8 replies to this topic

[DanInKansas]

Customer complaint was poor ice production and ice down the back wall. Unit is about 6 months old.

 

Found toothpick sized ice in the bucket.  Also found the pictured ice sculpture against the back wall, almost directly underneath the mold.  Thought "oh, hey, slam dunk -- IM is either overfilling, or the mold is leaking, or the spray cup is spraying water."

 

Put the unit into self harvest.  Unit finished.  I heard water valve engage but felt almost no water on my finger tips. I saw no leak from the mold, saw no drips, no spray, no water out of place.

 

Took back panel off and took fill tube out. No ice or obstructions in tube.  Put unit into harvest again and put fill tube over a bowl.  Almost no water came out.

 

Followed the line back and came to a self piercing valve that was about as green as a magic marker.  So for now I'm thinking that's the source of my poor fill?

 

However, I still don't have answer as to where the this ice is coming from.  Given that I've got frozen drips on the ceiling (see second picture), I'm wondering if this is condensation from warm air coming in.

 

The door passed the seal test.  Is it at all likely or possible that the putty insulating the fill cup, thermostat and wire harness is weak or poorly applied?

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Cactus Bob]

you may have two problems ........now

 

a common problem is a slow harvest , most of the time it's ice between the harvest auger and the case , this makes the harvest auction go slow

keeping the water valve open to long

this valve is not made for a duty cycle of 100% and burns up or melts

 

of you want to chance a cheep repair , remove ice maker and dry it out real good , then replace water valve and put back ice maker

 

the right repair is sell a new ice maker and water valve

 

of course there is a chance low water pressure on the supply line is so low the valve did not close properly in the first place , overfilling the mold and freezing the auger . water pressure and VOLUME is something you should  address before any replacement parts are installed

Edited by Cactus Bob, 17 January 2013 - 02:28 PM.

[RegUS_PatOff]

... of course there is a chance low water pressure on the supply line is so low the valve did not close properly

yes, may be caused if using a "self-piercing" saddle Valve ..

better to use the "drill type" saddle Valve

 

This saddle valve kit isn't self-piercing, it doesn't have a sharp, pointed "pin"
You'd need a drill bit to make the hole in the copper pipe.
(could be installed in the same location)

http://www.repaircli...rtDetail/584723

 

[DanInKansas]

Anyone replaced the IM in a U-Line before?  The IM seems to stuck onto a curved piece of aluminum; it does not move much when all three screws are removed.

 

So it sounds like a water valve is a given.  Will also need to replace the piercing tap. 

 

Cactus Bob: the customer says new ice on the bottom of the freezer is constant.  The ice sculpture itself looks like it was made from small drips.  Is there a chance that the water valve isn't closing all the way? 

[RegUS_PatOff]

If a bad saddle valve is preventing normal water pressure,

the Water Valve may not close completely

[Cactus Bob]

where does this ice maker get it's water from ?

 

City water directly ?

 

well water directly ?

 

Reverse Osmosis ?

 

Another line pressure filter system ?

[DanInKansas]

City water supply.  We have about 20 some odd feet of copper line going from the machine to a water pipe over the janitor's sink.  The cock there opens and shows good water pressure.

[certified tech group 51]

This could get messy, but............. disconnect the water valve from the existing system................Connect a switched jumper  to the water valve........energize valve what happens???............good flow?? ...low flow???

[DanInKansas]

Well that was fun.... bottom floor of a retailer... no one knew where the water shut off was.... Eventually the manager shut off the water to the whole building.  I pointed out to him that he'd just disabled his sprinkler system and asked if he'd contacted the fire department, as some of these systems will automatically alert if the water pressure drops... He ran out of the room after I said that.

 

Takes a while for a three story building to drop pressure even with all the water shut off, so during that time I replaced the water valve and cleared out an ice blockage in the fill cup.

 

Once I had the new saddle tap on (old self-piercing valve dissolved in my hands as I took it apart), flow into the unit was normal.  Hopefully that's the last we'll hear of it.