Go for it. We got one this summer and it´s absolutely great. It is quite slow and filtered water works better but it is an indispensable summer helper :)
Mine's part of my fridge, I don't know what I would do without it. It has a good filter cartridge, our local tap water tastes nasty. Replacing the filter every other year is about $40 but worth it.
The reason you let these things settle (some refrigerator manufacturers recommend leaving it for at least a day) before powering it up is so that the oil in the compressor pools in the bottom of the housing so that it can lubricate and cool the motor. A lot of college students, including your humble narrator, have ruined cube fridge compressor motors by plugging them in straight after moving into their dorm room because they want it cooling their carbonated neurotoxin beverages as soon as possible. Alec at Technology Connections has done a few videos on refrigerators and similar heat pump devices.
I was just going to say the same thing. In college I shared an apartment with some service techs and come summer there would be an entire fleet of old, leviathan trash picked window units littering the stairwell waiting for their mandatory 24 hour rest period to settle out the oil, repleat with cans of obsolete refrigerants like R-4 and R-22 to charge them back up. Surprisingly they usually made it through the semester and kept us cool despite costing nothing, even one Frankenstein that fell out of a three story window. Now if only they could have put those same efforts into actually studying 😅
A video about fixing stuff?? Clive! You changed path! LOL But a good example for those people who throw away stuff way too easy... Save the planet! One person at a time!!!
Wonder if it makes use of the residual heat on the radiator to help defrost, so it can cool itself off a little, and also drop the ice when preparing for the next cycle.
@@nexaentertainment2764 In all fairness, this is a difficult problem to anticipate and an easy one to fix without a redesign. I hope they are installing them differently on the newer ones.
One advantage to replacing the fans in such things, the replacements are often a lot quieter than the originals, as they use the cheapest ones they can get, which from experience are usually the most droney, whooshy sounding things out there, versus the nice, well-designed "silent" fans made for a nice PC build that doesn't leave your tinnitus going bananas... :P
@@PainterVierax shouldn't be too much of an issue, the Arctic F12 fans have decent static pressure, although with the spacing of that condenser coil's fins it doesn't need much static pressure to be effective. probably running R290 (odorless propane) in there so it'll likely be very well off with that new fan.
@@nightshadelenar sure it's not an issue in this case but people should be warned there are different fans for different use cases and in practice they are not as swappable as the standardized form factor allows. This is primarily an issue when seeking low noise operation like OP said, as much of the "silent" fans are just meant to be case mounted with low air restriction.
Impressed with the small compressor unit. It is a lesson in mechanical design that a simple issue with moisture and corrosion can wreck a unit. Reorienting the fan, or maybe a drain hole in the fan motor case, or even a sealed fan motor would have solved the issue and probably only have added a few cents to the cost. However It screams "I need one" along with all the other worktop accessories (Air fryer, Coffee machine, Juicer, George Foreman Grill, Bread maker) which would lead to no surface for food preparation! I'll have to stick to the freezer for ice and leave the worktop free 😊But if I ever get the summer house bar set up it will be a must have!
I fixed a small pub-sized counter unit. Amazingly similar, but scaled up all around and with stainless panels instead of plastic. In that case the gearbox had broken and the tray could turn down but not up.Was quite cheap to replace though. Another, smaller one, one was simpler - there were contacts in the ice basket that told it when it was full. They were caked with calcium and it just kept going when full. Cleaned them off and it was fine. Adapter is a great idea. I always end up stuffing a resistor in the connector and clipping croc leads to it.
I have about 6 of these laying around because the bearings in the motor for the water pump are bad. Whenever the pump turns on, it has an awful squeal/screech sound. Another weird thing about these are when you have a halogen lamp shining down or near them, it causes interference with the infrared level sensors, and the unit will just keep making ice until it Jams up. Also, 6:18 is called a reversing valve. It can be operated manually with an earth magnetic as well.
