Ice maker
Frigidaire Ice Maker Not Working: Fill Valve First, Then the Frozen Tube, Then the Module
Frigidaire ice makers stop over water delivery more than mechanism: weeping fill valves, frozen fill tubes, starved flow. The check order that works.
Formerly Adam & Sam Brothers RepairIce makers · Shoreline 98133, 98155, 98177
Frozen lines and silent ice makers in Shoreline
Many Shoreline houses feed the refrigerator through a crawl space, and that line is where a lot of our ice calls end. We come over from Mountlake Terrace in 8–11 minutes and price every repair in writing before we start.
- Drive time
- 8–11 minutes off-peak by I-5 or Aurora Avenue
- Housing
- About 35% of homes built before 1960; post-war houses dominate
- Water
- SPU west of I-5, North City district east, both Tolt-fed
- $85 diagnosticBecomes part of the repair price when you say yes. If you pass on the repair, that visit is all you pay.
- Up to $18 offAny repair requested through the online form. The diagnostic itself is never reduced.
- $10 offA second appliance’s diagnostic when we check it during the same trip.
Between 1950 and 1957 Shoreline grew faster than anywhere else in the Seattle area, and that decade is still visible on every street. About a third of the city's homes predate 1960, most of them single-story houses on crawl spaces. Their kitchens were plumbed long before anyone expected a refrigerator to need water, so the ice maker line was added later, usually tapped off the nearest cold pipe and run along the floor joists through a vented, unheated crawl. That route matters, because in Shoreline the phrase frozen line can mean two different things, and they need different fixes.
The first is the fill tube inside the freezer wall, which plugs with ice when a valve drips or cold air hits it, and which is squarely our repair. The second is the supply line under the house, which can freeze during a hard cold snap and sometimes splits when it does. We sort out which one you have before quoting anything. Remodeled kitchens in Richmond Beach and Innis Arden, built-in refrigerators in view homes, and newer townhomes near the light rail stations round out what we see here.
Shoreline ice maker problems and where they come from
No ice and no door water after a week of freezing nights
- Likely cause
- Supply line frozen where it crosses the crawl space
- What we do
- Locate the cold stretch, thaw it safely and check for a split before water returns
Door water flows normally but the tray stays empty
- Likely cause
- Fill tube iced shut inside the freezer wall
- What we do
- Thaw and protect the tube, then fix the drip or draft that froze it
Ice maker hums but the ejector arm never moves
- Likely cause
- Drive motor stalled or the mold thermostat failed
- What we do
- Check it at the module's test points and fit a new ice maker if it fails
Ice tastes like the freezer smells
- Likely cause
- Old cubes absorbing odors, or a filter long past its date
- What we do
- Change the filter, empty and wash the bin, and check the door seal
Damp floor or a wet joist under the refrigerator
- Likely cause
- Fitting weeping at the valve, or a pinhole in old tubing
- What we do
- Replace the leaking fitting or line at the fridge and show you any leak further back
A remodel-era built-in turns out small batches, then quits
- Likely cause
- Filter or tired fill valve starving the mold
- What we do
- Measure flow and pressure, test the valve and check the filter seating
Crawl spaces, cold snaps and two water districts in Shoreline
Shoreline sits in the Puget Sound Convergence Zone, and it does get real winter weather. On April 18, 2008, a convergence-zone band dropped three and a half inches of snow on the city, well into spring. When nights stay below freezing, crawl-space lines on the north side of a house are the first to suffer, especially where foundation vents are open. If your dispenser and ice maker both went dry during a cold spell, that is the line we check first, and once it thaws we confirm there is no split before the water goes back on. Closing foundation vents for winter and insulating the stretch of pipe that feeds the kitchen are the usual protections; a plumber can advise on what suits your crawl space.
Your water comes from Seattle Public Utilities if you live roughly west of I-5, which covers about 58% of residents, or from the North City Water District to the east, which buys its water from SPU. North of Green Lake that supply is mostly Tolt River water at about 1.2 to 1.4 grains per gallon, so scale on valves and molds is uncommon. The district does not change the repair, but it helps to know where your shutoff and meter are if a line needs work. Electricity here comes from Seattle City Light, and after an outage a bin of fused ice should be emptied before the freezer restarts, or the auger will strain against it.
