Ice makers are very convenient as all you have to do is press a button and your glass will be filled with ice cubes.
Its job may seem pretty straight forward, but there are a lot of small moving parts that are working together behind the scenes to make sure that the Whirlpool ice maker is working properly.
Having lots of components working together, however, can lead to things going wrong, but usually, all that it takes is a reset to get the Whirlpool ice maker working again.
Whirlpool was founded in 1911 and since then has built a strong reputation for high-quality home appliances.
However, even though Whirlpool has great products that will be worth every dollar that you spend on them, they are not indestructible, and sometimes things can go wrong.
Luckily, most of these issues are only minor, and you will be able to fix them yourself after giving it a quick search which will also help you be prepared if it happens again in the future.
Knowing how to reset a Whirlpool ice maker will give you the ability to tackle a few problems that you might come across, and it only takes a few minutes.
What Is A Whirlpool Ice Maker?
Whirlpool Ice makers can either be installed within a refrigerator or as a stand-alone appliance, but they all do the same thing which is to make large amounts of ice at one time, they can produce up to 40 pounds per hour which is more than enough for most households.
The first thing you need to know about this type of ice maker is that it has two different modes: automatic and manual.
The manual mode allows you to control how many ice cubes you want in each tray by pressing the ‘ice’ button on the front panel. In the automatic mode, the machine will automatically fill the trays with ice until full or when the power runs out.
Whirlpool ice makers usually have a heating element, motor, and water valve inside which all work together to make the ice.
As soon as the water valve is triggered by the timer, the cycle will begin which consists of the thermostat activating the heating element when the water has frozen so that it can begin to melt the ice slightly to make the edges smoother.
The motor then spins the shaft by using its small arms that are also used to scoop out the ice cubes from the tray and into the storage section, ready for when you need them next. This whole ice-making process takes around two hours.
Advantages Of A Whirlpool Ice Maker
There are many advantages that come with using an ice maker which not only adds convenience to your life but can also save you money since you don’t have to go out and buy ice cubes regularly.
The ice maker provides you with a constant production of ice which uses the water that you give it, so you know that you are getting clean ice.
The mold fills automatically with water so that they can be frozen into ice cubes and the more that you dispense these ice cubes, the more that the machine makes.
Even if you are an ice fiend or are hosting a party where a lot of ice is needed, the Whirlpool ice maker has a feature that you can turn on called ‘fast ice’ which will stay on for 24 hours unless turned off and will decrease the temperature in the ice maker and freeze the ice faster.
How To Reset A Whirlpool Ice Maker
The first thing you will need to do with the feeler arm is adjust it, so it can get frozen by not having enough lubrication on it. To adjust the feeler arm, pull it down to check if it’sf stuck or not and if it is, you should be able to hear the water flow into the ice maker after pulling the arm.
If it’s not your feeler arm, locate the reset button next. It should be easy to find, but sometimes you might have to check the user manual first in order to locate it as models differ slightly.
In most Whirlpool ice makers, you will need to take out the ice tray first so that you can get access to the reset button which should be easy to see as it should be a bright button on the bottom of the ice maker.
When the reset button has been located, hold it down for about 10 seconds and let go of it once you hear the ice maker make noises inside the refrigerator.
When the ice maker resets, it will usually eject everything from its reservoir, so you will need to replace the ice tray and close the refrigerator to prevent any contents from spilling onto the floor.
If your Whirlpool ice maker doesn’t have a reset button, you may have to use the on/off switch instead. You will still have to begin by ensuring that the ice tray is removed as well as its cover plate for this method as the on/off switch should be under it.
Before you turn it on, make sure that you wait for a few minutes, and after you have done so, put the cover and the ice tray back.
After you have tried this and your ice maker is still not working, you might have to go one step further which is to unplug the refrigerator to reset it.
You might have to get some help with moving your refrigerator from the wall so that you can get access to the outlet to unplug it from. Make sure that before you plug it back to the power socket, you wait for approximately 10 minutes.
Once the refrigerator has turned back on, fill the ice tray up with water and produce ice by pressing the feeler arm down a few times.
If you have tried all of these methods and your ice maker is showing no signs of improvement, you may be suffering from a more serious problem that will require a professional’s intervention.
Summary
Whirlpool is a company known for its high-quality products but even the best of the best can suffer issues that stop them from working properly.
Luckily, learning how to reset your Whirlpool ice maker is very easy to do and most of the time is the only thing that is needed to get things running smoothly again.
