FIXED ARS266ZBS Water comes out of the water dispenser in the door when the ice maker calls for water

[bfield3]

Model Number

ARS266ZBS

Brand

Amana

Age

More than 10 years

I've seen similar posts but I don't know that I've seen any with my exact problem. At least not on an Amana. A few weeks ago the door water dispenser and ice maker stopped working. When I say the ice maker stopped working I mean I could hear it signaling for water by a short buzzing sound but no water was being delivered to the ice maker. And also as mentioned there was no water to the door. I searched around the internet and some other site suggested it might be the secondary water valve. I had tested the primary water valve by just disconnecting the outlet line and when the door water switch was activated the water shot out of that line pretty fast. So I figured the primary valve was okay. Today I installed the new secondary water valve and it seemed all was good. The door water started working again. So I sat back and waited for the ice maker to call for water. Some time later I heard the ice maker call for water and at the same time water started pouring out of the door water dispenser. Weird. I cleaned up the mess and put a glass under the water dispenser. Maybe 20 minutes later the same thing happened. I had about 5-6 ounces of water in the glass. Which seems about the amount that would go into the ice maker.

So now I have a situation where my fridge is dumping water out of the door water dispenser when the ice maker calls for water. And no water is being delivered to the ice maker at all. And the water switch on the door works fine when activated.

If I didn't know better I'd say I connected a hose wrong or reversed the wiring connectors when I put the new secondary valve on. But the water lines are different sizes so it's not possible to connect them wrong. And if I connected the wiring connectors wrong I would expect the door switch for water would not work. Plus I remember brown to brown for one of the connectors which is the way I reconnected it.

Thanks in advance for any help or advice.

 

[nflagey]

My Amana SBD21VE-P1315502WE does exactly the same.

We got the refrigerator when we bought the house. We were told the ice maker was not working anymore, and we noticed the water flow out of the water dispenser was low.

I thus decided to change the water inlet valve (and get new filters) from the old "Y" connector to the new valve (item # 792907, OEM Part - Manufacturer #WP12544001).

After changing the valve, I decided to take a look at the ice maker and found that the shut-off wire had fallen from where it should be. I replaced it and found that the plastic blades were rotating. However, about every 10-15 minutes, water is coming out of the water dispenser and no water is coming into the ice maker.

I turned off the water supply for now but would really like to understand what is going on ...

 

[Jake]

Hi,

Rick explains what to check for when this happens: ARS8267BC Ice maker activates water dispenser

It seems the ice maker itself is the problem.

Both of your models use the exact same ice maker:
D7824706Q Ice Maker


Jake

 

[nflagey]

Thanks, Jake!
I'll make sure to come back and post here when I get the new ice maker.

 

[Jake]

Ok, sounds good.

Jake

 

[nflagey]

Hi there,
I've got a new ice maker and installed it (i.e. plugged it, screwed it in place). However, it does not seem to do anything. The blades on my old ice maker were at least turning. This one does not seem to do anything. The wire lever is ON (i.e. in its "down" position) and the cable is properly inserted in the maker.
I'm not sure what is wrong here ...

 

[nflagey]

Well, it looks like changing the ice maker did not help ... I got water coming out of the water dispenser again

- I've changed the water filter.
- I've changed the water inlet valve.
- Should I check that there is no ice plug in the line to the ice maker? How can I do that?
- Anything else I can check?

Thanks!

 

[Jake]

Did you order the new ice maker from my link to it in post #3? It doesn't make any sense why a new ice maker would not to anything and your old one at least cycled.

Should I check that there is no ice plug in the line to the ice maker? How can I do that?

Yes, do the cheater test cord method, Click here: Testing ice maker water supply at the solenoid

Jake

 

[nflagey]

I guess I should be more patient ... I stopped the ice maker for a day by lifting the wire into the OFF position (avoiding a flood in my kitchen at the same time!).
Tonight, I decided to put the wire back into the ON position ... and the blades started to turn right away!

However, when the cycle was done (quite fast though, which may be due to the fact there is no ice cubes to push), water came out of the water dispenser again.

I'm going to assume I have to check the water line to the ice maker (since it has not been in use for quite some time, I imagine the chances are high the line is clogged).

I'll look on this forum for the best way to check the line but feel free to let me know when you see this message.

 

[nflagey]

Jake,

I've looked at the post on "Testing ice maker water supply at the solenoid" and it seems to test whether the water valve at the back of the fridge is triggered by the ice maker or not. From what I see happening in my fridge, the new ice maker is capable of calling for water.
I've blown some hot air in the water line to the ice maker but that did not solve the problem.
How can I check the whole line coming to the ice maker? Is it located in the back of the fridge or under? I understand it's coming out of the filter but where does it go after that?

 

[Jake]

Should I check that there is no ice plug in the line to the ice maker? How can I do that?

Yes, do the cheater test cord method, Click here: Testing ice maker water supply at the solenoid

What you are doing is applying 120 volts to the ice maker solenoid, which in turn should open the solenoid and put water into the ice maker, did you do that?

Jake

 

[nflagey]

Not yet. I am trying to understand what that would tell me that I don't know already.
The ice maker is definitely asking for water but the water is going through the water dispenser instead.
If I were to apply 120V to the ice maker solenoid directly, how would that be different than the ice maker signaling it needs water?

 

[Jake]

Because you may have a short in your wiring causing that to happen, that's why.

Jake

 

[nflagey]

Well, I finally decided to call someone to help me figure out the problem ... my Amana fridge was missing its secondary valve!
I don't even understand how it's possible for the fridge to provide water to the water dispenser without leaking all over the place if there was no secondary valve ...

But now I bought a new secondary valve and I'm not sure at all which tube goes into which input/output of that valve.

From the primary valve, the tube seems to go toward the filter, as expected. Then I have 3 tubes coming back, two of them were just hanging there in the back of the fridge and the third seems to go to the water dispenser in the front. Then I have another free tube in the back that is positioned like it's going to the ice maker.

Therefore:
1. water was definitely never coming out of any of the three tubes I have in the back of the fridge otherwise I would be in big trouble
2. water is only coming through the line in the front, which seems to go to the water dispenser ... I just checked that quickly by opening the line and pressing on the dispenser.

So, it seems to me like I should take that tube in the front, pull it to the back of the fridge as the input to the secondary valve ... I am just not sure the tube is long enough

Is that correct?

 

[nflagey]

Just for the record, I'll explain how I finally fixed my problem: ice maker not working and water going to water dispenser instead of ice maker once ice maker was changed ...

Problem was: secondary valve was missing

Diagnostic: for water not to leak all around with a secondary valve missing, that means the previous owner of the fridge did bypass something somewhere ... it took me a bit of time to figure out that they change the output line of the primary valve!
The line they put there was actually the water dispenser line (after filter and before secondary valve).
This explained why the water was always going to the water dispenser, even thought the ice maker was working.

Solution: remove the output line of the primary valve and test one of the other two lines I had free in the back of the fridge and that were obviously connected to the water filter. First try was the good one!
The line that was initially on the first valve was the output of the secondary valve, going to the water dispenser, and the last line in the back of the fridge was for the ice maker.

A few minutes ago I heard water getting into the ice maker for the first time since we moved into the house

Many thanks for the help Jake!!!
Figuring out how the valves, filter, water dispenser, and ice maker are all connected would not have been that easy without you!

N.

 

[Jake]

That's very strange that the secondary water inlet valve was completely missing. That solves the mystery.

Good find on that.

Here's the primary and secondary water inlet valves for your model:

Primary Water Inlet Valve WP12544002


Secondary Water Inlet Valve 12002193


Thanks for the update!

Jake