ICE maker question while storing the unit??

[bamaboy473]

Between trips I've gone to keeping the refrigerator ON all the time; just like the one at home. The question I have is how best to manage the ice maker.

If water pump is left ON, then ice will be made until the arm swings Up and the ice maker stops producing ice. The question I have is....if that ice is left un-touched for weeks, will the feed tube ice up?

Should i turn the water OFF? Does it matter?

[hayward3411]

I raise arm on ice maker and then turn off water.....works for me.

[Gary RVRoamer]

There is no need to shut the water off. The solenoid valve for the water line is behind the fridge and the water if OFF at that point unless the ice maker tries to make more ice.


Just raise the arm if you don't want it to make ice. Just like at home. It's the same icemaker and works in the same way.


It's probably a good idea to turn off the water pump if you aren't using the RV. Just in case a water line springs a leak somehow and you aren't there to notice it.

[bamaboy473]

Originally Posted by hayward3411

I raise arm on ice maker and then turn off water.....works for me.

Simple solution. If the water line hasn't frozen solid where it enters the freezer compartment, that's what I wanted to know.

Your plan also eliminates a flood in case Murphy decides to visit the coach while we aren't there.

[Spdracr39]

My residential says to turn the ice maker off if the water supply is off and I will not leave the water on in an unattended coach unless it is just for a couple of hours.

[Ray,IN]

Originally Posted by bamaboy473

Simple solution. If the water line hasn't frozen solid where it enters the freezer compartment, that's what I wanted to know.

Your plan also eliminates a flood in case Murphy decides to visit the coach while we aren't there.

The water entry point is designed so water gravity feeds into the ice maker tray, leaving the water feed tubing outside the freezer compartment, which is wrapped in silver tape along with the 12V heating wire.

The ice maker is 120VAC, unless you plug your MH into AC power or leave the inverter on, it will not run.

[bamaboy473]

Originally Posted by Ray,IN

The water entry point is designed so water gravity feeds into the ice maker tray, leaving the water feed tubing outside the freezer compartment, which is wrapped in silver tape along with the 12V heating wire.

The ice maker is 120VAC, unless you plug your MH into AC power or leave the inverter on, it will not run.

Good point. The pump is about 3' below the ice-maker feed tube, so water level is likely well below the freezer when ice maker is at rest.

[iowaone]

Make sure if you turn water off that you turn the ice maker off. It can and probably will burn out your ice maker at some point if you don’t turn ice maker off if water is off.

[Ray,IN]

Originally Posted by iowaone

Make sure if you turn water off that you turn the ice maker off. It can and probably will burn out your ice maker at some point if you don’t turn ice maker off if water is off.

The ice maker signals the water solenoid to open for a specific length of time then close.http://bryantrv.com/docs2/docs/icemaker.pdf
The ice maker does not know or care if water actually flows.

[GCSuper]

Originally Posted by Ray,IN

The ice maker signals the water solenoid to open for a specific length of time then close.http://bryantrv.com/docs2/docs/icemaker.pdf
The ice maker does not know or care if water actually flows.

At our Lake house we turn the water off every time we leave. We had a lot of issues with the icemaker and since we had a warranty they replaced it twice. That refrigerator died and the replacement started doing the same thing. I explained to the tech that we always turn the water supply off but don't turn the ice maker off. He said that was causing our problems as the ice maker would call for water but with a lack of supply the limited water would freeze up blocking the flow when the supply returned. Now we always turn the ice maker off when leaving and have not had any more issues, so I use this same strategy in the MH. No supply, Ice maker off.

[iowaone]

Our repair person said he replaced many ice makers for reasons like this. When the eject cycle runs with no ice because of no water then it overheats and burns out the ice maker.

[bamaboy473]

Originally Posted by GCSuper

At our Lake house we turn the water off every time we leave. We had a lot of issues with the icemaker and since we had a warranty they replaced it twice. That refrigerator died and the replacement started doing the same thing. I explained to the tech that we always turn the water supply off but don't turn the ice maker off. He said that was causing our problems as the ice maker would call for water but with a lack of supply the limited water would freeze up blocking the flow when the supply returned. Now we always turn the ice maker off when leaving and have not had any more issues, so I use this same strategy in the MH. No supply, Ice maker off.

I don't (think that I) have a way to turn the ice maker off unless I turn the refer off, so either I'm missing a simple step, or shall I continue to disconnect a power feed to the water pump when i don't want ice making?

[Dutch Star Don]

When we travel, I put the ice maker arm up, because we typically travel with the water pump off. I also don't want water spilling into the ice bucket if the ice tray is trying to fill on a rough road. It can also make odd ice cubes that can bind up the ice ejector. As part of our campsite setup, I unlock the refer and then lower the arm.

At home, water is off and ice maker arm is up.

[Ray,IN]

Originally Posted by iowaone

Our repair person said he replaced many ice makers for reasons like this. When the eject cycle runs with no ice because of no water then it overheats and burns out the ice maker.

If the ice maker is functioning properly it will not cycle unless the temperature is below freezing. Re-read that pdf I linked.