The short answer
Before anything else on an A cabinet, settle whether your number makes ice automatically at all, because the table covers a family rather than one machine. Most numbers here freeze a tray rather than run an ice maker.
What you observe on these models
- Trays that take most of a day to freeze — On a compact that is compartment temperature and frost on the plate, in that order.
- Cubes are smaller than they used to be — A short fill on a plumbed cabinet; a warmer compartment on one that is not.
- A thick frost rind over the plate where the tray sits — Insulation between the cold and your water.
- Ice is made, but slowly and in small quantity — Slow is a temperature story.
- NEAR MISS — plenty of ice but the cabinet is warm elsewhere — Read the cooling page for this family first; ice is a symptom there, not the fault.
Causes, most likely first on the A family
- Compartment temperature, not an ice maker — First on this platform: most numbers in this family make ice only in a tray, so the question is how cold the freezing compartment actually gets and how long the door stays shut.
- A frost slab insulating the evaporator plate — Second, and the classic manual-defrost story: the thicker the ice on the plate, the slower everything inside freezes, including your tray.
- Set point too low for canned and bottled drinks — Third: glass bursts and cans split well before the cabinet reaches a freezing fault, so a cabinet making ice out of your drinks is a control and sensor question.
- The tray or mould itself — Fourth: a deep plastic tray insulates its own contents, and a tray standing on a shelf rather than on a cold surface takes much longer than one in contact with it.
- The compartment packed too full to move air — Last: ice forms last in a compartment that cannot circulate, so a freezer packed solid produces ice slowly even while everything in it stays frozen.
Check in this order, and why that order
- Put a thermometer in the freezing compartment overnight — A freezer holds food safely at 0 °F (−18 °C) or below.
- Look at the evaporator plate and judge the frost — A thick rind is insulation, and it slows freezing long before it warms the food.
- Check the ice maker arm and module last — And where there is no ice maker, stop at the temperature reading: tray ice follows the compartment.
- Decide what you are actually asking of the cabinet — A beverage centre chills drinks.
- Read the set point and compare it with what is on the shelves — Cans split and bottles burst well before a beverage cabinet counts as faulty; a cabinet freezing its contents needs its control checked.
Before you open anything
Safety
Unplug the appliance or switch off its breaker before removing any panel. A capacitor can hold a charge after the power is off. Do it before the first panel rather than before the difficult one: the live parts are not where most people expect them.
Models in the A family — The numbers this page covers.
Reference| Model number | Family key |
|---|---|
| A1-1.6CFSDBLK | avalon:refrigerator:a |
| A1-1.6CFSDSS | avalon:refrigerator:a |
| A1-3.1CFDDBLK | avalon:refrigerator:a |
| A1-3.1CFDDSS | avalon:refrigerator:a |
When to call a technician
Checking a supply valve, a fill tube, an arm and a compartment temperature is owner work on a compact manual-defrost refrigerator. On these models the line falls at the sealed system, which is licensed work from the first cut. Call without working through anything at all for a burning smell, a breaker that trips, or water reaching the machine compartment.
Nearest pages of this class
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