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The Icemaker Story
The icemaker in our refrigerator stopped working, and I being the geek that I am, I figured I could fix it myself. The icemaker system only has a few parts, and none of those are excessively complicated. With the miracle of the Internet, I could order any part for the refrigerator and avoid a costly service visit from a qualified repair technician, famouse last words.
I rolled out the schematic for the refrigerator as any good engineer would, and saw that it had two main parts: the ice-making assembly inside the freezer, and a water pump located in the back of the refrigerator. I quickly determined that no water was making it to the ice tray, so I suspected a blocked tube or a defective pump. In retrospect my analysis was correct, but not exactly accurate.
The pump was a single-inlet/dual-outlet device. I was able to get water to flow out of both outlets of the pump by switching connections. Must be a blockage in one of the many hoses.
Much to my confusion all the hoses were clear. Must be the icemaker assembly then.
The icemaker is the most complicated part, but with the schematic, I would ferret out the problem part. Heck it might just be one of the relays in there which couldn't cost more than a few bucks. I thought, "Oh those silly people with no technical skills who must pay through the nose to get their refrigerators fixed."
I fired up the voltmeter and from my measurements it looked like nothing was wrong with that part. However, the pump worked so I must've missed something in the icemaker so I went ahead an ordered the icemaker online.
A week later the assembly arrived. Now this is the part of the story that you've heard before. On installing the new icemaker assembly I burned my finger. Yes, that's right. I burned my finger in a freezer on something that makes ice. Not only that, but it didn't solve the problem. I was still iceless.
There was a 20% restocking fee for the assembly, but I figured if I had to return it, I'd still be ahead of calling a technician. I'd keep it around just in case, and order the pump now. One of those had to be the problem. Losing confidence, I ordered the water pump from a place that didn't have a restocking fee. When the pump arrive a few days later, I installed it only to discover that with the two new parts to the system, still no ice production.
At this point, I decided to return the parts, swallow my pride and call a technician to come and fix the problem. I'd only be down the cost of shipping for the two parts plus the 20% restocking fee on the assembly. Not too bad of a lesson.
A few days later the technicians arrived in an unmarked minivan. I was a bit concerned that I had picked the wrong name out of the Yellow Pages. When they broke a small plastic part on the refrigerator, I cringed. "This part doesn't cost too much," he told me. (He was right, it was less than the 20% restocking fee on the icemaker) Thankfully, they discovered the pump hadn't been working properly, and there was an ice blockage in the back wall of the refrigerator. A place that I hadn't checked.
I was relieved. I hadn't been crazy. It was the pump, and it was just an area of blockage that I had overlooked. I can admit a mistake and move on. The guy told me that he didn't have the part to do it on that day, but I could just replace it myself if I wanted to, and save some money. Since I had the experience replacing parts, I just wrote him a check for a service visit $38.50. I (with the help of a technician) had finally solved what was now a three-month repair.
I reordered the pump paying yet another shipping charge. Installation was simple since I had already installed and reinstalled this once before. In a few minutes I would have nice cool ice. The last hurdle to my return to icedom had been melted away with a hairdryer. Nothing could stand in my way.
Oops. Crap. No ice. Now I was getting pissed off.
OK, maybe this repair guy wasn't that smart. Maybe it is the icemaker. I once again ordered the ice-making assembly. Installed that (with no burned fingers, thank you very much).
Still no ice.
I couldn't call a repairman again. Even I couldn't violate my pride that much.
I took a week off from the job to cool down, and gather my thoughts. The next weekend I attacked the problem with renewed vigor. I wasn't going to sleep until that damn refrigerator made ice! Or, I guess until I gave up and bought a whole new refrigerator.
After a few hours of swapping hoses and electrical connections, I discovered another pump tucked back on the opposite that wasn't included on the schematic. More hose swapping confirmed that one side of this SECOND UNDOCUMENTED PUMP didn't work.
Now at this point I could've returned the two other parts, but I was so shellshocked from my previous failures that I kept them. I ordered the second pump installed it like the pump installing pro I was becoming and voila - ice.
So let's take a look at the total costs:
Shipping cost and 20% restocking fee on icemaker assembly: $35.99 The experience was frustrating, but I do know icemaker repair intimately now. I realize I could've saved some money by returning some of the parts, but when ice was being made I didn't want to touch a thing. My guess is a skilled repair technician could've fixed the problem for about $250 and done it in one hour if he had the part in stock. I think I'll just stick to fixing computers from now on. Filed under Musings by Brian - Thu Oct 16, 2003 @ 12:00 AM (Permalink - Discuss) |
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