Community Forums

Mac63 · 03-19-2012, 11:24 AM

I have the U-line 95 Ice Maker, when I turn on the ice maker it pops the GFI. I connected the ice maker to an outside source, so I assume my GFI is ok. I appreciate any input and help.

chuckinthebus · 03-19-2012, 01:12 PM

What amp GFI do you have it connected to? Specs say Maximum start-up amps 18.0. If you are on a 15 amp GFI, start up overloads it. (Just a guess here.) What else is on the circuit?

RV Wizard · 03-20-2012, 03:54 AM

You probably have a bad mold heating element. It is not shorted out enough to trip a 15 or 20 amp standard circuit but the filament is probably creating a current leakage to the case of the element and that is all it will take to trip the GFI. Repair the ice maker with a good heating element and you should be good to go.

nosticks · 03-20-2012, 07:12 AM

Yep, agree with RV Wizard. I had the Uline 95 with the same problem on my boat a while back and the described fix cured it.

TQ60 · 03-20-2012, 07:30 PM

Does the motor assembly come out?

We tried to remove ours and it seemed to have a part glued to the bottom, could be the evapoator, different not want to pull too hard.

JimM68 · 03-20-2012, 07:53 PM

It may be cheaper and easier to replacde the entire icemaker, you can get them at lowes, might have to splice your old connectore on.

RV Wizard · 03-21-2012, 03:04 AM

The U Line ice maker model is a different design than most common Whirlpool designs. The only replacement will have to come from U Line. Others will not work; I tried many years ago to find internal component differences and U Line is proud of it. Lest expensive route is to repair. It has been awhile since I had to pull one but I do think there was some machine screws holding the ice maker to the evaporator.

nosticks · 03-21-2012, 06:44 AM

I went the same route as you RV Wizard, and tried to no avail to find a generic ice maker assembly. U-Line is proprietary, and they are proud of it. If I recall, even the plug in is different than the generics. I think it's a four wire vs. three or the other way around. If I recall correctly, it was around $180 and had to order it.

ddev · 03-30-2012, 05:46 PM

With gfi's any current leakage to ground will cause tripping. With appliances such as washers and fridges you can get erratic tripping when there is any moisture present. Not unusual to see here in southwest Florida where they stick them outside frequently
Should really not be necessary to have the fridge on a gfi, but if it's set up that way that's the way it is... Probably on a circuit with kitchen or bath outlets where gfi is necessary. An easy way to defeat the gfi on only the icemaker is to plug the power cord into one of those old grey 3 prong adapters then plug ice maker back into the outlet. No leakage to ground = no erratic tripping. Obviously this is not ul approved but it will stop the problem and should not cause issues. I repair appliances and run into the issue regularly with fridges in the garage plugged into an outlet on a circuit that feeds the outdoor plug ins. The ice maker is not interchangeable with any other...

Mac63 · 03-31-2012, 03:36 PM

ddev-
Thank you so much for the information, we tried it and BINGO it works like brand new!! Hope someday we are in your area to shake your hand and thank you in person. Also appreciate everyone else's in-put.

ddev · 04-01-2012, 03:14 PM

Glad I could help.

TQ60 · 04-02-2012, 12:25 PM

You are not finished yet!

The GFI was doing its job, protecting your life.

You have defeated it, so you need to insure you are safe.

What you have done is confirmed that the ice maker is causing the problem, removing the ground then removes the path for the energy that is leaking.

The Green wire, or ground is called "safety ground" for a reason, it is to safely absorb any leaking energy to ground and insure the conductive structures do not go live.

It also must be large enough to trip the breaker that supplies the current source.

The GFI looks at the current through the 3 wires, the white and black need to be equal and the green needs to be zero.

If it sees current mis-match, more on the black then on the white, then the current is flowing on the green instead of the white, thus potential for danger.

So what you have is internal leakage from the hot parts to the metal parts, the metal parts are usually connected to safety ground so all is fine.

You disconnected the safety ground so the leakage flows back on the white wire, and it can try to get on the water system, but with plastic plumbing the water is insulated.

And the metal parts of the ice box are live whenever it is running, you are standing on the floor of the coach, so you are like the birds on the high voltage wire, no path to ground so yo may not feel the shock.

What you need to do is get a volt meter and measure the voltage from any metal part that you can touch to ground while the ice maker is running, or whatever condition it is in to trip the GFI.

A measure against the ground pin in the ac outlet to insure you use the correct one.

Your GFI could be overly sensitive, it happens when they get old, they trip on in-rush current, or you have a broken down insulation somewhere that you may be able to isulate and repair.

In any event, you need to be sure you are safe, check to see what is happening and go from there.