Thread: Anyone know anything about icemakers?

This is in my own house that I recently moved into.... it's a GE Monogram under counter ice maker. It's about 10 years old and has worked great for the 6 months I've been here and just stopped making ice all of the sudden.

It has power and water but won't make cubes any longer. At the recommendation of a tech I talked to I took the thing apart to clean all of the minerals off of the parts (it turns out there is a lot). The wire 'grill' consists of two wires woven in a grid pattern. One wire is broken where there are a bunch of minerals.

My question would be if anyone knows if this will keep it from making ice? For sure? Maybe? Also, is 're-stringing' this thing as easy as it looks or should I just take it somewhere? I looked online and couldn't find the model number or any info. I'm halfway thinking since it's 10 years old it's not really worth putting much, if any, money into.

Somebody please help! I'm stuck drinking warm cocktails until its fixed

Matt,

My only experience with ice makers is has been on my own as you.

The 3 times I've had problems it has been the small plastic gear that actually flips the ice from the tray that has been cracked. Once cracked it won't do jack.

Matt,

This may not be your unit but the guide may help TROUBLE SHOOT pg.14

http://products.geappliances.com/App.../r09059v-1.pdf

As Rick said once the gear goes the unit is pretty much toast. Unless you find one at the curbside trash pickup.

As a kid I remember these aluminum thingys with a handle that stuck to your fingers and hands and sometime hurt like the dickens that made cubes.

I think it was called an ice tray, or somthing like that. Filled it with water and put in the freezer for a few hours. About a gazillion years later they came out with plastic ones and now have silicone if you can't leave the dancer's alone.

Matt is not referring to the ice maker in a refrigerator, but a stand alone ice maker.

Most of the stand alone ice makers I've seen continuously run water over a freeze plate, which freezes the water into ice, nice clear ice, which leaves mineral deposits behind (like Matt found).

Once frozen to the right thickness, the plate warms, the slab of ice slides off onto a grid like Matt described, the grid heats up, the ice melts down through the grid, where the cubes drop into the bin.

There are other styles too, but typically the home models I've seen are those continuously running (water runs over the plate continuously) models with the freeze plate and cubing grid.

Matt,

I would think that 'not making ice' would be a problem with the refrigeration side. Whereas 'making ice in slabs' would result from the grid being broken and not melting the ice slab into cubes.

Is your ice maker the type which continuously run water over the plate?

Is the plate cold (cold enough to freeze water)?

If the above answers are 'yes', and if you have water running over the plate, you should have ice.

[QUOTE=Jerry Peck;12702]Matt is not referring to the ice maker in a refrigerator, but a stand alone ice maker.QUOTE]

Jerry,

I understood that. That is why I posted the link and the other information was in case he is not old enough to have ever seen an ice tray in the freezer compartment.

Just as some have never used a "church key" bottle/can opener.

Thus the and another for this post

Jerry nailed it... that's exactly what mine does. It will actually still makes ice on the plate but just stays in a big chunk. The tech said if I get too much stuff on the plate the ice won't slip off, which is a possibility in my case... which is why I even tore into this thing in the first place. That makes sense about the wires heating up to 'cut' the cubes. So, the wire being broken won't keep it from making ice, it just might make some pieces come out too big.

Whomever posted the link... thanks, I will check it out later... I gotta get out the door to a job.

Thanks guys.... come on by for a cold drink sometime... once have ice!

Originally Posted by Matt Fellman

It will actually still makes ice on the plate but just stays in a big chunk.

My guess, then, is that the heater in the plate is not working either, which (my guess) is because the heater in the plate and the grid are connected in series, and the broken wire has broken the heating circuit, thus the plate is not heating either.

Originally Posted by BARRY ADAIR

Thus the and another for this post

I missed the on your post.

I talked to an appliance guy today... the wires also loop to the heat plate so once they're severed the ice won't come off the plate, which is exactly what mine does... the problem is the replacement part is $350!! Yikes!

It looks like a pretty easy thing to fix if I had the right kind of wire. The appliance guy says it's a special stainless steel wire that is really expensive. It should be made of diamonds for what they're charging.

I can't see sinking that much money into a 10 year old appliance. If I can't find someone to 're-string' it I'll likley just have to shag my butt upstairs for ice.

Every icemaker I've seen that needs replacement is 350.

The appliance guys must all be in cahoots with one another on the replacement.

Matt,

I'd try two things first (to verify that's the problem and that it works after the grid wire is fixed).

1) take it to a high tech welding shop (may some jewelers who do repairs and make custom jewelry) and try to get the broken part welded/brazed/whatever back together

2) get a crimp on un-insulated butt splice and crimp it back together

If 1) can be done and it works afterward, you are done, for probably less than 20 bucks.

If 1) cannot be done, and 2) makes it work, then see if you can find a used ice maker like that (probably less than 50 bucks) and take the grid out of it, or, if 1) tells you 'I could fix it if I had a short piece of that special wire', then you now have 'a lot' of that special wire (because that grid may also be bad, but all you need is a short piece of that wire, so who cares).

Worth a shot anyway.

Thanks Jerry,

I was thinking of a similar plan of attack. It seems that there has to be some way to patch the wire long to at least see if it works.