Refrigerator Ice Maker Fills With Water When Water Dispenser Is Used

Ice maker fills with water when the water dispenser is used and vice versa.

Published May 12, 2008 by mjkunz
Last updated on May 12, 2008

I have a Frigidaire Gallery side-by-side refrigerator with a water dispenser and ice-maker in the door. Recently it started to have a very annoying problem.

Problem:

When the water dispenser was used the ice-maker would fill with water. So once a large cup or a couple small cups were filled then the ice-maker would overflow and spill water into the freezer. Also the reverse would happen. When the ice-maker automatically filled with water the water dispenser would spill water all over the floor. Needless to say it was a messy problem.

I contacted a repair service which diagnosed the problem as a bad water valve on the back of the refrigerator. It seemed to me that the valves were fine since they were opening and closing. I also checked them with a multimeter and they checked out ok. So that was a waste of a 60$ service call by the repair company. There were three valves on the refrigerator. A main valve that let water in from the supply line and two other valves that either let water into the ice-maker or to the water dispenser. Basically if you activate the water dispenser the main valve opens as well as the valve to the dispenser. When the ice-maker filled with water the main valve would open as well as the valve to the ice-maker.

Solution:

I took a look at the manual for the refrigerator which had a wiring diagram in it. After looking at the diagram for a while I noticed that there was diode in the wiring harness for the water valves. A diode only allows current to flow one direction. There were two wires going into the diode. One from the water dispenser controller and from the ice-maker controller. Then a single wire came from the diode to the main water valve. This allowed the water dispenser to send power to the main valve and the dispenser valve without also powering the ice-maker valve and vice versa for when the ice-maker fills with water. So I figured the diode had shorted out and was allowing power to go both ways. This explained why when power was applied by either controller both valves and the main valve opened.

After a little searching online and calling the manufacturer I was able to find a part number for a diode kit. I searched for the part on partselect.com and found it for 8$. It came with some simple instructions and was simple to install. Wouldn't you know it, that fixed the problem. Not a bad 8$ spent when I was quoted hundreds by a repair man. I did test the old diode after I remove it. It was allowing power to flow both directions.

I hope this information helps if anyone else is experiencing a similar problem.

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