September 2022 - Getting Ready for Florida - Tabletop Ice Maker Repair

Before we left for the Springfield campout in August, I got out the tabletop ice maker we use in Florida and set it up to make ice for the trip. (The icemaker in our expensive home refrigerator doesn't work.)  The unit made lots of ice over a two-week period. We came home from Springfield and upon trying to use the icemaker it was clear that the cube tray where the ice forms was not holding water. The ice cubes were half their normal size, and the tray would not dump into the bin. This same thing happened two years ago in Florida. I found then that the cube tray had cracked. I took the unit apart and found that the tray was cracked around the gear key area and halfway down the tray. I used epoxy made just for plastic to make a repair inside and out. The fix worked and we had ice until recently. I now looked over the unit and it was clear that the plastic epoxy repair inside the cube tray had cracked.

Thinking just the lower ice tray was cracked, I cleaned the area and spread JB Weld over the entire tray area in an attempted repair. The tray filled with water and the unit made nice ice cubes. Unfortunately, after dumping the ice, it would not complete the cycle of pushing the ice into the bin and then move back into position to make another batch. Something else was clearly wrong. I took the unit apart to get the cube tray out. Here are pictures of the cube tray taken out and the disassembled unit with the ice tray out. 

Upon removing the cube tray I could clearly see the problem. The plastic epoxy did not hold due to the torque from the motor. Here is a picture of the cracked cube tray. It is rusty from the pin on the motor that fits in there. The crack allowed the flat side to spread out and then the motor would turn but the tray didn't.

The cube tray should not be made out of plastic, or at least there should be a metal ring around the gear area to keep it from cracking and spreading apart. Poor engineering or else the bean counters wanted to keep costs down.

It is about $110.00 for a new icemaker. Obviously this is a common problem because a new cube tray is available from the manufacturer for $24.00 with shipping. Since everything else on the unit worked properly, I opted to order a new cube tray. (I hate throwing things away that can be fixed for a reasonable amount.)

The new tray arrived in a few days and I installed it. The new tray worked well but I then had a new issue. The tray did not come all the way back up into position to refill. While there was plenty of water in the tray it did not then cycle up high enough to dump the ice. I don't know why that is now an issue. Maybe the keyway in the new tray is molded a little different. I don't know. I contacted the service department at Newair but they never responded even though they acknowledged receiving my inquiry. (Surprise.)

Despite not dumping, the unit was making ice when all of a sudden it quit halfway through the cycle. I opened the unit back up and found that the metal lever on one of the micro switches had broken off. I never did find the broken piece. I unscrewed the switch to get the part number off of it in order to order another. Here is a picture. The arrow shows the metal lever on one switch and the missing lever on the other. 

These micro switches are used in lots of electrical appliances, so they are readily available online. The only problem is I had to order ten for $10.00. I am into it for $24.00, what is another $10.00?

I ordered the switches and they arrived on Wednesday. I soldered the wires to the new switch and screwed it into place.

After I unplugged the unit and let it reset, the unit then went through its entire cycle of making ice. 

I still had the problem of the ice not being pushed into the bin. I adjusted the position of the motor, which helped a little, but not enough. I noted that the dump shovel didn't have to move much higher in order to push the ice into the bin. I decided to try and solve the problem by gluing a shim on each side of the dump shovel where it attaches to the cube tray. I cut small pieces of a mouse pad and superglued them into place. Here is a picture of the cube tray and dump shovel with arrows pointing to where I glued the shims.

I then needed to clean out the bin before adding new water to make ice. It looked pretty nasty in there. While some of this is from my working on the unit, I have always been amazed at how much grit there is in tap water. Here is a picture of bin before I cleaned it out.

I poured in water and fired up the unit. I no time it was making ice and dumping it in the bin. SUCCESS!

Time will tell if it was smart to spend $34.00 repairing this unit when I could buy a new one for $110.00. I hate throwing away things that can be fixed and I enjoy figuring out how things work. Hopefully this unit will at least get us through another Florida winter. The new park we are going to does not allow outside appliances, so I sold our minifridge in which I kept cold beverages. That being the case the ice maker will get used more than in past years. It will fit in the side compartment for easy access and in compliance with the rules.