Finally got a handle on those new Samsung ice maker calls

This past week felt like a real win after months of getting beat up by the same problem. I must have had six calls for Samsung fridges making a loud grinding noise and no ice. Every time before, I'd replace the whole ice maker unit, and two months later the customer would call back with the same issue. On Tuesday, a guy in the Brookfield area showed me his fridge and I decided to really dig in. I pulled the ice maker out and found the little plastic gear that drives the ejector arm was completely stripped, but the motor was fine. Instead of the whole $180 part, I found a repair kit online for $22 that was just the gear and a new arm. Put it in, tested it for a full cycle, and it worked perfectly. I've done three more like that since and saved those folks a ton of money. Has anyone else tried these specific gear kits, and do they seem to hold up over time?

3 comments

3 Comments

spencer4127d ago

Oh man, you're singing my song. I found those little gear kits last year and it was a game changer. Did one for my neighbor's fridge, the exact same stripped gear problem. That was eight months ago and I just asked him last week, still running quiet and making ice. Feels good to fix the actual broken five dollar part instead of swapping the whole assembly.

mason.cole27d ago

Seriously? That's a huge waste of time. Those little plastic gears just fail again in a year or two. You're just delaying the inevitable. I swapped the whole motor assembly on mine. It cost more, sure, but it's a permanent fix. Now I don't have to worry about taking the thing apart every other winter when it gets loud. Sometimes the cheap fix just isn't the right fix.

milesrobinson4d ago

Ever think maybe the plastic gears are the part meant to fail? If something jams, a cheap gear strips instead of burning out the whole motor... seems like a safety thing to me.