Icemaker Rant

[gMike]

Is there anything sold in this world that has as many problems as the in-freezer icemaker? If so, I sure haven't found it. I've had the icemaker out of our old Whirlpool refrigerator more times than I can count. It leaks, stops working whenever it feels like it, and doesn't make much ice.

If I had just a little more counter space I'd order a standalone icemaker and rip the old one out by the roots, light a bonfire, and dance around it in a loin cloth before throwing the certified POS into the flames.

If you get the gist that I'm pissed at it you'd be right!

<Rant off>

I feel a little better...

[whatline]

Replaced our 20 yr fri she about 5 yrs ago with a ge side by side. That ice maker was replaced 3 times under warranty. Now we use the old ice trays

[Robert Adams]

Have only had one issue and that was with an odd one. It had a large sheet with dimples. Filled with water then froze and the motor twisted the sheet to pop the ice out. It developed stress cracks in it. Unfortunately the replacement was the conventional curved shape that sits in the glass like a dam and causes drinking problems...

[pprobus]

Sorry, Mike, but our ice maker has been relatively trouble free. We had to replace the refrigerator that came with the house, about 10 years ago. It is a side by side with a removable ice collector on the door and on the door ice and water dispensing. We don't go through a lot of ice, so every so often, I have to pull the ice collector and dump it because the ice will freeze together. Occasionally, the ice will only collect to one side, resulting in a dumping as well, but overall it works quite well. The only time when we have had problems with leaking, it was because someone did not close the freezer all the way or the freezer was overloaded and the door popped open, the ice melted and water dripped out of the ice chute on the door (where the ice drops into a cup) and overflowed the shallow water collector.

I know from reading Consumer Reports that this is a weak spot in many refrigerators. However, there is only one time, going back to when I was growing up, that I can remember having trouble with an ice maker and that was self inflicted when we broke the arm that told the ice maker the ice collector was empty, by sticking and ice pack in the ice collector, that was in the refrigerator I grew up with. I can't tell you how much I missed having an ice maker in the freezer of the apartment we lived in for a few years. Those stupid ice cube trays took up shelf space because there was no space set apart to put them in, and because it was such a pain to get ice out, we rarely used ice and eventually stopped using the ice trays. I personally would not be without an ice maker in a refrigerator.

[3finger]

We have friends that have an under counter, stand alone ice maker. I think it's a KitchenAid. Pretty much unlimited supply of CLEAR ice. They are pricey, but when we redo our kitchen, we will seriously look at installing one.

[JimShaffer]

I sympathize with your issue, but you should know that replacement icemaker heads run well under $100, and usually are plug-and-play. I'm told the ice crusher unit is often what causes the problem. I was advised not to use it at all! I use it infrequently.

[gMike]

I ordered the replacement icemaker from Whirlpool parts. Hopefully it will be the "new and improved" version.

[SkyGlider]

gMike said:

---

Is there anything sold in this world that has as many problems as the in-freezer icemaker? If so, I sure haven't found it. I've had the icemaker out of our old Whirlpool refrigerator more times than I can count. It leaks, stops working whenever it feels like it, and doesn't make much ice.

---

The ice maker in our about 7 year old Whirlpool side-by-side with ice dispenser in the door is the worst ice maker ever invented. The folks responsible for its design should be fired.

... 1. It takes a long time to dispense crushed ice compared to our old GE refrigerator that had a good ice maker. The grinding sound is quite loud and with the extended time to fill a glass, is very annoying to my wife since she can't hear the TV's sound. Terrible.

... 2. The motor shaft that goes up into the ice maker freezes to the female part so the ice bin cannot be removed to dump ice into an ice chest. To free the shaft, one must switch back-and-forth between crushed and cubed about 20 times (minimum, usually more) which is a royal pain. Switching between crushed and cubed reverses the direction of the motor's rotation. Even then it takes a large effort to lift and jiggle the ice bin off of the shaft. Really, really horrible design! (I don't like to use the half moon ice cubes since they are the same shape as our glasses and form a dam when drinking. When the glass is tilted up more, the dam suddenly overflows spilling the liquid along the sides of the mouth. So don't suggest using ice cubes.)

3. In addition to the ice maker problems, it's impossible to clean the coils under the refrigerator from the front. One must empty the refrigerator and freezer, pull it way out, tilt it back and install some long sticks to the opposite wall to prevent the bottom from sliding forward and injuring the person doing the cleaning. Then clean the coils from the bottom. The folks who designed that should be fired also.

Because of the horrible ice maker and coil cleaning problems, I'll never buy another Whirlpool refrigerator. In fact, I'll never buy another Whirlpool product!

<rant off>
Skyglider

[gMike]

Your rant is much better than mine!

[Estrogen Hostage]

We have two ice makers at our house and they just work. They rarely fill up, just run all the time. I wish I had put in an undercounted one.