We cover all fourteen neighborhoods, from Richmond Beach and Hillwood in the northwest to Ridgecrest, Briarcrest and North City east of I-5. The townhomes going up near the 148th and 185th Street stations, open since August 2024, have their own pattern: builder-grade refrigerators, where a fill valve or module can give out within the first few years. Fircrest School's 90-acre campus, Shoreline Community College and Hamlin Park sit among those neighborhoods, and none of them is far for us, since I-5 splits the city and Aurora Avenue runs along its west side.
Shoreline ice maker repair: starting prices
Three repairs cover most Shoreline ice calls: a fill line inside the freezer thawed and protected against refreezing, a new ice maker fill valve, and the refrigerator's main inlet valve when the door water stops too. Ice maker repair here starts at $295, an opening price for our area and not a quote. The $85 visit pins down the cause and gives you a written number; if you approve it, the diagnostic is inside that number, and if you decline, the $85 is all you owe. If the split turns out to be in a crawl-space line rather than inside the refrigerator, that plumbing is for a plumber to quote, and we will tell you so.
- Frozen fill line thawed and protectedfrom $295
- Ice maker fill valvefrom $295
- Ice maker assemblyfrom $295
- Diagnostic visit$85, included in the repair
- Second appliance, same visit$10 off its diagnostic
Starting prices for the north Seattle area, 2026. The $85 diagnostic is included in any repair you approve, and the exact price is in the written estimate before work starts.
Fix the ice side, or replace the refrigerator?
A frozen tube or a weeping valve is never a reason to replace a refrigerator. The decision only comes up when the ice maker is one symptom among several. In Shoreline's post-war houses, kitchens have usually been opened up or rebuilt at least once, and many hold a refrigerator from that remodel, now fifteen or twenty years old. If its freezer still pulls down to 0°F, the compressor sounds normal and the doors seal, we repair the ice side and you keep a fridge that fits the cabinets. If the freezer is creeping warmer, the ice maker has been replaced once already, and the control board is acting up, replacement starts to make sense. For built-ins in Richmond Beach or Innis Arden, the balance tips strongly toward repair, since those units are designed to be serviced for decades and a new built-in means cabinet work as well.
Common questions
How can I tell a frozen fill tube from a frozen supply line?
Try the door dispenser. If water flows there but the ice tray stays dry, the problem is almost always inside the refrigerator, often the fill tube. If the dispenser is dry too and the weather has been below freezing, suspect the line under the house. Turn the ice maker off and call us; do not aim a heat gun at plastic tubing.
What happens if the problem is the line under my house?
We trace the supply as far as we can safely reach and take care of everything from the shutoff valve to the ice maker. If the line inside the crawl space or a wall has split and needs replacing, we tell you exactly where and why, so a plumber can handle that part. You will not be charged for refrigerator parts that would not have fixed it.
Does it matter whether I am on SPU or North City water?
Not for the repair. Both deliver Seattle's mostly Tolt supply in north Shoreline, which is very soft, so mineral buildup is rarely the issue. It helps to know where your main shutoff is, though, in case a fitting needs replacing. West of I-5 it is usually SPU; east of I-5, generally North City.
Do you repair built-in refrigerators in Richmond Beach and Innis Arden?
Yes. We work on Sub-Zero, Thermador, KitchenAid and other built-ins, including their ice makers, fill valves and filters. On those units we check the filter first, since an overdue cartridge starves the fill long before anything breaks, then test the valve and the module. Many built-in ice repairs finish on the first visit.
How soon can you reach Shoreline?
Shoreline City Hall is about 8–11 minutes away in light traffic. Get in touch in the morning, Monday to Saturday, and a same-day visit is normal; every technician can take the call. Giving us the model number on that call, or in the booking form, lets us check part numbers on the way.
Talk to Adam & Sam
Ice maker or water line frozen in Shoreline? Ring us with the model number, or book online and shave up to $18 off the repair. Once you approve the work, the $85 diagnostic is part of the repair price.
From Sam’s repair notes
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Schedule a repair
Request a visit from Adam & Sam
Send the basics and we call you back with an arrival window, most days the same morning.
- $85 diagnostic Becomes part of the repair price when you say yes. If you pass on the repair, that visit is all you pay.
- Up to $18 off Any repair requested through the online form. The diagnostic itself is never reduced.
- $10 off A second appliance’s diagnostic when we check it during the same trip.