Whirlpool Side-by-Side Refrigerator Ice Dispenser Problem

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Old 04-18-2019, 12:12 PM
firebiker firebiker is offline
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Default Whirlpool Side-by-Side Refrigerator Ice Dispenser Problem

My Whirlpool frig won't dispense ice. Push the lever and nothing happens. Nothing is frozen up and "auger" will turn manually. Any suggestions?
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Old 04-18-2019, 12:42 PM
thetruth thetruth is offline
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Originally Posted by firebiker View Post
My Whirlpool frig won't dispense ice. Push the lever and nothing happens. Nothing is frozen up and "auger" will turn manually. Any suggestions?
For example, did you change the filter? Is the water shut off valve shut off. Ours is behind the refrigerator. You need to pull the refrigerator out to shut the valve. I assume it is possible to kink the hose. Or to forget to turn the valve back on. Aside-yes I believe I've read it is not necessary to shut the water off to change the filter BUT, why tempt fate? Also, you should vacuum the coils every six months anyway.

Also, the filter, a new one is filled with air not water. Before I change the filter, I take a glass of water and pour it into the filter so that you do not need to wrestle with the system to eliminate the air. If, that is the problem, you can shut off the water, take out the filter, pour water into it and reinstall the filter.

Off brand filters a friend has not a Westinghouse but a Sanyo.
He used an off brand filter and broke what ever that piece is called that the filter mounts to. Sanyo voided the warranty-his bill was far more than any saving on an unknown filter.
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Old 04-18-2019, 12:44 PM
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alwann alwann is offline
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Default Ice maker

Likely the unit has failed. Mine died after three years. Luckily, it was still under warranty.
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Old 04-18-2019, 01:15 PM
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We are on the 3rd ice maker unit, the last one is a different design, hope it will last longer. We used beck's for the repairs. The first one i could have done easily, the second took over 45 minutes as the wiring harness had to be changed.....
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Old 04-18-2019, 01:25 PM
retiredguy123 retiredguy123 is offline
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Originally Posted by thetruth View Post
For example, did you change the filter? Is the water shut off valve shut off. Ours is behind the refrigerator. You need to pull the refrigerator out to shut the valve. I assume it is possible to kink the hose. Or to forget to turn the valve back on. Aside-yes I believe I've read it is not necessary to shut the water off to change the filter BUT, why tempt fate? Also, you should vacuum the coils every six months anyway.

Also, the filter, a new one is filled with air not water. Before I change the filter, I take a glass of water and pour it into the filter so that you do not need to wrestle with the system to eliminate the air. If, that is the problem, you can shut off the water, take out the filter, pour water into it and reinstall the filter.

Off brand filters a friend has not a Westinghouse but a Sanyo.
He used an off brand filter and broke what ever that piece is called that the filter mounts to. Sanyo voided the warranty-his bill was far more than any saving on an unknown filter.
If you pull out the refrigerator, it is a good idea to place a hard piece of plexiglass on the floor to protect it. This is especially important if you have a sheet vinyl or wood floor. The tiny plastic wheels on the refrigerator can damage almost any flooring except ceramic tile. Also, I don't think the filter actually filters the ice maker water, but I am not sure.
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Old 04-18-2019, 02:24 PM
Villageswimmer Villageswimmer is offline
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We have what sounds like the same problem. The ice maker makes the ice fine but will not dispense. We gave up messing with it and just open the freezer door and get the ice out of the bin.

When you press the dispenser thingy, you can hear the auger rotating but no ice comes out.

Our problem is definitely not related to the filter.
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Old 04-18-2019, 02:26 PM
Villageswimmer Villageswimmer is offline
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Forgot to add that our fridge is 9 years old so definitely out of warranty. First problem we’ve had with it.
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Old 04-18-2019, 03:31 PM
Navy (SSBN 633) Navy (SSBN 633) is offline
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had same problem few weeks ago....ice maker and master memory board had to be replaced
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Old 04-18-2019, 03:45 PM
retiredguy123 retiredguy123 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Villageswimmer View Post
We have what sounds like the same problem. The ice maker makes the ice fine but will not dispense. We gave up messing with it and just open the freezer door and get the ice out of the bin.

When you press the dispenser thingy, you can hear the auger rotating but no ice comes out.

Our problem is definitely not related to the filter.
Are you sure the auger is engaged with the bin? It needs to be pushed all the way back. You may want to pull out the bin and completely empty it and reinstalled it.
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Old 04-19-2019, 05:48 AM
Villageswimmer Villageswimmer is offline
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Are you sure the auger is engaged with the bin? It needs to be pushed all the way back. You may want to pull out the bin and completely empty it and reinstalled it.
You may very well be on to something. I didn’t mention this. The bin is removable BUT for some reason we can’t remove it now. First, we thought it was frozen and put some hot water down there. After we were sure all the ice melted, we still couldn’t remove it.
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Old 04-27-2019, 12:01 PM
firebiker firebiker is offline
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I've tried almost all of your suggestions. It makes ice just fine. Will resort to using a scouper for now. Thanks for your replies.
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Old 04-27-2019, 02:34 PM
HiHoSteveO HiHoSteveO is offline
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Default Post #9 is the answer

As mentioned in post #9, the auger is most likely not going into the ice bin receptacle properly.

Ice is made OK and everything sounds normal, but no ice comes out. The auger in the plastic ice bin is not turning. That's the problem.

The ice bin VERY EASILY can be prevented from being pushed all the way in. Looks like it's all the way in, but it's not. Ice cubes or ice debris block they way. Or the auger is just plain not lining up.

Sometimes the ice bin is just as difficult to remove.
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Old 04-27-2019, 08:25 PM
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Default Ice Maker problem

It sounds like my Whirlpool is about the same age as yours. The ice maker acts up sometimes. I take the ice maker from the door. I then shut the ice maker off. I empty the cubes into a dish and put them back into fridge. I then use hot water to clean the bin. Now the most important part. Where the ice maker meets the bottom hinge of where it sits sometimes has ice...even a small amount in it will cause the ice maker not to work. I use a small fork to clean it out. Transfer the cubes back into the ice maker...turn it back on and wait until you hear the first cube drop..maybe 3 hours.

Wish you the best of luck.
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Old 04-27-2019, 10:33 PM
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I think there is a law some place that they can not work for more than a few months. We gave up on ours in our old ref and our new one.

Look on YouTube for instructions on how to fix. One of my neighbors did fix their by pulling out the old unit and putting in a new one.
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Old 04-30-2019, 12:30 PM
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blueash blueash is offline
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The solution to the ice cube maker problem is a great invention which takes less space and never requires a repair.
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