Why is My Refrigerator Water Dispenser Not Working?

Is the water dispenser on your refrigerator not working? If not, you can attempt to repair the issue by yourself or call Pride Appliance Repair for professional refrigerator repair.

There are a lot of reasons for the water dispenser in a kitchen refrigerator to stop working. Again, some suggestions could sound a bit crazy. However, something as simple as a power switch has been the cause in the past. Be sure to check the more obvious potential issues before proceeding with complicated refrigerator repair. Let’s start to cover this appliance repair issue and see all of the solutions we can come up with for a broken water dispenser on a refrigerator.

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

Refrigerator Installation Problems

You just bought a brand new refrigerator for your kitchen with a water dispenser, but it is not dispensing water. The water dispenser must be hooked up to the home’s water line. That might be the problem.

If your brand new refrigerator is replacing a previous refrigerator that didn’t feature a water dispenser or ice maker, there’s a possibility that you don’t have a functioning water line running to this area. A water line is commonly run from underneath the home either in a crawl space or basement. You can buy this type of water line at nearly any home repair store and they are very easy for the typical homeowner to install. Usually they have include a water shut-off valve, which is important so that if you ever need to relocate the refrigerator, you can shut off the water.

If you have a connected water line, is the valve on? The valve handle should be lined up with the hose. And, is there water going through the pipe you have installed to connect the water line? Simple and basic questions, but items that have to be accounted for.

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

Once the water line is hooked up, most of the time there’s air in the water line. So, lifting and lowering the dispenser control to get the air out of it is needed.
Filter Issues

On some of the popular models, there are different filters. These filters can “expire”, become clogged or freeze. All filters are dependent on the model and type of refrigerator. If the filter is clogged it can cause slow filling or no flowing. It’s recommended that your filter is changed every 6 months. Changing filters can be hard sometimes. If you have hiccups, go online or call us and find the right method to change a filter.

One suggestion is to fill the water filter with water before installation. A lot of time the water filters take a long amount of time to fill up, which might cause you to assume that the water dispenser on the refrigerator is not working. You will want to read the directions if all else fails. To be sure it is not air trapped in the water lines, depress the dispenser lever for about 5 minutes.

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

ADDITIONAL REFRIGERATOR RESOURCES

• Refrigerator Not Cooling
• Refrigerator Noisy
• Refrigerator Ice Maker Not Working
• How Does a Refrigerator Work?