The answer first
For the AFR series specifically, an ice maker that has stopped producing is most often a clogged water filter or low supply pressure. This is the narrowest page this reference holds for the fault, so it carries the full order rather than narrowing one written above it. All 5 of the causes below can at least be narrowed down without a tool, which is unusual and worth taking advantage of.
What the machine is doing
- Production stopped after the door was taken off or reversed — Anything disturbed at the hinge can catch the switch or the arm that stops production.
- Cubes are small, hollow or only half formed — Water is arriving but not enough of it, which points at pressure or a partly blocked line.
- It fills, freezes and then never ejects — The harvest side has stalled; the cubes sit in the mould and nothing new can be made.
- Production is far slower than it used to be — Slow rather than stopped points at fill volume and at compartment temperature rather than at the module.
- NEAR MISS — the whole cabinet is warm as well — Then the cooling fault comes first: no cabinet that cannot hold temperature will make ice, and that is a different page.
Causes, most likely first on the AFR series
- A clogged water filter or low supply pressure — A filter at the end of its life throttles the fill. Small and hollow cubes are the classic sign, long before the ice stops entirely.
- A freezer compartment that is not cold enough to harvest — The harvest cycle waits for the mould to reach temperature. A compartment sitting a few degrees warm makes ice slowly, then not at all, without ever looking broken.
- The shut-off arm or sensor reading the bin as full — Every ice maker has something that stops it when the bin fills, and a bag of frozen peas resting on that arm looks exactly like a full bin. It is first here because it is free and it is common.
- A door that is not closing, or a switch that thinks it is open — Many cabinets pause the ice circuit while the door is open. A switch that never releases keeps that pause going permanently.
- A bin or ice maker that is not seated properly — If the bin is not home, the arm or sensor cannot read it, and cubes can drop past it instead of into it. The ice under the bin is the giveaway.
What to check first, second, third
- Check the shut-off arm or sensor before anything else — It takes five seconds, it is free, and it is the single most common reason a working ice maker makes nothing.
- Count what arrives over a full day rather than an hour — Ice makers work in batches with long waits between them, so anything measured over an hour tells you nothing useful.
- Only then suspect the module itself — It is last because it is the only expensive item on the list and the most frequently replaced without cause.
Before you open anything
Safety
Nothing below happens on a live machine. Unplug it or switch off its breaker before any panel comes off, and remember a capacitor can hold a charge after the power is off. A loaded cabinet is heavy and top-heavy with the doors open, so get help to move it rather than walking it on its corners. No step on this page asks you to defeat an interlock, and none should be improvised into one.
Models in the AFR family
Reference| Model number | Family key |
|---|---|
| AFR151SS | avallon:refrigerator:afr |
| AFR151SSOD | avallon:refrigerator:afr |
| AFR152SS | avallon:refrigerator:afr |
| AFR152SS** | avallon:refrigerator:afr |
| AFR152SSOD | avallon:refrigerator:afr |
| AFR152SSOD** | avallon:refrigerator:afr |
| AFR241SS | avallon:refrigerator:afr |
| AFR241SSOD | avallon:refrigerator:afr |
| AFR242SS | avallon:refrigerator:afr |
| AFR242SS** | avallon:refrigerator:afr |
| AFR242SSOD | avallon:refrigerator:afr |
| AFR242SSOD** | avallon:refrigerator:afr |
When to call a technician
Where to stop: what you can see, reach and clear with the machine isolated is owner work; refrigerant work of any kind, and any test that puts a meter on a live terminal is not. On this page that puts anything behind a fixed panel on the far side of the line. Call sooner rather than later if the fault is getting worse week by week, because the cheap version of most of these becomes the expensive version if it is left.
Other problems covered for the AFR series
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