Ice makers-anyone know them?

[Hay Dude]

Have a Scotsman Ice maker in my kitchen. Love it. Makes perfect cubes for soft drinks, adult beverages or when one of the kids needs lots of ice for a bruise, or a cooler for sports drinks.
Generally, it works great. It happily harvests cubes.
However, once every few months, the cubes melt and it stops harvesting cubes. It won’t make enough cubes to keep the tub full to the point where it just runs and makes nothing.
I tried cleaning it and looking for anything, but there’s nothing obvious
Finally, I just began unplugging it for 2 days, then plugging it back in. It triggers something and it works again very well.
Any idea why it stops making cubes, then works again after 2 days of being turned off?

 

[JPRambo]

Water is freezing in the supply line in the back of the unit? Filter is needing replaced?

 

[k0ua]

I am far far from an expert on this, and hope that some refrigeration man will come along and tell us the facts, BUT if I was to guess, I would guess that the compressor may have a thermal cutout and the compressor may be getting hot and this thermal "fuse" opens and stops operation. When all cools down it automatically resets and the compressor will start again and start the cooling process. The thing is essentially a small freezer with a big icemaker like your normal fridge has. Perhaps it is low on coolant?. This is all speculation on my part, so don't take this as gospel.

 

[MoKelly]

We didn’t have that brand, but had a large ice machine at the tennis club.

It started doing the same thing. Works well then starts to slow down and gets to a point where it doesn’t make ice.

Unplug - let sit a day - and it works again.

Turned out the mechanism where the ice discharges was getting blocked up due to a small leak when new water was pumped in to make ice. The leak caused a spray and over time that spray water iced up and blocked the discharge. The blocked discharge made the machine think it didn’t need to make ice.

Unplugging the machine caused the ice block to melt over time and all would be good until it slowly happened again.

Good luck.

MoKelly

 

[k0ua]

Of course you did say "it runs and makes nothing".. So if the compressor is running and the temp inside is below 32 but no cubes are made, then my compressor idea won't hold water. Pun intended.

 

[kenmac]

could be any number of things. water pump , water pump relay, etc,etc, Is it new enough to have a circuit board ? Perhaps a relay on the circuit board that controls something else. ie the compressor, etc

 

[i7win7]

Turned out the mechanism where the ice discharges was getting blocked up due to a small leak when new water was pumped in to make ice.
MoKelly

Or the sensor or switch that tells machine ice bin is full?

 

[Hay Dude]

Or the sensor or switch that tells machine ice bin is full?

I don’t *think* there is one. The funny thing about this ice make is the cabinet is insulated, but only refrigerated by the ice and the ice making equipment itself. There’s no “duct” blowing cold air into the ice cube cabinet. The bottom cubes melt off and the water runs out in a tube into a drain.

There IS an ice cube level control knob

 

[Oaktree]

Wow, do some people use that much ice? We've just got a couple old-fashioned ice trays that make all we'll ever need. I've read that icemakers in general are rather troublesome.
I'm thinking K0ua's suggestion is probably the most likely culprit.

 

[Bird]

I think Oaktree is right. The ice maker in our refrigerator was replaced - again - yesterday, as is done at least once a year. And this time it took the technician a couple of months to get the right part from Sears. So for a couple of months I've been using the old fashioned ice trays and having more ice than we could use.

 

[Doughknob]

Water is freezing in the supply line in the back of the unit? Filter is needing replaced?

I'd vote for one of these or, also, possibly very dirty compessor coils overheating.

 

[workinonit]

Condenser coils dirty or possibly a defrost control. Or something in the water supply. Really it could be anything.

 

[i7win7]

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Much cheaper than fridge with ice maker. No need for extra plumbing, just keep adding water. Also cheap enough to attempt DIY repairs before replacing it

 

[k0ua]

I think Oaktree is right. The ice maker in our refrigerator was replaced - again - yesterday, as is done at least once a year. And this time it took the technician a couple of months to get the right part from Sears. So for a couple of months I've been using the old fashioned ice trays and having more ice than we could use.

I just got done replacing the ice maker in our 21 year old refrigerator a few minutes ago. It was replaced with a generic for Whirlpool/Maytag (ours is an old Maytag.) Man what a job to get the the auger bucket out and unplugged, you need to have arms like an orangutan and about the same height too. Needless to say I had a hard time and did not enjoy it even one bit. $70 for the new icemaker if anyone wants to know. I hope it works.

 

[ljjhouser]

Does it have a defrost coil? Does it have excessive ice buildup?

 

[RalphVa]

Have a Scotsman Ice maker in my kitchen. Love it. Makes perfect cubes for soft drinks, adult beverages or when one of the kids needs lots of ice for a bruise, or a cooler for sports drinks.
Generally, it works great. It happily harvests cubes.
However, once every few months, the cubes melt and it stops harvesting cubes. It won’t make enough cubes to keep the tub full to the point where it just runs and makes nothing.
I tried cleaning it and looking for anything, but there’s nothing obvious
Finally, I just began unplugging it for 2 days, then plugging it back in. It triggers something and it works again very well.
Any idea why it stops making cubes, then works again after 2 days of being turned off?
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View attachment 716791

Had one in the Louisiana kitchen. Liked it; so got one here. Had trouble getting repair people to come fix it. Finally shut it down. Just using the ice maker in my kitchen frig down here in the basement.

 

[kenmac]

I have seen many people install these things and never put an ice maker filter on the water line. And those that do, never replace them.
Sooner ,or later, either will cause problems

 

[grsthegreat]

Ive had 2 dedicated ice makers installed downstairs over the last 20 years. They do only use the ice to keep cold. They are not freezers. The reason is they want the older ice to melt off and always have fresh ice.
I have to descale them every few years to clear scale off of unit, especially if it uses cutting wires.
im not sure what is causing ice to stop, but I’m thinking it’s freezing the water supply line. Scaling of water line may be causing issues if supply line is getting occluded allowing for easier freezing to occur.
have you tried looking up an operator manual and see if there are any troubleshooting tips.

 

[Streetcar]

Water is freezing in the supply line in the back of the unit? Filter is needing replaced?

Forgiven the quote above as I can’t post without it
on my machine ,fill sensor was bad. Same symptoms as op
turning machine off would reset and it would make cubes until sensor failed again
expensive part

 

[k0ua]

I just got done replacing the ice maker in our 21 year old refrigerator a few minutes ago. It was replaced with a generic for Whirlpool/Maytag (ours is an old Maytag.) Man what a job to get the the auger bucket out and unplugged, you need to have arms like an orangutan and about the same height too. Needless to say I had a hard time and did not enjoy it even one bit. $70 for the new icemaker if anyone wants to know. I hope it works.

The auger bucket is full of ice, seems to be working.