It’s a sultry afternoon and you can’t wait to cool down. You pour your favorite drink and run to the refrigerator ice maker for a few ice cubes. You get a few blocks in your drink and you have a refreshing ice icy beverage. You can’t imagine your life without an ice maker.

How long do refrigerator ice makers last? You wonder.

According to refrigerator ice maker repair professionals, the ice makers often last for as long as refrigerators (usually 10-15 years). You only need to take good care of them.

How do you maintain refrigerator ice makers?

There are plenty of ways to do it. The most common ones being:

Descale the ice makers

Although standalone ice makers produce more ice than ice makers inside a refrigerator, you still have to descale them as they also experience calcium deposits (also known as scale).

If you don’t remove the calcium deposits, you risk damaging the machine parts hence shortening the ice maker’s lifespan.

The cool thing is each refrigerator brand has a protocol on how you should go about descaling. Check your manual and you will find a guide on how to go about it.

Cleaning the ice maker

Ice makers turn water into frozen cubes so it may sound absurd that you have to clean them. After all they are in constant contact with water, right?

Remember, ice makers are like other food handling appliances. If you don’t clean them and you keep them running in unsanitary conditions, you will be promoting germ growth which is a health risk.

Keep your refrigerator ice maker in top shape by sanitizing it regularly (at least once a month). Unplug the fridge and empty both the freezer and the fresh food sections.

Proceed to wipe down or handwash the interior surfaces using mild soap and warm water. Don’t use abrasive tools or harsh chemicals when doing it.

Before you return the items, ensure every item is dry. You don’t want your ice maker to be a harbor for germs, do you?

When doing the cleaning, don’t focus on the inside only. Also pay attention to the outside to prevent dirt and stain buildup.

Now and then, you will need to remove dried spills with a damp cloth.

Change the filter

Even ice makers inside refrigerators have a water filtration system. Water passes through an activated charcoal filter that removes common tap water impurities such as chlorine.

With time the filters get dirty and you can’t make quality ice from dirty water. To continue producing good quality ice, clean or replace the filter.

A tell-tale sign it’s time to replace the filter is to monitor the smell and taste of the resulting ice. If you notice a change in either of the two qualities, it’s time for a new filter.

You can also tell when to replace the filter by checking the manual. It could be as frequently as 3 months, 6 months, or even a year depending on the brand.

Fix clogs as soon as they come about

Refrigerator ice makers are more prone to clogs than standalone ice makers. Due to regular use, it’s common for the ice dispenser chutes to jam often because of frozen ice melt and smashed ice particles.

The cool thing is it’s easy to fix this problem especially with newer models. All you need to do is to remove the ice bin along with stuck cubes. Then using a warm, damp cloth, clean the bottom of the bin and ice chute.

You should then dry everything thoroughly then replace the bin.

If you have an older refrigerator model, check the ice chute for blockages. If there is no problem, cubes in the bin might have fused together and to prevent this from happening, empty the ice bin.

Fix problems as soon as you notice them

A funny sound, an indicator light, or a weird smell might seem harmless but it can be a sign of a serious problem.

So to be safe, make it a habit to address any problem you see with seriousness. Don’t ignore any issue regardless of how minor it appears. When you notice a problem, get in touch with a refrigerator repair Alexandria professional to look into the problem and fix it.