An ice maker is a simple machine wrapped in a cold one. It fills, it freezes, it senses that the ice is ready, it turns out the cubes, and it repeats. One link in that sequence has given up, and there are few enough links to test them one after another.
Is water reaching it?
The most common cause is that it is not. Check the supply valve behind or under the unit is open, then check the filter. A filter past its life restricts flow enough that the mould never fills properly, and a half-filled mould produces hollow crescents rather than nothing, which is a useful clue that you are in the right place. Filters on built-ins are frequently in the grille at the top, not underneath.
Is it cold enough?
An ice maker needs the freezer at or below 0 degrees Fahrenheit. Anything warmer and the harvest cycle either does not trigger or produces slush. If the ice stopped at the same time the freezer started struggling, the ice maker is the error you notice and the freezer is the problem.
The one specific to built-ins
Many column and professional refrigerators run their ice maker through the same water line as a dispenser, and that line passes through a section of the cabinet that is not always as cold as the freezer. A partial freeze in the fill tube stops the fill without stopping anything else, so the machine looks healthy and simply makes no ice. A technician finds it in a couple of minutes with a warm cloth. Homeowners rarely find it at all, because there is nothing to see.
And then the mechanism
The module itself, the mould heater that releases the cubes, the thermostat that decides they are ready and the bail arm that senses a full bin. All replaceable, and all cheaper than most people assume.
Have the model number ready when you call and the right module usually travels with the technician. Call 914-527-5055.
