[helpwithappliance]

Hello

I opened the freezer door, all the ice cubes in the ice cube bucket had melted then refrozen in a big block - I disposed of the frozen cubes, and waited an hour - no more ice cubes. I disconnected the fill line at the back of the freezer, no water came out. I moved the shutoff wire at the ice cube tray up to off then to on, water spurted out of the fill line - I moved the ice cube tray wire back to off, reconnected the fill line to the back of the freezer and set the ice cube tray wire back to on, no water to the ice cube tray. I removed the fill line at the back of the freezer again, and moved the ice cube tray lever to on, no water from the fill line this time.

I disconnected the fill line coming from the water pump in the cellar from the blue valve at the base of the refrigerator, that had a steady supply of water going to the blue valve. I disconnected the plastic nut and hose from the blue valve that goes up to the back of the freezer, no water came out of the blue valve. Is this valve defective, or is the valve in the ice maker the one that pulls water up into the ice maker unit? I don't want to replace parts unnecessarily. Any help you can give will be appreciated.

[PS Staff - Sheila]

To check the valve you will need a meter.

You should get about 165 ohms resistance.

It does sound like it may be faulty.

Here is a link to your fridge model rb21k-4af-1.

Here is the valve.

[helpwithappliance]

Hi Thanks for your help. I ordered the replacement valve you suggested, the one on my refridgerator is different - the water fill inlet is a outside-threaded rather large diameter copper fitting that is round, not a hex, removed with either a slipjoint plier or plumbers wrench, also the line going up to the ice cube tray has a plastic nut that screws onto the body of the valve, the one you sent has a quick connect fitting on it. Is there a different valve you sell that has my setup? Please help.

[PS Staff - Sheila]

Most fridge manufacture are converting to the quick disconnect fittings.

For the plastic line all you have to do is cut the nut off and push the tubing into the quick disconnect fitting.

For the incoming water line you will have to change your connector.

I don't now of anyone that supplies the old style.

[helpwithappliance]

I installed the new valve, it doesn't close - the water flows right through it without stopping, I had to shut off the feed valve in the cellar. The arm on the ice maker was in the stop position when I installed the valve - now what?

[PS Staff - Sheila]

The water valve is shut off by the water pressure in the line.

If the valve is not closing that mean the line water pressure is to low.

[helpwithappliance]

I find this hard to believe as I had a gallon bucket full in less than two minutes when I removed the line from the valve, the water pressure guage is minimum 40 pounds maximum 60

[PS Staff - Sheila]

You may have received a faulty valve.

When the ice maker calls for water the valve open for about 3 seconds and then the power to the valve is shut off.

The valve is open by coil that when power is apply creates a magnetic field that pull the valve open, when the voltage is gone the magnetic field is gone and the water pressure close the valve.

[helpwithappliance]

I reread your instructions, it had been a few days from when I first read them till when I worked on it. I had reversed the inlet water hose and icemaker line connections. I shut off the water valve in the cellar and cut the off the old fitting with a set of sharp shears and put a new nut and compression fitting on the water inlet side and connected it to the threaded connection of the water valve, then cut back the line coming from the ice maker behind the nut and inserted it into the quick-connect coupling.

Turned on water valve in cellar, no leaks now, the valve did not allow the water to bypass it, after 10 minutes had ice cubes, been working normally for over a month now.

A couple things you and the readers should know:

1. The water valve you sent has a completely different mounting bracket than the old one which was not compatible with the new valve (old valve had a bracket that was connected to the refrigerator inside the frame with two sheet metal nuts, the bracket itself was attached to the valve by four screws, the new pump has no provision for these screws nor the two sheet metal attaching screws)

What I did was to take one of the sheetmetal nuts and screw it into one of the attaching holes on the outside (it selftapped itself) then slid the bracket on the new pump over the nut and tightened it down. (There is a slot cut into the new bracket that slipped over the nut head at one end then slid down to its end where I tightened it)

2. This may not be an option for everyone as the pump body now is on the outside of the refrigerator frame, sticking out about 3/4 of an inch - if clearance to the back of the refrigerator to the wall or other obstruction is an issue check to make sure you have room before using this method. I placed a 3 inch block of wood between the base of the refrigerator back and the wall to provide extra clearance.

Other than this the fix works well.