11/01/2025
Hey there!
Recently I went on a call for a Kitchen Aid refrigerator that the ice maker had stopped working.
I’m afraid I was at a dis advantage from the start, since the information I had been given was the model number and that they needed a water filter.
This is an older (but good er) Whirlpool made refrigerator. I am compelled to write this post because it addresses a problem that so rarely ever comes up that you won’t find it in any service manuals.
Getting on the same page with my client, after installing the new filter and confirming water flow I was asked if the ice maker was going to work now. Being the first I had heard about it I turned the question back and asked if there had been a problem with the ice maker.
Okay, so new filter, but the ice maker had stopped prior to this.
This is the model that has the emitter/ sensor array across the bucket in the door. I ran the sensor array through a few steps and determined it was defective. I ordered the new parts and returned to install them only to discover the ice maker still did not function.
At this point I decided the quickest and easiest thing to do was to swap out the ice maker for a new one I had with me. Still no good.
After explaining to my client I would do some research then come back I went to the service manuals in this system. Suddenly I had a query about all of those wires connecting the array. Why did it need all those wires if it primary job was to simply turn the ice maker off when the ice is full?
I googled the question about all those wires and learned something new once again.
It turns out the sensor array does not communicate with the ice maker directly. It reports back to the main control board, which controls the functions of the ice maker.
Although I had repaired more than a hundred of these over the years this was only the second one without success.
I guess the moral to this is you should never assume you know all there is to know because there will be that day when you will be challenged. When that happens you need to be able to set aside your knowledge so that you are able to receive the information.
