Machine only makes ice cubes on a few coils

Bought this ice maker November 2012. Christmas gift for my wife. Used it once a month for 6 months. Drained it every time and wiped it dry. All of a sudden it started making only 1 cube and then none. Emerson wanted it shipped back and they would replace it. Would cost probably 1/2 the cost of it to ship it back! I'm by no means a refrigeratoin tech but I'm one of those people that can fix anything. I found a solenoid in the back that reroutes the freon to cause heat so the cubes fall off. Seemed like there was a vapor lock or piece of something stuck in the lines. Compressor as running but nothing was getting cold. I took the 2 blue wires off the control PCB. I made 2 jumpers and put it to a 110 extension cord. {solenoid is 110 VAC}. While the unit was running I plugged the extension cord in and out of the wall causing the solenoid to open and close. When the solenoid was open it caused heat to the coils which would make the cubes fall off. After repeaing this procedure a few times i left it unplugged with the machine on. Lo and behold the coild get cold now and make cubes again! Could it have been a vapor lock or a clog? Put it back together and it works fine now. I think it is a vapor lock being caused by how the machine is turned off and at what point i is in the cycle. This all started when it shut down for a full basket of ice. From now on when it gets close to being full I'm goin to shut it by the power switch in the front. This causes the unit to empty the water and actuate the solenoid. Hope this helps someone else and by all means if your not somewhat competent or handy dont do this on your own!

dirty condensor coil, condensor fan motor not working, low on freon,taking in new water during the freeze cycle due to float or unlevel machine.

I am going to assume that the machine has been cleaned, I would adjust the cube thickness to less.

Hi and welcome to FixYa. When an icemaker still makes ice but in a reduced capacity it is usually the result of other problems.

Either there is ice build up on the evaproator coils due a defrosting problem that you do not see or the evaporator fan motor is not running fast enough.

Here is a way to find out. Unplug the unit and use a fan blowing into the freezer compartment for at least 2 hours. This is a manual external defrosting that will rid the evaproator coils of any ice build up.

Plug the unit back in. Over the next 30 hours check to see if your ice made result is much more than before the manual defrost.

If this improves your ice made result then you probably have a defrosting problem with your unit.

You did not say if the cubes were smaller or not so I have to assume the cubes currently are normal in size and that water flow and ice maker fill timing are fine.

Kelly

Make sure the ice maker is turned on ( green light ?) . Pour about 2/3 cup of water into ice maker . If it freezes and dumps the cubes , but doesn't fill with water , replace the dual water inlet valve ( one coil for water dispensor , the other is for the ice maker ) . If it does not dump the frozen cubes , then replace the ice maker .

The following assumes that the ice compartments are filling with water. Be sure you check that as the first step in diagnosing your problem.

The ice maker is controlled by a temperature sensor which determines when the 'dump' cycle begins. There is a heater in the small ice cube wells that furnishes heat when the dump cycle is initiated in order to make the ice cubes come out of the well.

If this heater is not working, you'll get the symptoms you describe. Possibly a few ice cubes will dump without the heater, but most will not and since the remaining ice is already frozen, another cycle won't occur until the cold ice is dumped, so all you get are those few cubes that just happened to dump without the help of the heater.

It's possible that the control thermostat is bad, not 'telling' the heater to come on, but in most cases, when the thermostat or anything in the control circuit goes bad, the ice maker will simply stop working.

Which brings us to the heating coils surrounding the ice cube compartments. It can be removed by reasonably skilled homeowner, but if you feel uncomfortable about taking the ice-making mechanism apart, best to leave it to a qualified repairman.

Hope this was helpful.

Pour about 1/2 cup of water into ice maker . If it dumps , replace the water valve . If doesn't dump , replace the ice maker . Also make sure the coils are clean of dust , lint , etc...

If the evaporator coils behind the back panel of the freezer are icing up because of auto defrost failure that will stop the circulation of cold air and eventually affect the freezer too.

check
, defrost heater, defrost thermostat.
http://www.acmehowto.com/howto/appliance/refrigerator/refrigerator.php

i suspect a defective liquid line or pump down seleonid coil. just make sure you hear the "click" when it starts up if not the selenoid coils could be defective. also verify that the condenser fan is running,because if not you are short-cycling on high head pressure. please contact if you need any additional info

Check and make sure you door seal is tight. Take a dollar bill and place it between the door jam and gasket, close the door and then pull the bill slowly out. It should be rather tight all the way around. So you will have to do several checks all the way around the door. If you have a bad spot call and have them either replace the gasket or adjust the door.The other thing you can do (I have found most if not all manufacturers require this) empty your ice maker once a week. The problem comes from your refer being a self defrost. There is a heater coil that gets as hot as a range element to defrost the evap coil. It is the defrost cycle that causes the ice to melt down a bit. And the defrost cycles every 12 to 24 hours causing the cubes on top to melt down some. So as your bucket fills whatever was on top melts a bit and by the time you are ready to use several layers may be melted causing them to stick together.