FIXED Kenmore Elite Coldspot Refrigerator 106.72992201 ice maker output

[klandingham]

Model Number

106.72992201

Brand

Sears Kenmore

Age

6-10 years

Hi!

I have a pretty old Kenmore Elite ("Coldspot"?) fridge, model 106.72992201. Last week I opened it up to find everything in the freezer had thawed out. I had to replace the compressor start relay to get it back running again. (This probably has nothing to do with the ice maker, but I thought I'd mention it just in case.)

Many years ago I removed the ice maker because we didn't need it. Last week I put it back and hooked it up to water.

It does make ice, and I have no idea if this is normal or not, but it seems to take an awfully long time between the time the ice is ready and the time it gets ejected. I have a thermometer in the freezer and it stays right at 0 degrees, which I believe is cold enough. The water pressure is fine...when the cubes finally eject there are 6 of them and they all appear to be the right size and are not hollow.

After waiting for a while after it cycles, if I poke my finger down into the cube mold I can feel very solid ice there that seems ready, but the mechanism seems to wait for very long time before ejecting it. This particular ice maker has the "ACCELER-ICE" switch that appears to be just a fan that blows additional cold air at the bottom of the cube mold. That doesn't appear to affect the time between cycles.

Once, I removed the front fan and used a jumper wire to initiate a cycle when there was solid ice in the mold. I observed the large white gear wheel begin to slowly move CCW. It moved a short distance, then stopped and moved in the other direction (like a synchronous AC motor hitting too much of a load.) It went back and forth like that over and over. This led me to suspect a bad mold heater that was not freeing the ice from the mold. I measured that with a meter and got just over 70 ohms, which I've read is reasonable. Given that test, I can't help but wonder if the ice maker is in there continually trying to push the ice out but failing. That can't be good.

I also disassembled the ice maker body and spray-cleaned all the copper contacts, including the ones that stake onto pins.

I'm not sure about what actually determines when a cycle should begin, but I'm guessing it's the mold thermostat?

Should I replace the entire thing? I could just do that but I hate throwing things out that can be repaired (guess I'm old-school).

Thanks for any advice.

 

[Jake]

Once, I removed the front fan and used a jumper wire to initiate a cycle when there was solid ice in the mold

How high did the ice come up to the top of the ice maker cold? All the way up past the cube slots?

A normal ice maker cycle is about 90 minutes, if not then its possibly your ice maker thermostat that's bad.

If you want to test that thermostat, you will need to read the temperature that's labeled on the thermostat to see what the closed temp. is. Then you'll need to get the thermostat cold enough to reach that temperature and ohm it to see if the contacts inside are closed, which would be continuity and meter should read 0 ohms.

Here's the ice maker thermostat(you have to order the thermal mastic(Alumilastic) as well if you replace the thermostat):
Icemaker Mold Thermostat 627985


There is a video in the ice maker thermostat part link to show you how to access/replace it.

The Alumilastic Cement for the thermostat goes where it mounts to the mold and heater assembly.

Here it is in-stock.:

Whirlpool WP4317852 Alumilastic Cement (AP6009214) - AppliancePartsPros.com

Alumilastic cement WP4317852 / AP6009214 made by Whirlpool

click.linksynergy.com

Or you can get the entire ice maker assembly:
4317943 Whirlpool Icemaker Kit

 

[klandingham]

Thank you for replying.

How high did the ice come up to the top of the ice maker cold? All the way up past the cube slots?

I did not check that earlier, but right now it is sitting full of ice; I can feel only a solid sheet of ice along the length of it, so the ice does appear to be over the slot dividers.

I think I follow everything you said, but one thing still bothers me: when I had the front off the ice maker and manually triggered a cycle with a jumper wire, the motor looked like it was trying to push the ice out but couldn't. Is the heater supposed to energize when you manually trigger a cycle like that? My understanding is that the heater is supposed to come on briefly, just enough to loosen the cubes*...apparently it was not doing that when I used the jumper wire to force a cycle. Either that or the motor has somehow become weak...I've never seen that happen with that type of synchronous motor.

*Or maybe the heater and the motor come on at the same time, and the motor is supposed to keep trying until the cubes finally break loose, then the cycle moves forward and shuts off the heater?

I hate admitting defeat, but at this point I think I will just replace the entire unit.

Thank you again for taking the time to reply.

 

[Jake]

My understanding is that the heater is supposed to come on briefly, just enough to loosen the cubes*...apparently it was not doing that when I used the jumper wire to force a cycle. Either that or the motor has somehow become weak...I've never seen that happen with that type of synchronous motor.

*Or maybe the heater and the motor come on at the same time, and the motor is supposed to keep trying until the cubes finally break loose, then the cycle moves forward and shuts off the heater?

Yes, the mold heater should come on, you should feel heat underneath the ice tray mold.

The heater should have a resistance reading approximately 72 ohms.

It works like this; When the thermostat reaches a set temperature it closes and completes the circuit to the motor and the ice maker starts a harvest cycle. Shorting holes"T" and "H" bypasses the thermostat and starts a harvest cycle. When the ejector reaches the 2 o'clock position a switch is closed and power is diverted from the motor to the heater. When the heater turns on it begins to loosen the ice cubes in the mold and the thermostat opens. When the thermostat opens power is switched back to the motor and continues through the harvest cycle. At the end of the harvest cycle the ice maker supplies 120 VAC to the water valve for about 7 seconds. After the fill cycle the ejector reaches the park position and opens the circuit for the motor. The circuit will be complete when the thermostat reaches it's set temperature and closes again.

Here's the mold heater assembly for your model: https://www.repairclinic.com/PartDetail/Ice-Maker-Mold-And-Heater/WPW10190929/1471721

But that part costs more than the complete ice maker itself, so it would make more sense just to get the entire ice maker assembly.

 

[klandingham]

Thank you. It seems to be working fine now. I think I had to lower my expectations regarding how fast it makes ice. It's good to know exactly how it works for any future problems, so thank you for that.

 

[Jake]

Ok, sounds good.

Glad to help!