I have the same unit. different brand and enclosure but as you said: these things come from the same factory Nice of you to take it apart so I don't have to. That usually happens with new stuff entering my house I got mine almost for free. Badly covered in calcium but it still worked fine I was thinking about customizing the control with an arduino to have a (proper) compensation for ambient and water temperature to ensure even batches of ice. I found out that these are the most relevant factors in the size of the ice cubes (I think mine has a fixed freeze time) If you dump the first 2-4 batches of ice in the fresh water tank to pre cool it, the cubes get about double the size
I've been using this sort of countertop ice maker for years and years now (I miss you, one and only kitchen I ever had with an icemaker-capable refrigerator/freezer space), and I agree that they're very handy and convenient and even cute, but they don't last too long. Spending more on one (over double) in the hopes of at least extending the time between replacements was a total bust. So now I buy the cheapest one I can and get a long extended warranty.
Unfortunately cost often reflects marketing more than value. While shopping Amazon for a replacement unit for my refrigerator ( had fixed the original twice but the main body casting cracked) Amazon had a subscription offer, 5% off if I get one every 3 months. Made me wonder about quality a bit, but still going strong after 3 years.
Yes Clive, premature shrinkage is the bane of my lashups too.😊 My friend showed me one of thes ice makers yesterday. He has it on his boat. Tempted to get one for my narrowboat now. Especially if I can find a cheap defective one on ebay, now I have the "insides" knowledge!
Very good description of the workings of the refrigeration system but if I were to be pedantic the reason for leaving the unit switched off for a while if orientated from it's usual position is because there is lubricating oil sitting in the bottom of the compressor, in the same way oil sits in the sump of a car engine, and it's to allow that oil to flow back to it's correct place. And the sausage shaped component is sort of a receiver, but it also contains a filter & desiccant beads so that the refrigerant in the circuit remains dry -it's called a filter drier.
Interesting; why would it need dessicants to absorb moisture? How is moisture supposed to get into the 'sealed' refrigerant loop post manufacture/re-gassing?
Ey big man, i find less and less time to watch your videos, but you did re ignite the love i had for electronics. Thank you for the years and years of content!
Really interesting thanks Clive for the teardown and repair, I've never owned one or had a freezer with one built in. Its fascinating to see how it works, its very neat.
Great vid as always Clive. I didn't scroll through every comment so forgive me if it was already addressed. When mounting directly to a radiator you would want a static pressure fan as opposed to an air flow fan. I belive that is the difference between the F12 and P12 on Artic fans. The fins on that rad aren't nearly as dense as on water cooling rads for PCs but, someone might still see higher efficiency with a static pressure fan.
@@MajorMokoto weird! Usually it's the bearing that packs it up, not the fan motor. Of all the PC fans I've replaced doing desktop support I don't think I've ever found one with a dead motor.
I did not know those machines used a tiny compressor. I figured it was some sort of peltier junction. I learned something new. And now I have an idea of how to maintain mine. Thanks.
I was given a nearly identical unit that wouldn't stop making ice. The IR emmitter/reciever was no longer working. I think I spent around $10 for a replacement and it works perfectly.
I fixed one that was the opposite, the IR reciever had corroded so it thought it was always full, bypassed it and now it will just continue to make ice untill the tray cant move and it shutsdown because the bucket it stuck, been working for a few years now haha!
This is a very informative video, Clive. I like the way it covers two of my favourite subjects, electronics and refrigeration. I'm glad you made the important point of letting the compressor sit for a while before running it. I remember from many years ago to leave a refrigerator or freezer for 24 hours, after it has been delivered and put in position, to allow everything to settle before applying power and running the compressor. More recently, I've heard that 30 minutes is enough but personally I'm sticking with 24 hours. The 30 minutes maybe enough to allow the refrigerant to settle as it can evaporate and condense, but the compressor oil is a different matter and will invariably take much longer to settle. One thing I was surprised at is that you simply cut the wires from the dead fan instead of desoldering them which would have left you with the full length of the wiring harness. The 12V fans I have experience of generally expose the soldered connection points underneath the label. It is fairly straight forward swapping fan wiring which I've done myself a number of times, especially in custom situations like this. Swapping the wiring would have enable you to show the wiring and solder points inside the fan for the video and resulted in a much simpler and neater repair for the ice maker.
Excellent video. I've bought some faulty units and they were mostly simple fix. I wanted re-use parts to make a small eye drops cooler that would be quicker and cooler than my peltier unit. I've seen some of the same issues, fan fail, logic errors. The fan could easily be modified to have a wicking drain. Ideally I'd like to buy only the cooling unit but it works out about double than buying a complete portable cooler and scavenging parts.
