Is your ice maker malfunctioning? A malfunctioning ice maker can be a frustrating irritation. Since it's nonessential, most people just learn to live with it. This is a mistake, because most problems that occur with an ice maker are fairly simple. For the most part, a malfunctioning ice maker is usually caused by a sensor that isn't working properly or a frozen ice block within the unit.

Lift the Sensor Arm

The sensor arm is what tells the ice maker to make or stop making ice. If your ice maker has stopped making ice entirely, it may be an issue with the sensor arm. Likewise if your ice maker just keeps making ice uncontrollably. This sensor arm is, as you can see, rather low tech. It just adjusts to the height of the ice and doesn't do anything beyond that. So if it was stuck in an upright position, you wouldn't be getting ice.

Defrost the Freezer

This is where the process gets a little extensive. You should now defrost the freezer rather than pulling out the ice. In some models, pulling out the ice can actually be dangerous--there is a grinder in there. But even in more current models, pulling out the ice probably won't help because the issue is probably frozen water inside of the unit itself. Modern freezers do not create "frost" the way that older freezers do, but they will still freeze water that has melted into their workings. Because these freezers aren't usually defrosted, this water will just build up and remain.

Place the Sensor Arm Back

Once the freezer has completely defrosted and all ice has been removed, you can safely put the sensor arm back and run the ice maker again. Usually, the process of defrosting will have removed anything blocking the sensor or the grinder and everything will work again--it really is that simple. However, if it doesn't work, you should check the sensor arm to see if it may be bent or warped. Otherwise, there may be an internal component that must be replaced.

Don't forget that most refrigerators come with a five year or ten year warranty. Pull out your warranty card to check. You may be able to get an appliance repair technician to take a look at your ice maker at no charge to you. Sure it doesn't seem like that big of an inconvenience, but getting it fixed should be a fairly straightforward process, too. For more information, contact a local appliance repair company, like Master Tech Mechanical.