It is a Saturday in June, the kids have friends over, and the ice bin in your fridge is empty when the cooler needs filling. The water dispenser still runs, the food is cold, but no cubes are dropping. We get this call across Orlando all summer long, and the brand on the door changes the answer more than most people expect.
This guide covers the big four we see most in Central Florida kitchens: Whirlpool (and its KitchenAid, Maytag, and Amana cousins), LG, GE, and Frigidaire. The basic causes overlap a lot. A starved water line or a warm freezer kills ice on any of them. But each brand has a quirk or two that trips people up, so we will walk the shared stuff first, then go brand by brand.
The general causes that hit every brand
Before you go looking for anything brand-specific, check these five. They account for most of the dead ice makers we see, no matter whose name is on the fridge.
The water filter is clogged. A filter past its date chokes the water flow until the tray can no longer fill. Most makers want a new filter every six months, but Orlando's hard water (roughly 8 to 17 grains per gallon across the metro) scales up the filter and the line faster than that. Down here we tell people to swap closer to every four months. A replacement runs about $20 to $50 retail.
The water line or inlet valve is blocked. The thin supply line behind the fridge kinks easily, and the saddle valve or shutoff that feeds it can get bumped half closed during a filter change. The inlet valve at the back of the fridge can also clog with mineral scale or fail electrically. A new water inlet valve is about $20 to $60 retail, but check for a simple kink or a closed valve first.
The freezer is not cold enough. Ice makers need the freezer at or near 0 degrees Fahrenheit (about minus 18 Celsius) to cycle. If yours drifted up to 10 or 15, the maker slows down or quits. Set it back to 0, give it 24 hours, and see if cubes return before you blame the ice maker.
The control arm or bail wire is in the OFF position. Almost every ice maker has a wire arm or a paddle that shuts the unit off when the bin is full. It gets knocked up (off) when you pull the bin out or stuff a frozen pizza next to it. If the arm is raised, the maker thinks the bin is full and stops. Push it down and you are back in business.
The whole assembly is frozen over. Humid Florida air sneaks past worn door seals, hits the cold maker, and builds a sheet of frost around the tray and the gears. Once that happens the unit jams. The fix is a full thaw: turn the fridge off, lay towels down, leave the doors open for a few hours, and let it melt. Do not chip at it with a knife. You will puncture the line.
Whirlpool ice maker not working
On a Whirlpool (and the same goes for KitchenAid, Maytag, and Amana, which share the platform), start with the optical sensor. These use an infrared beam to read the ice level, and a film of frost or a stray cube blocking the beam makes the maker think the bin is full, so it stops. Wipe the two small windows on the inside walls of the bin housing. Then check the feeler arm and the ice maker module itself.
The bail or feeler arm is the next suspect. On modular Whirlpool makers a spring-loaded arm rides on top of the ice and shuts the unit off when the bin fills. If it sticks in the up position, no ice. Work it by hand and make sure it drops freely. If the optical sensor is clean and the arm moves fine but you still get nothing, the ice maker module (the boxy unit with the motor and gears) is the likely failure. That part runs about $80 to $200 at retail and is a common swap on these units.
LG ice maker not working
LG ice makers are picky about cold. They want a genuinely cold freezer, and on many models the maker will not run reliably until the freezer holds at or below 0 degrees, sometimes a touch colder than other brands need. If the freezer is even slightly warm, ice production drops off first. Confirm the temperature before anything else. After that, find the ice maker test button.
Most LG makers have a round test button on the front of the unit. Press and hold it until the maker hums and starts a cycle. That tells you the motor and the fill valve still work and re-homes the unit. One more thing specific to LG: if you have a craft-ice model that makes the round slow-melt spheres, those are slow by design. A craft-ice maker turns out only two or three of the big round cubes a day, so an empty craft bin is not always a fault. The regular cube tray on the same fridge should still fill at a normal pace.
GE ice maker not working
On a GE, the feeler arm is the first thing we check. GE makers use a wire shutoff arm that rides on the ice, and it gets bumped to the up (off) position constantly when people dig in the bin. If it is raised, push it back down. Then look hard at the water filter, because GE filters clog fast.
GE filters are notorious for restricting flow as they near the end of their life, and in Orlando water they get there sooner. If your GE has slowed to a trickle of small or hollow cubes, the filter is the prime suspect. Swap it, or pull it out entirely for a quick test, since most GE fridges run fine on bypass without a filter installed. If the arm is down and a fresh filter does not bring it back, the icemaker module or its motor is the next stop, and that is a replacement part in the $80 to $200 retail range.
