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An empty ice bin in an open freezer drawer, a few cubes stuck to the bottom.

Why the ice maker is doing that

Common problems
guides.

What your ice maker is telling you when the bin stays empty, the cubes come out small or hollow, or the door dispenser whirs and drops nothing at all.

(844) 773-0701

Mon–Sat, 8am–8pm

  • Three guides
  • Read before you book
  • Says where to stop

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Common problems,
guide by guide.

Read these when the ice has changed: the bin sits empty, the cubes come out as thin shells, or the door dispenser hums and gives you nothing. Every guide opens with the evidence in front of you, with the bin pulled and a flashlight on the mold, and ranks the likely reasons from the one we find most often to the one we find least.

All 18 guides
A side-by-side freezer door standing open in a lived-in US home kitchen, the ice bin pulled halfway out and nearly empty below a white ice maker with its wire arm lowered, frosted food packages on the shelves beside it.
6-minute read

Why the ice maker stopped making ice: bin, switch, cold or water

A raised arm, a scoop in the bin, an ice-off icon, a freezer above 0°F or a mold that never gets water, in the order worth checking before any part is blamed.

A handful of thin, hollow crescent ice cubes spread on a dark dish towel on a US kitchen counter, beside the open freezer drawer of a French door model whose ice bin shows a few small cubes.
5-minute read

Why ice cubes come out small or hollow, and what the shape says

Reading shells, stunted crescents and shards, timing the dispenser with a cup, and finding the filter, valve, kink or reverse osmosis tank that shortens every fill.

A glass pressed against the ice paddle of a stainless door dispenser in a lived-in US home kitchen, the chute empty, while the open door beside it shows an ice bin packed with cubes fused into one block.
5-minute read

Why the door dispenser won't give ice when the bin is full

Locks and Sabbath settings, cubes fused into a block, a jam in the chute, a flap frozen shut and an auger turned out of line, followed through from the bin to the glass.

Why the ice maker is doing that.

One complaint can have four separate starting points. An empty bin under a freezer ice maker with a wire arm, inside the sealed box of a door ice maker, in an undercounter clear-ice model or in a countertop nugget maker each calls for a different first look, and the guides take them side by side.

Water is usually part of the story, and now and then it reaches the floor. For that case the opening lines of each guide put safety first: turn the supply valve off, keep away from outlets, and cut power at the breaker only when you can reach the panel without standing in water.

Not sure where to start?

The short answerWhy the ice maker stopped making ice: bin, switch, cold or water

When an ice maker stopped making ice, check four things in order: whether it thinks the bin is full (a raised arm, a pushed-back paddle, ice heaped under the mold), whether it has been switched off, whether the freezer is near 0°F, and whether water reaches the mold at all.

The short answerWhy ice cubes come out small or hollow, and what the shape says

Small or hollow ice cubes almost always mean the mold gets too little water per cycle, because the fill valve opens for a set time and low pressure delivers less in that time.

The short answerWhy the door dispenser won't give ice when the bin is full

When the dispenser won't give ice but the bin is full, look at the path the ice travels: a control lock or Sabbath setting, a door not fully shut, cubes fused into a block in the bin, a jam in the chute, a flap frozen shut, or an auger that was turned out of line when the bin was removed.

When reading
is not enough.

If the checks in these guides did not settle it, the visit picks up from there, stop by stop.

What repairs cost
  1. 01Water traced from the valve to the mold
  2. 02A number before the work
  3. 03Everyday ice maker parts already on board
  4. 04Filled, frozen and dropped in front of you

The problems
these answer.

Each has a page of its own, with the causes in the order worth checking.

All 17 problems
An open bottom freezer drawer in a US home kitchen showing an empty white ice bin and the gray ice maker mold above it with its row of dry cube cups, a dispensing glass sitting unused on the counter. Problem

No Ice Coming From the Ice Maker

7 causes, cheapest first

 An ice bin lifted out of a freezer drawer and set in a stainless kitchen sink, its cubes fused into one solid frosted block with a thin sheet of ice across the bottom. Problem

Ice Clumped or Frozen in the Bin

5 causes, cheapest first

 The back of a freezer ice maker mold inside an open freezer compartment, the white plastic fill cup choked with a clear plug of ice and short icicles hanging from it over the empty cube cups. Problem

Ice Maker Fill Tube Frozen

5 causes, cheapest first

 A stainless countertop nugget ice maker on a quartz kitchen counter in a US home, its front bin door open to show a nearly empty bin with a few wet, slushy pellets, the clear side water tank low. Problem

Nugget Ice Maker Not Making Nugget Ice

6 causes, cheapest first
A parent and a child filling two glasses with ice from the door dispenser in a bright family kitchen
For the heart of your home.

Questions about
common problems.

Which ice problems need attention today, and which can sit for a few days?
Water spreading across the floor, water inside a cabinet or wall, and a breaker that keeps tripping are same-day problems; turn the supply off before anything else. An empty bin, shrinking cubes or a dispenser that stays silent can wait for an appointment while a bag of store ice covers the gap.
Are these pages written around a particular make?
No. They start from the symptom and the kind of ice maker, and they quote a maker's own help page only when a specific figure or instruction needs one.
What is useful to fetch before starting on one of them?
A flashlight, a measuring cup, a towel and the model and serial label, which sits inside the compartment or on the unit's frame. Almost every check here needs nothing else.

The other
sections.

Split by what you are trying to find out rather than by which part of the appliance it concerns.

All guides
A hand lifting the wire shutoff arm on a freezer ice maker, the bin below half full.
Ice maker checks an owner can safely make

Troubleshooting

A new water filter cartridge on a counter beside a refrigerator's open filter cover.
Keeping the ice maker out of trouble

Maintenance and prevention

A clean ice bin drying upside down on a rack beside a kitchen sink.
Keeping water, wiring and ice safe

Water, power and clean ice

Three glasses on a counter, one of crescent cubes, one of clear cubes and one of nugget ice.
Deciding what ice maker to keep or buy

Choosing and comparing

A coil of braided water line and a shutoff valve on the floor behind a refrigerator pulled from the wall.
Water lines, first ice and a unit left alone

Installation and setup

Not sure which section?

Start from your question

The four questions most visits start with, each with the guide that answers it.

18 guidesWhere to start Where to start

Back to your everyday

Let’s get your ice maker working again.

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