Ice Maker Troubleshooting

[MackenzieKatherine]

Its a crisis – the ice maker has stopped functioning!! Luckily we had a few cubes left for happy hour tonight, but to avoid another crisis tomorrow night, I need to resolve this!!

My problem is in the “no water in the ice maker” category. For troubleshooting, I first defrosted the freezer to make sure nothing was stuck. Next I checked the water supply valve behind the fridge. There was water on the supply side, but none coming out of the valve. Next I jumpered the valve solenoid and got water flowing by connecting 120v to the valve.

I have the ice maker removed from the freezer, and after reading a few posts here, I am leaning towards testing the thermal switch that connects to the back of the ice maker next. It is an inline thermal cutout that is in the wiring harness that goes into the ice maker. I read a post on here that it is recommended to replace the entire harness if that thermal is bad, but I don’t see that happening.

I would like to test this component next, but am not real sure how to do that without tearing it up. It appears to be covered in a thick shrink tubing. Any thoughts on how to easily test this? Anyone know where this wire goes to? Any other thoughts for troubleshooting? I read a post that mentioned a troubleshooting manual for download that allowed testing of certain points on the ice maker. Link to that?

This is for a Norcold 1200LRIM 4-door. 120v at the wiring harness going into the icemaker. Water supply solenoid functional when jumped. 45+ psi shore-supplied water pressure. Fully defrosted. Warm cocktails.

Any help muchly appreciated. Of course I have pictures that I will post up a bit later ….

 

[MatthewAnthony]

Try this

http://www.gasrefrigeration.net/nor_…00_621823d.pdf

You did have the arm down didn’t you?

[MatthewAnthony]

okay ill try..

[MackenzieKatherine]

Thanks for the links. Looks like will be the most help right now. It has full troubleshooting steps.

a k: Yes, first thing I checked. Then I stuck my hand into the cube tray and found there was no water in there. It seemed like once the last batch was done, it just didn’t refill, which I found odd.

Thanks again to the both of you for the links. I appreciate the help.

[MatthewAnthony]

I have often described the sequence on an ice maker, Perhaps I should boiler plate it.. First, far as I know both Dometic and Norcold use U-Line ice makers,, so this is the U-Line sequience

When the ice tray gets cold enough (I think 25F but am not sure) the thermostat closes, the timer motor starts and the gears turn.. As the gear turns a cam closes a switch which bypasses the T-Stat, the U-Shaped heater comes on (With the motor) and a cam raises the wire bail.. The “Fingers” turn down and press against the ice cubes.. When this happens the motor stalls out (normal so don’t worry about it) till the heater melts the ice where it contacts the tray.. Then the motor continues to run and the fingers push the ice cresents out of the tray THe cresents will either fall off the fingers or be scraped off by other fingers…..later

Once the ice is out of the tray a cam closes a switch sending power (Far as I know the full 120 volts) to the solenoid. This switch is adjustable (The screw with teh +/- markings under the front cover) so as to compensate for differing water pressures.

possible issues and solutions:
#1 is TEMP, both Suspect #1 and 1st thing that can go wrong. If it does not get cold enough, it won’t start the cycle. To test, Use a thermometer.

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