The answer first
Three inputs, one output. On a Candor refrigerator the diagnosis is a matter of proving water, proving temperature and proving permission, in whatever order is quickest. That puts the shut-off arm or the ice maker switch is off at the top of the list here and the shut-off arm or sensor reading full at the bottom.
Symptoms, including the ones that mean something else
- The bin is empty and the maker never fills — No water arriving. The fault is upstream of the ice maker itself.
- Hollow, small or partly formed cubes — Water is arriving but not enough of it — a restriction rather than a blockage.
- NEAR MISS — water pooling under the freezer drawer — That is a leak question, and it has its own page.
Causes, most likely first on this unit
- The shut-off arm or the ice maker switch is off — First because it is free to check and it explains a real share of these calls — the arm is knocked up by a bag of frozen food and the machine stops obediently. Electronics are checked here because a mode or a lock imitates a dead machine and costs nothing to clear.
- A door that is not sealing — Warm air into a freezer makes ice that partly melts and refreezes into a block, which reads as an ice-maker fault and is a door fault. Commercial-style doors are opened constantly and their gaskets and hinges are consumable parts, not lifetime parts.
- A freezer that is not cold enough to harvest — The mould has to reach a harvest temperature before the cycle completes. A freezer running warm makes soft ice, slow ice or no ice at all. Air distribution decides what the owner feels, so a blocked path outranks the components behind it.
- A newly installed line still purging air — A new connection takes several cycles to settle, and the first batches are small or hollow.
- The shut-off arm or sensor reading full — An arm nudged up by a stacked bin stops production entirely, and it is the first thing to look at.
The diagnostic order
- Look at the shut-off arm or the on switch first — It is the cheapest possible finding and it is knocked out of position constantly.
- Run the water dispenser if the unit has one — Water at the dispenser proves the supply and the valve. No water at either points upstream of the appliance.
- Compare cube size across a full bin — Consistently small or hollow cubes point at the fill rather than the mechanism.
What to try yourself
- Discard the first two batches after any water work — Air and plastic taste clear themselves once the line has run.
- Break up any clumped ice and clear the paddle — Then leave the bin empty for a day and check what has been made.
- STOP before removing the ice maker or testing its terminals — The module, the mould heater and the fill valve are metered tests on live terminals behind a panel.
The safety line
Safety
Warm water and patience clear a frozen fill tube; a heat gun or a flame melts the plastic around it. Unplug the cabinet before reaching behind the freezer panel.
Where the owner side ends
Call once the arm, the supply, the filter and the freezer temperature are all proved good — at that point the remaining candidates are the valve, the module and the mould heater, all of which are metered tests.
Comparable pages
Scope of this page
This page is generalized across Candor refrigerator families and model lines. Wiring colours, torque figures and board part numbers are deliberately not here — they differ by family. A family- or model-specific page, where one exists, is linked below and is the more specific answer.
Links: - [Common Candor Refrigerator Problems](/blog/candor-refrigerator-problems) - [Candor Refrigerator: Abnormal Noise or Vibration](/blog/candor-refrigerator-abnormal-noise)
Lead Appliance Repair Technician · 12 years experience
Experienced technician with 12 years specializing in washing machine and dryer repairs across all major brands.
