without breaking what looks like a seal I should not mess with(unless someone can tell me how) for a good visual inspection.

I do not have a good feeling about any potential repair people (including Amana/Maytag) my wife or I have spoken to about the unit because they keep asking about the all the common stuff I've already checked. Ideas?

[RS]

Remove the ice from the filltube. Check to make sure the icemaker is securely plugged in. Do you have the flex-type icemaker or the modular Whirlpool-type icemaker?

It really isn't that complicated and there are only so many things to check.

As I said before, it is really a simple device. If you have power, water, and a cold freezer, you get ice. The 'stuff' they asked you about is the 'stuff' I'd check if I was your serviceman.

[Charlie Bress]

Carl, I have an Amana, but I haven't tried pulling it out to see the schematic. I did look at the instruction sheet for installing the ice maker. Not much help there.

Unless the schematic shows otherwise the ice maker should be connected to the line voltage. Some where you are dropping around 80 volts going from the wall to the icemaker. Wiring in the cable is not the likely problem. What is more likely is a dirty or corroded connector. Check them all out and clean if needed. If you have an ohmmeter, unplug the fridge and check for a high resistance between the fridge ac cord and the icemaker connections. If all is well the resistance readings should be close to zero. This all assumes that there is nothing but wire and connectors in the path.

Charlie

[Carl J. Mosca]

You are right...it's not that complicated but then what is once you understand it?

And that's great but as I told them, I had already checked that stuff.

OK and now for what I was asking about. The reason there was only 50 volts and not 120 at the unit is because there was a corroded wire at one of the joints in the wire bundle that enters the unit at the top. In my opinion this is a bad place for such a joint because it was not very well protected from the moisture which apparently collects there. I also noticed corrosion in the plug at the bottom of the unit which I cleaned. As for the joint, I repaired it and now I have 120 at the test points in the icemaker. Putting the test wire on causes the unit to operate which is the first time I've seen that (on the new and old units). I am fairly confident this was the problem because once I identified the bad joint I jiggled it a bit and got around 80 volts at the unit. Then I jiggled it a bit more and got 0 volts. At that point I carefully removed the heat shrink wrap with a razor knife which revealed one broken wire (red) and a good bit of corrosion on all three wires along with the crimp type joint.

While listening to the folks on the phone and their "stuff" did cause me to purchase a non-returnable icemaker and valve I did not need, I did learn a good bit mostly from surfing the net and the rest from taking the unit apart.

HTH

[jeff]

Hi,

Low water pressure fills often freezes over the fill tube!!

How not work, sits there dead, goes around but not filling, goes part way through a cycle and quits?

Open/loose neutral can give low/strange readings for power! Open thermal fuse ( black slug ) in the icemaker harness??

Model#?

helps.

jeff.

Appliance Repair Aid

[Carl J. Mosca]

Charlie,

Thanks for the help. For some reason I could not post a follow up to your message which was probably posted about the same time as my second message in the thread.

As you probably already read, there was a corrosion problem at one of the connectors (at the bottom). The other, more significant issue, was the joint at the top of the unit (which I completely missed the first time I did a visual inspection of the wiring harness). There are actually multiple joints there so from the looks of things, I'll be working on this unit again someday.