Okay, this is really a hack instead of a fix, but it does work. Since moving in we’ve been really frustrated with the ice and water dispensers in the freezer door of our Kenmore side-by-side fridge. Sometimes they work great, but other times, you can hardly get anything out of either the ice chute or water spigot without first slamming the freezer door a couple times.
I’ve been doing a little investigation and experimentation off and on, and tonight I had my eureka moment. I noticed a couple days ago that the light in the front of the door, located in the same recessed area as the water and ice dispensers, is similarly affected—if you flip its switch nothing happens, unless you happen to also be pushing in on the freezer door. Then the light goes on and off with the switch. This led me to the conclusion that the switch inside the freezer, which determines whether the door is shut or open, was faulty. The water and ice dispensers aren’t supposed to work if the door is open, after all, so if the switch is bad at noticing whether the door is open or closed, the dispensers will be bad at working.
Tonight I was poking around in the freezer to demonstrate my theory to Rona, when I remembered something. When we were looking at the house to buy it, we noticed that there was a pen duct-taped to the inside top of the freezer door. We assumed that this was so an overzealous organizer of a previous owner could label his or her frozen goods using a convenient, if chilly, pen. We removed the bizarrely-placed pen when we were moving in.
I realized that an object about the thickness of a pen, if secured to the top of the freezer door on the inside, would raise the profile of the freezer door just enough to firmly close the switch, thus enabling the freezer door water features to function as they should.
One red crayon and one piece of packing tape later, and my theory is proved and I’m drinking water from a bottle which was, for once, really easy to fill.
Exhibit A: The Bad Switch
Exhibit B: The Quick Fix
June 1st, 2006 at 9:02 am
Nice fix! Longer term, you might want to check on how well the crayon is holding up. A pencil or pen might last longer than a frozen wax crayon.
June 1st, 2006 at 9:14 am
Thanks! I’ve since upgraded the packing tape (which doesn’t stick all that well when frozen) to duct tape. I don’t think there’s enough pressure on the crayon for it to break from contact with the switch, but I’ll keep an eye on it. So far, so good!
If it does start wearing down or something, odds are good I have a dowel somewhere in the garage that’s about the same diameter as a crayon. But that might make it less of a hack.