Icemaker problems

[Robert A. Cibiras]

I have a Kenmore side by side, with icemaker, about 10 years old. The icemaker has recently stopped dumping the ice in the bin, but the message to send more water is still going through. As water tries to fill the tray already occupied by ice, the water runs down into the bin, creating a solid block of ice when it freezes, and icicles that hang from the tray into the bin, which my daughter thinks look really cool. She doesn't understand why I don't think they are cool.

Anyway, what exactly is the problem, and is this worth repairing, or should I just replace the entire assembly, for about $130? I have never worked on an icemaker before, so I really have no idea how complex it is inside. I feel pretty sure that I can take the old one off, and hook the water supply to a new one.

Any help will be appreciated.

Robert Cibiras

[Colbyt]

Usually not worth the effort or the risk of repair IMO. Worse than what you have is when the unit causes water valve sticks in the open position.

Colbyt

[Edwin Pawlowski]

You can troubleshoot at

or Shop around though. I got mine for $50 (damned cheap!) about two years ago. Took maybe 30 minutes to take out and replace with the new one. Even though you have a Kenmore, no reason to go to Sears. Many models and manufacturers use the same ice maker. Ed

[SJF]

If you haven't already done this, I would thoroughly defrost the fridge and icemaker. Put food in insulated containers, unplug the unit, place a fan to blow air into freezer compartment until ice quits melting. Have a mop handy. Takes an hour or two. Then restart the unit.

Sometimes a piece of ice diverts the incoming stream of water and really messes things up. This is cheap and may avoid unnecessary expense. I have had this problem (and cure) twice and my son has had it once with Sear's fridges made by GE.

Had to replace the water switch once, but it seems they fail in the closed position so that no water comes through.

Hope this helps.

SJF

[jeff]

Hi,

Model#?? Kenmore is made by several different companies. Some model# helps....

Icemaker body finish may be comming off and the cubes are sticking inside, heater inside the icemaker may not be warming up the cubes so they can be dropped out....a couple of possible trouble makers.

Many icemaker themselves today are not repaired due to high parts prices and labour involved, replacement is sometimes cheaper and often easier.

jeff. Appliance Repair Aid

[dbird]

most repair places will not mess with the old ice maker(so this gives you an idea that its not worth fixing..) they just replace the whole icemaker...with them time is money and it would take too long to take it apart and mess with it to find the problem.... about 10 yrs. ago i took ours out to fix it(been fixing stuff for about 30 yrs. with no problems.. i had the repair books on all the appliances including a seperate one for the icemaker.. its still in the shop/garage in a box in pieces... i could not figure it out with the books... everything seemed to be alright, it just would not work and filled up the freezer part with water...