Ice Maker Won't Stop Making Ice

Checks you can do safely before you call

1. Stop the ice maker. Raise the wire arm until it clicks and stays up, or set ice making to off on the switch or the control panel. If it won't stay off, unplug the refrigerator before your hand goes near the ejector.
2. Remove the extra ice. Scoop ice into a cooler or the sink until the freezer door or drawer closes fully. Let frozen clumps soften with the bin out on the counter rather than prying them apart with a knife.
3. Inspect the arm. With the refrigerator unplugged, look for a bend, a break or ice holding the arm down. Lift it gently by hand, and never force it past the point where it stops.
4. Seat the bin. Push the bin straight back until it locks in place, and close the compartment cover on door ice makers. A bin that sits even slightly forward can leave the arm or sensor reading empty.
5. Watch for water after the fill. If water keeps trickling into the mold while the refrigerator is unplugged, close the supply valve to the refrigerator and leave it closed. That points to the inlet valve, so skip the restart below and book a visit.
6. Restart and watch. Plug the refrigerator in, turn ice making back on and check after several hours that it stops once the bin is full. Keep your fingers clear of the ejector while it has power.

When to call a technician

• The arm is bent, broken or missing.
• Cubes keep dropping with the arm up or ice making set to off.
• Water keeps running into the mold after the fill, or a slab of ice forms there.
• The bin is seated and a door or drawer ice maker without an arm still overfills.
• Frost has built up from the door being held open; see ice buildup in the freezer.

What happens at the diagnostic visit

The technician tests the shutoff arm and the switch it works, checks the bin position and any ice level sensor, and runs the ice maker through a cycle to see whether the control stops at a full bin. The inlet valve is checked for water passing after the fill, and frost left by a door held open is noted along with the door seals.

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. The repair is priced first, and nothing is fixed until you agree. See ice maker repair.

Brand and model notes

• Whirlpool, KitchenAid and Maytag: freezer-mounted crescent-cube ice makers stop when the wire arm reaches its raised position, and lifting it until it clicks turns them off. A broken arm is replaced rather than bent back into shape. See Whirlpool, KitchenAid and Maytag.
• GE: on GE ice makers that pair the feeler arm with a power switch, setting that switch to off stops production even when the arm can't be raised. See GE.
• Samsung and LG: on the door-mounted ice makers in their French-door refrigerators, push the bucket fully home and close the compartment cover as the owner's manual shows before you suspect the ice level sensor. If a seated bucket still overfills, the sensor or the control is next. See Samsung and LG.