CalendarGE Café Model# CYE22USHISS Not Making Enough Ice
Well here I am again with yet another problem on this POS refrigerator. I’ve had so many problems the extended warranty company ended up reimbursing me for the price of the refrigerator. They dubbed it a lemon
Recently I had a problem where the defrost drain for the freezer got stopped up. To fix it I had to unstop the drain and then defrost the freezer. The coil was iced and there was a sheet of ice in the bottom of the refrigerator. I put a space heater in there for about 8 hours to defrost the stuff. The freezer and the defrost drain are working well now.
The reason I mention this is because now the ice maker is only making a limited amount of ice, and I wonder if this had anything to do with the freezer drain freezing up and not working right.
The ice maker makes ice, but just not enough. The cubes look like they are the normal size and shape. When the ice maker dumps and refills the tray, I put my fingers in the tray to make sure that all of the tray is filled with water and all seems to be OK there. I think the ice maker gets its freezing air from the freezer port on the side of the ice maker. And I’m guessing that if it is somehow its not getting enough freezing air that it’s taking a long time for the cubes to freeze and the maker to cycle. The freezer temp is 0 degrees F.
Any suggestions on how I might troubleshoot or fix this?
Thanks,
Tom
Hey Tom, let me give you some things to think about. Air temperature around the icemaker needs to be about 0-5 degrees for the ice to freeze and then harvest. A typical icemaker will harvest about once every 60-90 minutes. Make sure the fan motor is running that feeds cold air to the icemaker. Normal-sized cubes mean it is getting the proper amount of water and is filling every cube space. The water temperature going into an icemaker is a little higher this time of year due to the heat, which makes the time it takes to freeze a little longer. This time of year it seems everyone has issues with icemakers not making enough ice.
David, Thank you for your response. My ice maker gets its water from our distiller, located in the garage. We’ve not had a problem with the water temperature affecting the ice production for the last 30 years and about five or six refrigerators. When I open the Refrigerator door and put my hand over the cold air icemaker supply port there is a little airflow. My laser measures it at around 22 - 25 degrees. Again, the freezer is about zero degrees. I’m wondering if there is not enough air flow. Can you tell me how to check the fan that you’re referring to?
Thanks again.
Tom, how often does the icemaker harvest ice? There has to be a way for freezer temperature air to get to the icemaker and bucket. If that fan is running, it is good; if it is not, either the fan is bad or the board that supplies power to it has failed. By the way, laser only measures surface temperature, not air temperature. not quite the same. i am just curious how ofter the icemaker goes into a harvest mode.
Can’t say how often ice is harvested. But I can tell you it’s not nearly as often as it should be. Dispensed two large glasses of ice today and now it is out. Suspecting that the freezer might not be at as low a temperature as I thought it was. The display on the panel says that the freezer temperature is actually 15 degrees. I have it set to -6 degrees. So I’m just going to watch it for a few days and see what it does.
Yes, 15 degrees is too warm for the icemaker to produce ice on a regular basis.
Maybe similar to this service manual :
Thanks for the service manual.
I have ordered an NSF certified freezer thermometer. I don’t trust the panel display on the fridge to tell me what the correct temperature is. We’ll see where we go after I get the thermometer.
Well I couldn’t tell you why but the freezer has been between -5 and +5 degrees for the last two weeks. The ice maker is making sufficient ice although I still don’t believe it’s making as much as it used to. Gonna let it ride for now and just see what happens.
Thanks to all for your help.