The short answer
Ice arriving slowly, hollow, fused into a block or not at all on the RM family is a temperature story far more often than a mechanism story, and that is where this page starts. Ice is the one fault where the machine has to do several unrelated things in sequence, so the useful question is not what has failed but which step stopped.
What you observe on these models
- Ice arriving slowly, or hollow and small — Partial production is a temperature or a water-volume complaint. The mechanism is working; it is being given either too little time or too little water.
- A single large lump instead of separate cubes — That is a fill or a release fault rather than a freezing one, and on some models it is simply a mould that has been overfilled by a supply at high pressure.
- Ice that smells or tastes of the cabinet — Ice picks up whatever is around it, so a taste complaint is a storage and turnover matter rather than a mechanical one.
- NEAR MISS - the ice maker is noisy but working — Filling and harvesting are both audible events on any model that has them, and a working cycle is not a fault however loud it sounds.
Causes, most likely first on this platform
- A freezer running above where ice is made — Ice is nothing more than water held below freezing long enough, so every other cause on this page sits downstream of temperature. A compartment at 0 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 18 degrees Celsius) or below makes ice; one a few degrees warmer makes it slowly, hollow, or not at all. Across a group this wide fitment is the least predictable thing about it, so temperature - which applies to every entry - leads instead.
- What happens before the water reaches the mould — Second on this platform. Where a model is plumbed, the supply remains worth checking, particularly after the unit has been moved, because a kinked line behind a cabinet is invisible until it is pulled out.
- Frost mistaken for an ice fault — Third here. Where a model never had an ice maker, there is no fault to find: the ice being complained about is frost, and warm air getting in is what makes it.
- The ice maker being switched off without anyone meaning to — Fourth. It stays worth a glance at any point: an arm resting up or a switch left off produces a total stoppage with nothing wrong at all.
- Ice blocking the thing that makes ice — Last. A jam is worth clearing before condemning anything, and it is usually the visible consequence of a temperature swing rather than a fault in its own right.
Check in this order, and why
- Establish whether this model has an ice maker at all — Look for a mould, a bail arm and a fill tube rather than for a badge. If none of those are there, the rest of this page collapses into a temperature and sealing question. With 34 entries on 15 bases in the table below, this check is one of the few that means the same thing across all of them.
- Check the door is closing and the seal is intact — Warm humid air reaching a freezing compartment makes frost, softens ice and bridges cubes together, and it does all three before it makes the cabinet feel warm.
- Pull the cabinet out and follow the supply line — Where the model is plumbed, look for a shutoff that has been nudged, a kink behind the unit and a line that has been crushed against the wall. This is the check a move most often makes necessary.
Before you open anything
Safety
Isolate the cabinet at the plug or the breaker before a panel comes off, and never put a hand into a mechanism that is still live - an ice maker harvests on its own schedule, not yours. Where the model is plumbed, close the water shutoff before disturbing any fitting, and use warm water rather than a tool on any ice you need to clear.
Models in the RM family
Reference| Model number | Family key |
|---|---|
| RM16J0W | avanti:refrigerator:rm |
| RM16J0W* | avanti:refrigerator:rm |
| RM16J0W-IS | avanti:refrigerator:rm |
| RM16J1B | avanti:refrigerator:rm |
| RM16J1B* | avanti:refrigerator:rm |
| RM16J1B-IS | avanti:refrigerator:rm |
| RM16J3S | avanti:refrigerator:rm |
| RM16J3S* | avanti:refrigerator:rm |
| RM16J3S-IS | avanti:refrigerator:rm |
| RM17T0W | avanti:refrigerator:rm |
| RM17T1B | avanti:refrigerator:rm |
| RM17T2P | avanti:refrigerator:rm |
| RM17T3S | avanti:refrigerator:rm |
| RM17X0W-IS | avanti:refrigerator:rm |
| RM17X1B-IS | avanti:refrigerator:rm |
| RM17X3S-IS | avanti:refrigerator:rm |
| RM24T1B | avanti:refrigerator:rm |
| RM27B2P | avanti:refrigerator:rm |
| RM27B3S | avanti:refrigerator:rm |
| RM32J0W | avanti:refrigerator:rm |
| RM32J1B | avanti:refrigerator:rm |
| RM32JS | avanti:refrigerator:rm |
| RM3306W | avanti:refrigerator:rm |
| RM3316B | avanti:refrigerator:rm |
| RM3326PS | avanti:refrigerator:rm |
| RM3336SS | avanti:refrigerator:rm |
| RM4406W | avanti:refrigerator:rm |
| RM4416B | avanti:refrigerator:rm |
| RM4426PS | avanti:refrigerator:rm |
| RM4436SS | avanti:refrigerator:rm |
| RM46J0W | avanti:refrigerator:rm |
| RM46J1B | avanti:refrigerator:rm |
| RM46J3S | avanti:refrigerator:rm |
| RM52T1BB | avanti:refrigerator:rm |
When to call a technician
The line here is water and panels. Setting the control, clearing a jam, emptying a packed bin and straightening a line are all owner work; a fill valve, a module or a thermostat is not. Go straight to a call where a plumbed connection is wet, where a breaker trips, or where the compartment will not get cold no matter what the dial says.
Other faults covered for these models
Lead Appliance Repair Technician · 12 years experience
Experienced technician with 12 years specializing in washing machine and dryer repairs across all major brands.
