Why is My Refrigerator Water Dispenser Not Working?

refrigerator water dispenser image

Is the water dispenser on your refrigerator broken? If not, you can try to solve the problem on your own or call Shine Sunrise Appliance Repair for refrigerator repair Sunrise, Florida.

There are several reasons for the water dispenser in a refrigerator to stop working. Again, some of the suggestions could sound a bit crazy. However, something as simple as a power switch on the refrigerator has been the cause in the past. Be sure to inspect the obvious potential problems before moving forward with refrigerator repair. Let’s start to cover this appliance repair issue and see all of the causes we can reference for a broken water dispenser.

The cause of a water dispenser not working is usually either an installation issue, a filter problem or frozen water lines:

New Refrigerator Installation Problems

You just purchased a brand new refrigerator for your kitchen with a water dispenser, but it is not dispensing water. The water dispenser has to be hooked up to the water line. That could be the cause of the issue.

If the brand new refrigerator is replacing a prior refrigerator that did not include an ice maker or water dispenser, there’s a chance that you do not have a functioning water line running to 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 get this line at nearly any hardware store and they are very easy 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 should be lined up with the hose. And, is there water running through the pipe that you have installed to connect the water line? Obvious and basic questions, but items that need to be checked.

If you removed the doors during installation it’s possible the water dispenser isn’t plugged in. Read the owner’s manual to find the wire harness for that particular refrigerator. Check that it’s plugged into the refrigerator.

Once the water line is connected, most of the time there is air in the water line. So, lifting and lowering the water dispenser lever on the refrigerator to get the air out of it is needed.
Filter Issues

On some popular refrigerators, there are different filters. These filters might “expire”, clog or freeze. All of the filters are based on your style and brand of refrigerator. If your filter is blocked it can cause slow filling or no flowing. It’s recommended that your filter is replaced every 6 months. Replacing filters in a refrigerator can be hard sometimes. If you run into problems, go online or call us and learn the proper process to change a filter.

One recommendation is to fill up the filter with water prior to installing it. A lot of time the water filters will take a long amount of time to fill up, which might lead you to believe that the water dispenser on the refrigerator isn’t working right. You will want to read the manual if nothing is working. To be certain it is not air trapped in the lines, depress the dispenser lever for around 5 minutes.

A frozen water tank could be the cause of the issue as well on some refrigerators. If the water tank is frozen it will start to leak onto the food bins. Low amounts of food in the fresh food bins might cause freezing.

ADDITIONAL REFRIGERATOR RESOURCES