Why is My Refrigerator Water Dispenser Not Working?

defective refrigerator water dispenser

Is the water dispenser on your refrigerator broken? If not, you can attempt to repair the problem on your own or call Onward Appliance Repair for professional refrigerator repair Colorado.

There are many reasons for a water dispenser in a refrigerator to stop working. Again, some of the suggestions could sound a little strange. However, something as simple as a power switch on the refrigerator has been the culprit in some instances. Be sure to inspect the obvious potential problems prior to moving forward with complicated refrigerator repair. Let’s begin to cover this appliance repair issue and see all of the causes we can cite for a broken water dispenser on a refrigerator.

The cause of a broken water dispenser is typically either an installation problem, a filter issue or frozen water lines:

Refrigerator Installation Issues

You just bought a brand new refrigerator for your kitchen with a water dispenser, but it’s not dispensing water. The water dispenser has to be connected to the water line. That might be the cause of the problem.

If your new refrigerator is replacing an old refrigerator that didn’t feature an ice maker or water dispenser, there’s a chance that you do not have a water line near this area of the kitchen. Most of the time a water line is commonly run from underneath a house either in a basement or crawl space. You can purchase this type of water line at almost any home repair store and they’re very simple for even the average homeowner to install. Typically they have include a water shut-off valve, which is important so that if you ever need to relocate the refrigerator, you can turn off the water.

If you have an attached water line, is the valve on? The valve handle must be lined up with the hose. And, is water running through the pipe that you have installed to connect the water line? Simple and basic questions, but things that have to be accounted for.

If you removed the doors during installation the water dispenser may not be plugged in. Read the owner’s manual to find the wire harness for the particular refrigerator. Ensure that it’s plugged into the refrigerator.

When the water is connected, most of the time there is air in it. So, lifting and lowering the water dispenser lever to get the air out is necessary.
Filter Problems

On some popular models, there are various filters. These filters might “expire”, become clogged or freeze. All filters are based on the model and type of refrigerator. If your filter is clogged it can cause slow filling or no flowing period. It’s suggested that your filter should be changed every 6 months. Replacing filters in a refrigerator can be hard sometimes. If you run into hiccups, go online and find the proper method to replace a filter.

One suggestion is to fill up the water filter with water prior to installing it. Typically the water filters take a long time to fill up, which might lead you to think the water dispenser on the refrigerator is not working. You will want to read the owner’s manual if nothing is working. To be certain it is not air caught in the water lines, depress the dispenser lever for about 5 minutes.

A frozen water tank could be the cause of the issue as well in some models. If the tank is frozen it will leak onto the food bins. Small amounts of food in the fresh food bins will cause freezing to happen.

ADDITIONAL REFRIGERATOR RESOURCES