Brand: LG
Model Number:LFXS2462D/01
Main Symptom:
What happens & when: ice stops dispensing after a few days
Error Code (if any):n/a
Parts or tests already tried: replaced the flapper door
Photos / video link:
For LG LFXS2462D/01, with an ice dam repeatedly forming at the dispenser throat after a few days, I’d concentrate on warm-air infiltration through the ice chute, especially since the flapper itself has already been replaced.
Check these next:
- Watch the new flapper close. Remove the ice bin and operate the dispenser so you can verify the chute door returns completely flush. Even a small gap can continually pull humid room air into the chute and build an ice dam. Continuous chute icing is strongly associated with a flap that isn’t fully sealing.
- Inspect the flapper actuator/return mechanism, not just the rubber/plastic door. Look for weak return tension, binding, misalignment, or an actuator that isn’t bringing the door completely home.
- Check the chute housing/seal around the flapper assembly. A new flapper won’t correct an air leak if the mating surface or dispenser housing isn’t sealing.
- Check the ice-room door and ice-bin seating. LG specifically calls for making sure the ice compartment door closes completely and the bin is installed correctly.
- Look for melting/refreezing ice in the bin. If cubes are wet or frozen together, investigate ice-room temperature/airflow rather than the dispenser motor. LG notes that clumped ice can prevent dispensing.
Most likely: the replacement flapper is still not sealing tightly, but the underlying problem is probably the flapper actuator/return mechanism or chute alignment/sealing surface rather than another bad flapper.
A useful test: completely thaw and dry the chute, close the refrigerator, and inspect the flapper from the ice-bin side with a flashlight. It should sit uniformly tight around the entire opening. A tiny visible gap is enough to explain an ice dam that returns every few days.
Hi:
Noted and checked all above.
Continued from above…
I braced the flapper closed with a paint stick. Removed the bin dried all surfaces. Ice machine off. Went away for 2 days. Came back to drops of water on the inside of flapper. Can’t figure where this coming from. Thoughts?
That test tells us quite a bit. If the ice maker was OFF, the bin/chute were completely dried, and you physically braced the flapper shut for two days, yet droplets formed on the inside face of the flapper, I think you’re looking at condensation—not a water leak.
LG specifically notes that warm, humid air contacting a cold surface can produce water droplets, and that air leakage around the ice compartment/dispenser can cause condensation.
For this LFXS2462D/01, I’d move upstream from the flapper now:
- Check the ice-room door/gasket. Make sure the entire perimeter seals tightly. A small leak lets refrigerator-compartment air into the much colder ice compartment.
- Pay particular attention to the ice-room air ducts/boots. This design circulates freezer air through the door ice compartment. If a duct connection or foam/rubber seal isn’t tight, you can get an abnormal cold spot and moisture migration. That can eventually show up as droplets at the chute/flapper.
- Do a flashlight test. With the bin removed, put a bright flashlight inside the ice compartment/chute area, close everything, darken the room, and look carefully around the ice-room door, duct connections and dispenser chute for light leakage. LG actually recommends a similar light-leak test when tracking down sealing problems.
- Check temperatures. I’d want roughly 37°F refrigerator / 0°F freezer. Also feel around the dispenser face and chute. An unusually cold area surrounding the dispenser supports cold-air leakage rather than a plumbing leak.
One test I’d really like you to try
Since you’ve already proven the flapper can be held shut, repeat your two-day test but seal the exterior dispenser opening with painter’s tape/plastic film as well.
If water still develops on the refrigerator/ice-room side of the flapper, outside room air coming through the flapper is essentially eliminated. That points strongly toward air/moisture entering the ice compartment elsewhere and condensing at the cold chute.
If everything stays bone dry with the exterior sealed, then despite the paint stick, we’re still dealing with a microscopic air leak around the flapper/chute seal.
Given the original symptom—ice dam repeatedly developing at the throat—and now this test, I would not replace another flapper yet. I’d inspect the ice-room door gasket and the supply/return duct seals next. Continuous chute icing is very characteristic of unwanted humid-air infiltration.
