Ice makers are a household essential. From adding an extra chill to your favorite drinks to emergency coolers for first aid, ice makers are indispensable.
But what happens when your ice maker gets frosted? According to Home Tips, the freshwater refill tube that feeds the ice maker can freeze, obstructing the water flow and producing little or nonexistent ice cubes. So you might want to consider defrosting the ice maker yourself before paying for an expensive repair or replacement.
Don't worry; this is a common issue that can be resolved relatively easily. Here's how to defrost your ice maker.
1. Turn Off the Ice Maker
The first step is to turn off the ice maker. You can do this by flipping the switch on the machine's side or unplugging it from its power source.
Shutting down the unit will prevent it from continuing to make more ice while you work on defrosting it. And also avoid any potential electrical hazards that may arise if you leave it running.
2. Gather Your Materials
Before beginning, you'll need a few items: a bucket, cloth towels, and a hair dryer (or heat gun). Place the bucket beneath the ice maker unit, as this will catch any melting water that drips down as you defrost it.
Have plenty of cloth towels handy in case of accidental spills throughout the process. As well as ensure you have access to a hair dryer or heat gun for proper thawing out of the metal components inside the unit.
To avoid electric shock, keep the hair drier away from any melted water and proceed to dry the area.
3. Begin Defrosting
Next, begin defrosting by taking your cloth towel and wiping away any visible frost from your ice maker unit's external surfaces and crevices. You don't want anything obstructing air vents or other necessary components during this process!
When removing all visible frost, take your hair dryer or heat gun and set it in a low-heat setting. Using it in slow circular motions, apply heat around all exterior surfaces of your machine until no more frost appears on its surface or within its crevices.
4. Allow the Unit To Rest & Cool Down
Once no more frost appears on any surface area, shut off your hair dryer or heat gun. Then, unplug or turn off your ice maker unit again before allowing some time for everything to cool down completely.
The cooldown should take about 30 minutes, depending on the room temperature conditions you're working in-prepare to turn on the machine.
Before plugging it in, ensure the freezer and ice maker are fully dry.
5 . Turn On the Unit Again
Finally, turn back on/plug in your machine once again after cooling. If all went smoothly during steps 1-4, you should now have an appropriately defrosted machine!
If not, consider repeating steps 3-4 one more time before moving on to further troubleshooting measures that may arise with the operating functions. Then, after turning the ice maker back on, consider completing steps 1-4. But if the time has come to replace your ice maker, here is a list of great options from Kismile.
Defrosting an ice maker is not difficult as long as you follow these five simple steps. First, turn off the icemaker, gather materials, begin defrosting with a hair dryer or heat gun, allow time to cool down, and then turn it back on again.
Complete each step thoroughly and carefully so as not to damage any components! With this guide leading you along every step, we hope you'll soon have successfully refrozen that icy cold treat just like before!