Help,

Here's the sequence of events.

1. My Ice Maker stopped making Ice. It's only job as far as I am concerned.

2. I discovered the copper hose from the back Inlet pump to the supply line was crimped. So I had no water flowing through the copper pipe to the pump.

3. I closed the valve on the "Self Tapping" insert valve thingy on the supply line and cut the copper hose at the spot of the crimp. I planned to put a 1/4" x 1/4" union in place to repair the crimp.

4. While waiting to get the parts, I could hear the little blue pump/valve sucking air through the cut off copper pipe, while trying to fill the Ice Maker. The Ice Maker arm would also go through it's motions but with no water to freeze.

5. Instead of putting in a union, I replaced the copper, end to end with Plastic Tube. No problems noticed with that process. No Leaks.

6. I opened the valve on the self tapping thingy in my supply line and saw water " Noticably slowly" flowing through the plastic tube.

7. No leaks, not obvious issues, but it still doesn't work. What I do see, right where the plastic tube enters the connection to the pump on the back of the fridge are some air bubbles. The hose is vertical at this point, and the air bubble slowy rises from the compression fitting at the bottom, to the point where the plastic tube curves and goes down. Then it drops back to the compression fitting, then up again and so on. What's up with that?

I took the hose off of the "output" of the inlet pump, and there is no water at all. But remember, the same day I replaced this hose, I heard the little pump sucking air. So the pump has been working, but since I put on the new hose, it hasn't sucked any water through it.

So what do you think is my problem and why?
What if any additional info do you need?

I am thinking a pressure problem, but I'm an electronics guy, so it's just a guess.

Thanks for the help

Thanks for the reply.

Forget about the Air Bubble issue. It's too hard to explain in text and based on what I know now, it's probably irrelevant.

Sorry, for some reason I thought it was a pump that when the maker wanted more water, it would pump up the correct amount. So you are saying it's just a solenoid that the Ice Maker opens when it needs more water and the pressure "Should" be enough to get the water up there????

Anyway, as I was saying, I could hear the solenoid making noise periodically before I replaced the hose. But since there was no supply, it just sucked air. But since I replaced the hose, I can't be sure if it's opening or not, or if it's opening and there isn't enough pressure to get the water all the way up through the Solenoid and to the top. This is why I checked the "output" of the solenoid. I figured, even if it wasn't full of water there would be some water present on the outline line of the solenoid. But it seemed bone dry.

BTW - I poured water directly into the Ice Maker Tray and it worked perfectly. So it's just not getting water.

So I would guess right now that either the Solenoid coincidently stopped working the same day I replaced the hose (I hate coincidental troubleshooting solutions), or for some reason I don't have enough water pressure to make it all the way up to the top of the fridge and into the ice maker. Maybe it's the Auto Tapping Valve thingy that clamps to the supply line and punches a hole in it?

Any thoughts?

Thanks again for the help
Talm