Ice Maker Leaking

Checks you can do safely before you call

1. Keep power and water apart. If water may have reached the outlet or the cord behind the refrigerator, switch its circuit off at the breaker before you touch the plug or reach behind the cabinet. If everything is dry, unplug the refrigerator.
2. Shut off the water. Close the valve that feeds the refrigerator, on the wall behind it or under the sink, which stops new water while you look. If you can't reach or find that valve, close the main water shutoff for the home.
3. Inspect the supply line. With the water and power off, ease the refrigerator out with a helper and follow the line from the wall valve to the back of the cabinet; leave a built-in unit in place. Look for cracks, kinks, chalky mineral crust and wet fittings. Don't force a fitting tighter; a cracked line or fitting has to be replaced.
4. Check the level. Set a level across a freezer shelf to check it side to side. The owner's manual may call for the front to sit slightly higher than the back so the doors swing shut, so adjust the front leveling legs as it shows, keeping the cord clear while you work at floor level.
5. Reseat the filter. With the water still shut off and a towel under the housing, take the cartridge out, check its O-rings and lock it back in until it stops.
6. Thaw spilled ice, then watch for drips. With the refrigerator still unplugged, pack frozen food into a cooler, prop the freezer door open over towels and let the ice melt; don't chip at it with a sharp tool. Once the floor, the outlet and the cord are dry, reopen the valve, switch the breaker back on if you turned it off, plug the refrigerator in and turn ice making on. Lay paper towels at the back and check them after an hour.

When to call a technician

• The paper towels at the back are wet, but the line and its fittings look dry.
• The inlet valve is cracked, crusted or wet.
• Ice keeps forming on the freezer floor after the cabinet is level.
• The dispenser keeps dripping, or the door ice compartment frosts up again.
• Water has soaked into the flooring or the base of the cabinets.

Water under the crisper drawers with nothing to do with the ice maker is covered on refrigerator leaking water, ice spreading from a blocked defrost drain on ice buildup in the freezer, and water around a standalone freezer on freezer leaking water.

What happens at the diagnostic visit

The technician follows the water path from the supply valve: the line and its connections, the inlet valve, the filter housing, the fill tube and how much water the ice maker takes per fill. The cabinet level and, on door ice makers, the compartment seal are checked too, because both can send water where it shouldn't go.

The diagnostic visit is $89 for a standard residential appliance and $129 for a built-in unit or commercial equipment; a premium brand on its own doesn't make an appliance built-in. You're told what failed and what fixing it costs, then you decide. See ice maker repair for the refrigerator ice makers we work on.

Brand and model notes

• Samsung and LG: when the ice maker sits in the left door of one of their French-door refrigerators, melted frost from that compartment can drip out of the dispenser or run onto the fresh-food shelves. Wiping it up doesn't solve it; the gasket around the compartment, its cold-air duct or a heater may be at fault. See Samsung and LG.
• Whirlpool and Maytag: the inlet valve sits low on the back of the cabinet, at or behind the lower rear access panel, so a drip there shows up as water under the back of the refrigerator rather than inside it. See Whirlpool and Maytag.
• Sub-Zero: a refrigerator fitted into the cabinetry shouldn't be pulled out by hand. Close the water valve, dry the floor and leave the line check to the visit. See Sub-Zero.