Frigidaire ice maker not working
Frigidaire ice makers most often die at the water valve. The inlet valve that feeds the tray clogs with scale or fails to open, and the tray never fills. You can hear it: a healthy fill is a short buzz and a trickle of water every cycle. If you hear nothing during a cycle, suspect the valve (about $20 to $60 retail) or the line feeding it. Then check the ice maker control.
Frigidaire uses a control module and a shutoff arm on most models. Make sure the arm is down in the on position, and on units with a power switch or test point, cycle it. The last common cause on Frigidaire is low freezer temperature. These makers are sensitive to a warm freezer, so if the compartment is sitting above 5 degrees, drop it back toward 0 and wait a day before condemning any parts.
Samsung is the one brand we left off the list on purpose. Samsung French-door ice makers have a separate, well-known freezing problem that deserves its own write-up, so if that is your fridge, look for the Samsung-specific guide rather than the general fixes here.
What an ice maker repair costs
For real numbers, Yale Appliance's 2025 service data puts the average refrigeration repair at about $255, with most jobs landing in the $150 to $900 range depending on the part. An ice maker or inlet valve job sits toward the lower-to-middle end of that. The parts themselves are modest at retail: an ice maker assembly runs about $80 to $200, a water inlet valve $20 to $60, and a water filter $20 to $50. Labor and diagnosis are where the price moves.
Here is how we handle it at QLAMA. The diagnostic is $90, and we waive it if you go ahead with the repair. We quote a flat price on-site before we touch anything, so there is no hourly meter running. If the fix is not worth it, you owe the $90 and we are gone. For comparison, a new fridge runs about $1,000 to $2,500 depending on style and size, so on a fridge that is otherwise cold and running, fixing the ice maker is almost always the cheaper move.
When to call an Orlando tech
Call when you have changed the filter, confirmed the water line is open, set the freezer to 0, and still get no ice. Call when the maker freezes back up within a few days of a full thaw, when you hear no fill buzz at all during a cycle, or when cubes come out hollow and shrinking even with a fresh filter. Those point to the inlet valve, the maker module, or a sealed-system problem, and those need parts and tools most homeowners do not keep around. A bad module or a failed valve is a quick swap for us and a frustrating afternoon for almost everyone else.
QLAMA Appliance Repair services refrigerators and ice makers across Orlando, Winter Park, Kissimmee, Sanford, Dr. Phillips, Windermere, Oviedo, Lake Nona, Winter Garden, and the surrounding communities within roughly a 30-mile radius of Orlando, residential and commercial.
Common questions about ice makers
Why did my ice maker suddenly stop working?
Start with the easy stuff. A control arm bumped to the off position, a clogged water filter, or a water valve knocked half closed during a filter change cause most sudden stops. After that, check that the freezer is holding 0 degrees and that the unit has not frozen over with frost.
How often should I change my refrigerator water filter in Orlando?
Most brands say every six months, but Orlando's hard water (8 to 17 grains per gallon) clogs filters faster than that. We tell customers here to swap the filter closer to every four months. A starved filter is one of the most common reasons ice slows to a trickle.
Why is my ice maker making small or hollow cubes?
That is almost always a water flow problem. A clogged filter or a partly blocked inlet valve lets only a little water into the tray, so the cubes come out small, hollow, or shrunken. Change the filter first, then check the valve and line pressure if it does not improve.
Do LG craft-ice makers make ice slowly on purpose?
Yes. The round craft-ice cubes are slow by design and a craft maker only turns out two or three a day. An empty craft bin is not always a fault. The regular cube tray on the same fridge should still fill at a normal speed, so judge by that one.
Is it worth repairing an ice maker or replacing the fridge?
If the fridge is otherwise cold and running, repair wins almost every time. An ice maker or valve repair is a small fraction of the $1,000 to $2,500 cost of a new refrigerator. Replacing the whole unit only makes sense when the fridge has other failing parts on top of the ice maker.
Get your ice maker running again
The brand on the door points us at the usual suspect, but the path is the same: check the filter, the water line, the freezer temperature, and the arm, then call us if it still will not make ice. We fix these across Orlando every week and we tell you the flat price before we start.
Book an appointment online or call us at 561-320-7695. The diagnostic is $90 and gets waived if we do the repair.