And I agree with your confusion: with the ice maker OFF, there really shouldn’t be a source of liquid water there. The fact that droplets appeared anyway is actually a pretty good clue that the water is being made there by condensation.
Sealed the flapper and water still appears. Checked the gaskets. Visually OK so I stuck a piece of paper in each side. I could easily pull the paper out of teh top but not the other 3 sides.
But if water is getting in this way, why aren’t my cubes in the top of the bin freezing prior to teh water getting down to the throat? Can’ figure that one.
Also, get cubes and ice shards/water (small amount) when I hit ice maker in the morning. Shards I think are breaking cubes when they drop into empty ice bin. But shards turn to water faster than a cube. I am down to spitballing here, obviously. Is there an ice maker issue if Cubes are cracking on the way out? Test?
Yes — with what you’ve found now, I’d move the ice maker/fill system much higher on the suspect list and the dispenser flapper lower.
The paper test showing the top of the door gasket is weaker is worth addressing, but your observation is important: if warm air were entering enough to create liquid water at the chute, I’d expect the ice at the top of the bin to show symptoms too — wet/sticky cubes, clumping, or obvious melting/refreezing. LG specifically lists inadequate ice-compartment temperature as causing cubes to soften, break apart and clump.
I would test the ice maker next
Empty and completely dry the ice bin again. Then remove the bin and put a dry towel directly underneath the ice maker.
Locate the TEST button on the ice maker and hold it for about 3–5 seconds. The ice maker should go through a harvest and then refill with water. LG uses this test specifically to check the harvest and water-fill operation.
Watch the refill very closely. You’re looking for:
- Water shooting past or splashing out of the fill cup/tray.
- Water running down the side or underside of the ice maker.
- The tray filling excessively.
- Water continuing to drip from the fill tube after the fill has stopped.
- Water getting onto your towel.
That last one is particularly important. The service information for this LG design specifically lists water coming out of the fill cup and entering the ice bin, including excessive water pressure, as a cause of ice-bin/chute problems. LG also says either excessively high or low water pressure can cause water to miss/overshoot the tray.
About those cracked cubes
A few chips when cubes dump into an empty bin wouldn’t concern me. But if you’re getting cubes + a noticeable amount of shards + actual liquid water first thing in the morning, that’s different.
Here’s a useful experiment: don’t dispense any ice overnight. In the morning, pull the ice bin straight out before operating the dispenser.
Look underneath the cubes and around the front/bottom of the bin.
If you already have water, wet ice fragments, or a frozen sheet/slush in the bin before you’ve dispensed anything, we’ve basically eliminated the crusher/dispenser mechanism as the source. I’d concentrate on the ice maker fill, fill cup/tube, water pressure, or inlet valve seepage.
If the bin is perfectly dry until you actually dispense ice, then we go back toward the auger/crusher/chute area.
And I wouldn’t replace the ice maker merely because some cubes crack during harvest. The much more useful test is determining whether water is escaping during/after its refill.
One more thing: since the top gasket failed your paper test, I’d still correct that seal eventually. But based on this latest information, I’d do the overnight-bin test and forced ice-maker cycle before buying another gasket or chute part.
Ice maker Test:
Used ice first thing in am - got shads , water, cubes.
Test 1 - got 2 cubes shards and water. Watched the refill. Seemed strong enough (I have no frame of reference) But we got splashing. Cleaned it up and tested again - about 5 minutes.
test 2 - got 2 cubes out and no splashing on refill.
I am thinking :
1. this has become a progressive problem. Started out as Ice on the flapper. Now it’s a (relative) flood.
- The issue is cubes not fully releasing , so we have an overflow of water and the shards are low- filled cavities because of the splashing. If correct, is it a whole new ice maker or just WD-40 in the tray? (LOL - thanks for your patience with this). Feel free to disagree with the above.
Well I definitely wouldn’t spray WD-40 on anything I planned to eat or drink. There are food grade lubricants available. But yeah at this point it’s time to drop back and punt. Replace the icemaker