Whirlpool refrig won't make ice

[chrisinva]

Grrr!
We have the Whirlpool refrig with 4 doors, icemaker & water dispenser; 2.5 yrs old. Have returned after 4 months away. Before leaving, we emptied the ice bin & turned off the icemaker (not the entire frig). Upon returning we turned on the icemaker. Now, the icemaker won’t make ice.

Removed ice bin, found a small block of ice the size of a lunch sandwich wrapped around the wire that pushes ice out; let it melt off & returned bin to icemaker slot. Seems to fit in snuggly so I guess it’s in there right. That was yesterday. Still no ice. Water dispenses with no problem. Suggestions? Many thanks!

[RICH1]

Dear Snowbird, I would Fire it! could be frozen, and a hair dryer may be used to thaw the hose, which is Frozen solid..I also see how you mentioned 4 months, very well played...

[MACH7SS]

I agree with Rich1's suggestion. A frozen water supply hose will stop the ice maker. However, we just dumped our Whirlpool refrigerator in favor of a new LG ThinQ with dual ice makers. The reason? Whirlpools are notorious for their design flaw of passing their non-replaceable wire harness thru the door. Once the freezer door is opened and closed numerous times, the wire harness begins to cut itself. I spliced several wires together over a 4 year period until I have finally run out of patience. And worse, the harness is not replaceable. The entire door needs to be replaced. I sincerely hope your ice failure is as simple as a frozen or clogged water supply line.

[xkeowner]

Be careful about using a hairdrier. I melted part of the plastic on our Whirlpool and had to replace the ice maker which was not that big a job. Before doing anything else I would unplug the refrigerator, wait ten seconds, then plug it back in to reset the computer controls. May not solve the problem but a quick and free procedure which has restarted more than one device with computer controls.

[villagetinker]

OP, use the internet, enter you make and model number and ice maker problem, you should several suggestions, as well as several youtube videos, I have fixed ours at least twice, both times the fill tube froze.

[Decadeofdave]

This may sound rudimentary, flip the ice shut off arm up and down a few times, that frees my Whirlpool ice maker. May take several hours after I do this to get first ice.

[Michael G.]

Our neighbor (also snowbirds) have the same trouble with their ice maker on their Whirlpool refrigerator.
Had the service man over to fix the ice maker 3 X.

They called Whirlpool and Whirlpool is giving their $$$$ back and they can keep the refrigerator.

[Topspinmo]

Probably needs defrosted (not the automatic mode that refrigerator does, but the old fashion defrosting) I would do that before I called repairman. I don’t know what model you have but ice maker usually pretty easy to replace (two screws and harness)

[JerryP]

OP, had the same exact issue, used the hair dryer on the tail end of the water supply tube and a 1” piece of ice came out. Works fine now.

[Malsua]

Dear Snowbird, I would Fire it! could be frozen, and a hair dryer may be used to thaw the hose, which is Frozen solid..I also see how you mentioned 4 months, very well played...

There is an alternative to a hair dryer. I used it on our older Samsung up north when it would get frost bound.

Get a 2 liter bottle, fill it with water near the boiling temp. We had one of those in-sink boilers, but you could use a kettle just as well.

This particular Samsung allowed you to pull out the tray, so you could put the bottle in there and cover the opening with something to hold the heat in. I also put paper towels under to sop up dripping liquid.

If your ice maker is an open one, just get it up close to it.

Power off the fridge, insert bottle, wait. It usually took three bottles over about 90 minutes and all the ice was gone, but the fridge stayed cool enough that the food doesn't go off.

It distorts the hell out of the 2 liter bottle and you need something to handle it. I have food grade insulated gloves I used but a towel works too.

The upside is you don't have to worry about damaging something. Nothing in your fridge will melt being near 200 degree water.

[chrisinva]

Our frig is dispensing ice now! Appears to have been a frozen line. Thanks for all your effective & creative suggestions. You all are the BEST.:super:

[RICH1]

THANK YOU , for the follow-up! we will all be over for Happy Hour! Take care