Kenmore side-by-side: no ice

[Percival P. Cassidy]

Kenmore 106.56532400 side-by-side refrigerator/freezer (made by Whirlpool, I understand) about 8-9 years old. Never a spot of trouble until now.

It's quit making ice. The solenoids for the water valves have electrical continuity (~250 and ~350 ohms). The freezer temperature is well below

10F. No sign of any blockage of the water-delivery tube.

I've found some on-line discussions of this model, with some suggested diagnostic tests, one of which says to unplug the appliance, then plug it in again, then open the freezer door within 60 seconds and observe the flashing-LED sequences: different numbers of flashes are supposed to indicate checks of different components. I do not see any flashes: when I first open the freezer door, the LED is on solid, but then goes out and after a short delay resumes its normal (normal for when the door is open) flash-flash-pause sequence. If I hold in the little flap that blocks the sensor beam, the LED is illuminated continuously.

I poured water into the ice-maker using a turkey baster, and there is now ice, but the cubes are not being discharged into the dispenser.

Bad ice-maker unit, or bad control circuitry (i.e., expensive printed-circuit board)?

Perce

[trader_4]

You've probably checked already, but is there an ice cube jamming it up? Couple weeks ago mine stopped making ice too. There was a cube caught in the fingers that push the ice out.

Also, what position are those fingers in? In the start position? Stopped somewhere in between? If it's in the normal home position, does it move and go through a cycle? A piece of tape put on could determine that. That would help isolate the problem. If it's a no water problem, the mechanism would still be turning, going through it's cycle. If it doesn't move, then you know it's something else. At that point I guess it's find a schematic, which is often on the unit behind one of the covers, and start debugging.

[Ed Pawlowski]

My money is on the ice maker. It is the most common repair needed on refrigerators. Make sure nothing is hindering the cycle. Sometimes a cube get stuck in the fingers and jams it. If that is the problem once unjammed it may have to go through a dry cycle before it fills again.

Worse case scenario is to replace the unit. I'd remove it, let that, then try it again.

[dadiOH]

How do you know the delivery tube isn't blocked? Have you defrosted it recently?

[gfretwell]

You need to pull the ice maker out to access the end cap. You can force a cycle by sticking a wire in holes T and H at the 4 o'clock position of the gear. An insulated piece of #14 solid with about 1/2" stripped at each end is perfect. This is 120v so be sure you use insulated wire for a jumper. Once it starts, pull out the jumper.

If you get a complete cycle with a water fill you are down to the photo cell pair (the LEDS seem to say it is OK or the "head" (the brown plastic plate and all the stuff on it)

99% of the time you will fix this by replacing the head if the LEDS are working right.

This is the wiring diagram for the "ice in the door" model (the one with the LED "full" detector) These are the LED cards

The receiver board is the one on the right of the cabinet.

This is the whole fridge diagram

The ice maker is in the lower right quadrant

The diagram is usually wadded up behind the front kick panel somewhere.

[Percival P. Cassidy]

I found the diagnostic chart behind the kick panel and could then see where the contacts were that others had mentioned. I jumpered the H and T contacts to bypass the bi-metal strip and the thing got warm, but the mechanism did not turn, so I assumed that the little motor has died (I had a similar motor on a washing machine die a few decades ago). HOWEVER, the motor is not open circuit: DC resistance of ~4K Ohms. But I did see that the gear wheel marked "do not turn manually" slides in and out on its shaft and does not always allow the contacts on its underside to contact the "fingers" that poke through from the inside. Yet even pushing the wheel in and jumpering the H and T contacts does not cause the mechanism to operate and push the ice cubes out.

Perce

[gfretwell]

A new head will fix that most of the time. Then the question is whether you can get the whole icemaker for about the same price. These things do go on sale at the appliance parts places. I have had good luck with Midwest but YMMV. I was getting the flyer from midwest for a while and I bought the icemakers when they had a sale on. I usually have a good spare on the shelf since I have 5 that I end up fixing when they break. (2 here, 2 at my father in laws and one at the kids house.). The icemaker itself is the same across several product lines and brands. It is just the screw on plastic parts that are different on each model.

[Pavel314]

On Sunday, February 15, 2015 at 7:48:56 AM UTC-5, Percival P. Cassidy wrote :

When mine wouldn't make or discharge ice, I filled a spray bottle with hot water and sprayed it into the area where the ice cubes form before discharg e. I gave it a good soaking and it started working again. Must have been a bit of ice lodged in there somewhere that the hot water melted and washed a way.

Paul

[gfretwell]

The rubber fill tube coming down from the top can plug solid with ice. That is a common failure.

[Norminn]

I haven't read many responses, mainly because I don't know anything about the electrical discussion. We have a Frigidaire SBS that had intermittent problems with the icemaker. Had a repair guy out once, who was too obese to get down and really tinker behind the fridge; he finally decided it was water pressure and went down to the basement and changed out the little saddle valve for the water supply. Worked for a little while. I was tempted to just order a new icemaker, but fortunately found AppliancePartsPros.com....they have all kinds of instructional videos, model specific, as well as terrific on-line assessment of your individual problems. I sent a description of our finicky, intermittent icemaking lapses and got back a suggestion to order (with part number) the control valve that goes on the back of the fridge. The instructions supplied with the part were kind of vague (to me), but their video for changing out the part was great! And it works! You can also read other users' problems and solutions, and AppliancePartsPros.com then sent an inquiry to find out whether your problem is solved. I give them five stars!

[Stormin Mormon]

If the water valve has a slow leak.

- . Christopher A. Young learn more about Jesus .

. .