A simple ice maker call that ate up my whole afternoon

Got a call for a fridge not making ice, figured it was the usual water inlet valve or a clog. The unit was only three years old, a common Whirlpool side-by-side. Spent an hour checking pressure, the valve, the line, everything was fine. Then I noticed the little plastic fill cup inside the freezer was cracked, but not in a way you'd see unless you pulled the whole assembly. That tiny crack was letting water drip out before it could freeze into cubes. The part itself was maybe $15, but finding it and getting the whole ice maker module out to swap that one piece? That took me almost four hours total from walking in the door to packing up. You ever get stuck on a job because of some stupid five-cent piece of plastic?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_faith19d ago

Yeah, that fill cup is a pain, but on those Whirlpools it's usually the whole ice maker assembly that gets replaced as one unit. The cups aren't really sold separately from what I've seen. The whole module just clips out once you drop the freezer shelf. Still eats up your whole day over a dribble of water, though.

rubysingh17d ago

Oh wow, I always thought you HAD to swap the whole unit. That vinegar trick is brilliant.

hannah_perry19d ago

Totally get that, replacing the whole thing is such a hassle. Had a similar drip on my own fridge last year. Ended up cleaning the fill cup with a vinegar soak and a tiny brush, like one for cleaning straws. The hole was just plugged with some gross mineral gunk. Took maybe twenty minutes and it's been fine since, saved a whole afternoon of repair.