Repair stories from PartSelect's customers - like you. We give all our customers a chance to help out others by sharing the story of their appliance repair. You can find useful tips as well as estimates of the difficulty of the repair and how long it will take, along with any tools you may require to complete your repair.
|
Visitor Rating
|
|
ICE Maker stopped making ice.
|
|
|
Overall Rating:
Very Helpful
Rated By:
26 Customers
Posted By:
harry From Tullahoma, TN
Posted:
8/21/2007 9:06:50 PM
|
|
|
Appliance Repaired:
|
Maytag
Refrigerator
|
|
|
|
|
Age Of Appliance:
|
5 - 10 years
|
I removed the failed ice maker and performed a post-mortum to detemine the root-cause of the failure. Removal began with me reaching behind the icemaker and disconnecting the power to the icemaker. Then I removed the single screw that attached the supporting "L" bracket located on the bottom of the icemaker unit. I then carefully lifted the bottom of the icemaker away from the wall. This move disengaged the two plastic latching features that anchored the top of the icemaker to the refrigerator wall. I could then pull the unit out so that I could inspect it for the problem.
I have had experience with failed icemakers of similar design in the past and there is a fundamental weakness in their design. The small electric motor that is used to activate the various steps involved in making the ice moves a set of copper finger contacts around a circular track. During this movement, these contacts frequently make and break the electrical circuit that turns on the small heating element that is used to lightly thaw the ice so that the extraction fingers can more easily sweep the latest batch of ice cubes from the ice making tray. This making and braking of contacts can occur several times a day. Over the lifespan of the icemaker, this making and braking of the contacts erodes the contact fingers and also builds up a residue of carbon that ultimately results in the loss of electrical contact between the fingers and the copper track that it normally rides upon. Once the electrical contact is lost, the icemaking process comes to a grinding halt.
Installing the replacement icemaker was a breeze. I just reversed the order of the previous steps and after reconnecting the power cable to the icemaker, it was back in the icemaking business. Of course there was a waiting period of approximately one hour before any ice was forthcoming since the new icemaker had to cold soak before it was ready to make the first batch. It has made ice consistenly since the installation.
|
| Parts Used: |
|
| Level of difficulty: |
Easy |
| Time to do repair: |
15 - 30 mins |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Parts Used in this Repair
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
Ice Maker Assembly (Now subbed to Ice Maker Assembly)
|
|
The part 'Ice Maker Assembly' that harry From Tullahoma, TN used in this story is now subbed to part Ice Maker Assembly This replacement ice maker mechanism does not come with a cover, a wire harness, or the mounting hardware.
|
|
|
|
Repair stories are provided by PartSelect customers and are not intended to replace an on-site diagnosis or advice from a qualified appliance service technician. Difficulty of repair and time to repair may vary based on experience.
See the index of all our appliance repair stories.