Not what you want to wake up to at 2 AM! Frigidaire Res Style Fridge, Side by Side, FGHC2331PF

[TxCowboy]

DW woke me up at 2 AM this morning with "Hon, the refrigerator is making noise".

A quick investigation showed this:

Just under the ice maker


Looking up toward the ice maker


Looking up toward the ice maker


This is about 1/2 inch of ice in the bottom of the freezer section



Needless to say, this is a problem.

What could possibly cause the ice maker to start dumping water into the freezer section?

I went through the HUG guides and the guide for this unit wasn't there but I was able to locate the owner's manual online. The Owner's guide wasn't much help -- I think. It appears the fridge will make a chattering noise if there is no water or insufficient flow to the ice maker but that shouldn't be the case here because the water through the door is working just fine. But it does make noise when I turn the ice maker on. I have it turned off right now because I don't want to cause any further damage.

Another thing I am wondering is whether the noise might be the circulating fan. The noise and fan speed seem to increase when I close the door. The noise does stop entirely after a few minutes then will periodically come on again.

I'm calling Heartland in just a few minutes as the RV is less than 2 months old to get a work authorization to call a plumber but if anyone can give me some insight on this issue, I'd much appreciate it.

Also, who can I send the soft copy of the owner's manual to so it can be added to the Fridge Manuals collection?

 

[rxbristol]

Friggin ice makers. Can you disable the ice maker? If so, does the sound go away?

 

[jbeletti]

Also, who can I send the soft copy of the owner's manual to so it can be added to the Fridge Manuals collection?

Jeff - email the PDF to manuals@heartlandowners.org and Dan Mayer will get it posted. Thanks

 

[danemayer]

DW woke me up at 2 AM this morning with "Hon, the refrigerator is making noise".


What could possibly cause the ice maker to start dumping water into the freezer section?

The tray rotates to dump the ice cubes as it completes the ice making process. If it's dumping water, and the temp in the freezer is cold enough to turn water to ice, then either 1) the tray is rotating too early, or 2) the heat element is on all the time. There's usually a tray heating element that loosens the ice cubes just before they're dumped.

Most ice makers have a bail arm above the container that holds the ice cubes. When the container is full, the bail arm is lifted up to prevent making more ice. If you lift the bail arm manually, it should stay up, which should stop the unit from making more ice (or dumping more water).

Also, who can I send the soft copy of the owner's manual to so it can be added to the Fridge Manuals collection?

If your refrigerator manual is not already in this folder, email it to manuals@heartlandowners.org

 

[TxCowboy]

Jeff - email the PDF to manuals@heartlandowners.org and Dan Mayer will get it posted. Thanks

Email and attachment sent to Dan. Thanks!

 

[danemayer]

File is posted. You may have to call Frigidaire for warranty work. If so, I'm sure Heartland will confirm that.

 

[TxCowboy]

The tray rotates to dump the ice cubes as it completes the ice making process. If it's dumping water, and the temp in the freezer is cold enough to turn water to ice, then either 1) the tray is rotating too early, or 2) the heat element is on all the time. There's usually a tray heating element that loosens the ice cubes just before they're dumped.

Most ice makers have a bail arm above the container that holds the ice cubes. When the container is full, the bail arm is lifted up to prevent making more ice. If you lift the bail arm manually, it should stay up, which should stop the unit from making more ice (or dumping more water).

Dan, good comments.

We've been using the ice maker since Day 1 in the RV. When the bin is full, the ice maker has been shutting off so it appears there's no problem there. We've never had a problem with the ice freezing to the extent you can't get it through the ice-in-through-the door.

When I checked on this issue this morning at 2 AM, the ice maker was only half full. That would be abnormal because we've been gone for about 10 days -- the ice bin should have been full. So this situation started only recently.

The freezer itself is doing just fine. Holds the temp at 6 degrees and the refrigerator section at 37 (per the digital display). That display is also not showing any warning or alerts.

As for the locking arm, since this is a rear mounted ice maker, it doesn't lock in the up position. You have to manually turn the switch on and off. BTW, I did test the auto-dumping function and it works correctly.

- - - Updated - - -

Friggin ice makers. Can you disable the ice maker? If so, does the sound go away?

Yes, it goes away and comes back when I turn it on. On the other hand, it should make SOME noise when I turn on the ice maker, right?

Question: Should I remove the food and leave the door open to defrost the freezer? Sometimes, these are just little hiccups that happen once and never come back.

OK, what am I thinking? I'm calling...

 

[NWILSON]

Not sure how the icemaker refills on this model but I've seen a similar issue when the filler tube has been knocked out of alignment with the tray. The noise may be from ice that's built up where it's not supposed to be.

 

[TxCowboy]

I called Fridigaire. Definitely under their warranty. A service tech isn't available for a couple of weeks so the ice maker is off until then.

Not sure how the icemaker refills on this model but I've seen a similar issue when the filler tube has been knocked out of alignment with the tray. The noise may be from ice that's built up where it's not supposed to be.

This may be the case. I just emptied the freezer, cycled the ice maker, and it is dumping water behind the ice maker and down the walls of the freezer. I'm going to have to chip all of that ice out in a little while so that it doesn't affect the cooling of the freezer.

If I can defrost the ice maker area specifically without making too much of a mess, I will.

Thanks for all of the comments, everybody.

 

[Candie]

It sounds like the the box that the water flows into before it gets to the ice tray is filled with ice causing it to overflow into the freezer. Our ice maker froze several times this summer, including the filler tube on the back freezer. The fix was to shut the fridge off to allow the complete ice maker to be removed and un-thawed. Also check that there is nothing blocking the tube at the rear of the freezer where the water comes out. You can turn fridge back on while the ice maker is thawing out. Once the ice maker is free of all the ice, again shut the fridge off and re-install the ice maker and turn the fridge back on. Press and hold the power button on the ice maker to cycle it through the ice making process.

Hope this helps..

Sent from my STV100-3 using Tapatalk

 

[Jesstruckn/Jesstalkn]

Jeff did the fridge ever loose power for a brief time in your travels ?
I'm thinking maybe if things kinda defrosted then you turned it back on again, the melted ice/water refroze it in places it shouldn't be, causing your issue.

Sent from Jerrod's phone with Tapatalk

 

[Candie]

That's how our ice maker acted up. We forgot to turn the inverter on when we unplugged from the house and things froze up when we powered the fridge back on.

Sent from my STV100-3 using Tapatalk

 

[TxCowboy]

It sounds like the the box that the water flows into before it gets to the ice tray is filled with ice causing it to overflow into the freezer. Our ice maker froze several times this summer, including the filler tube on the back freezer. The fix was to shut the fridge off to allow the complete ice maker to be removed and un-thawed. Also check that there is nothing blocking the tube at the rear of the freezer where the water comes out. You can turn fridge back on while the ice maker is thawing out. Once the ice maker is free of all the ice, again shut the fridge off and re-install the ice maker and turn the fridge back on. Press and hold the power button on the ice maker to cycle it through the ice making process.

I think this is very likely the case here. It looks like there's a trough (tube open at the top half) that flows into a small box that then fills the ice tray. There's a gap between this tube and the small box.

Regardless of what caused it, it needs to be fixed/adjusted so we have an appointment we made through Frigidaire for 16 November to have a repairman come by. This is covered by the manufacturer's warranty.

The funny thing is that I turned the water off to the ice maker yesterday and turn off the power to it as well and woke up to another 1/2 inch of ice in the bottom of the freezer this morning. Still not sure what caused that yet....