I’ve started using the heat shrink with a ring of solder in the middle and a band of hot melt adhesive each end. Insert one wire each side, line up and blast with heat, does all of the work for you. I first used them in 1985 while reconditioning radar booths for the mod. Sort of forgot that they existed until temu tried to sell me some.
Just watched the rest of the video :-). For best efficiency you'd be better with the fan pushing air from outside of the unit through the condenser, that way it's getting maximum cooling, that's the way the commercial ones are configured. In the commercial type there's an additional advantage, which isn't really applicable to these units - the dust and junk that collects on the condenser collects on the side facing you, so it's much easier to remove/clean.
While its more efficient at cooling the radiator, its likely a lot less efficient overall as it would push the hot air back into the unit. By directly exhausting you only have room temperature air going through the unit itself. It may even be factored into keeping the compressor cool.
@@alexatkin The hotter the compressor runs (until it fails, of course) the more efficient the icemaker will be. The most critical point for cooling in the machine is the condenser (for both running cost and maximum production of ice). In every commercial icemaker I've worked on over the years, I've never seen one that pulls hot air through the condenser. It's possible that this unit is built down to a price, efficiency is largely unimportant to the manufacturer, and it needs the airflow to be reversed in order to see out the guarantee period.
You’re very good. It is a receiver in effect, but it’s main purpose is a drier/filter for the refrigerant. By fitting it the way it is angled, it encourages a full flow of liquid into the capillary. (Refrig and Ac tech for years) Try and get your hands on a Whirlpool k20 or k40. They do a very funky way of switching to defrost with magic and stuff. No relay.
Thanks for the video. I have a similar unit, though mine is better built. It's mostly metal on the outside, not plastic. And the exhaust fan is properly aligned to the exhaust hole and has a metal grill on it. But otherwise, the construction is pretty much identical. Good to know how these are built in case I need to fix mine someday. Another thing worth mentioning - if the machine suddenly loses power while it's running, eg. you accidentally unplug it, don't start it back up outright ! You need to give the unit some time for the pressure in the system to equalize (several minutes), otherwise you can damage the compressor. I did that once, the unit vibrated violently, made some clunking noises, and also released a bad burning smell. Fortunately I was lucky this time and the machine survived with no damage. Fridges have a timer in them to prevent this issue, but these ice machines don't.
When this one is powered up and the start button pressed, the first thing it does is operate the hot gas defrost valve to equalise pressure across the compressor before starting it.
I've replaced the main IC on this little board with an ESP32 with esphome so I can control/monitor it from Home Assistant! Very simple little ice makers that make decent ice cubes. Great fix too!
I fixed one of these for my dad a few years ago. The issue was that it was constantly reporting full. Turns out the IR LED that's used to detect when the tray is full had corroded. Replaced one of the diodes and coated it in silicone, and then it started working again. Saved a fair chunk of money and it's been working fine since.
Very interesting case! I repaired a few counter top models in the past and the faults were always broken plastic parts. Never seen a fan, motor, or control board fail, but this was years ago.
This is very good to know. I don't have an ice maker, since I don't really need one but I have two dehumidifiers and now I know what to check first if they ever fail.
Really interesting for me, not so much for the fixing, but how it works! I have seen these at Lidl from time to time and been tempted, but couldn't figure out how they worked. I think I might get one next time they come round.. probably next spring!
Having bought two of these and knowing the price they’re sold at, I am convinced these are meant to be disposable on a one to two year basis. I use an ice tray now.
We've had an ice-maker for about 18 months, used it probably 10 times and stored the unused chucks of ice in the freezer. Works well and with Yuletide approaching we will start to make ice chunks again. Very useful post to have if the ice-maker goes wrong, thanks Clive 👍
British military tanks have water coolers for drinking water, a mate of mine got a contract to design protection electronics because the compressors were burning out due to trying to compress liquid and being military hardware this wasn't cheap. so he used an accelerometer to detect movement and whether it was level along with a timer to disable the compressor when it was unsafe.
Nice repair video. 👍 I’ve always wondered how these machines make the individual ice cubes. (Why doesn’t it end up like a block of ice?) Now I know, and I felt strangely happy when I saw it.
You spliced those wires incorrectly. You're supposed to splice them, realize you forgot the heat shrink, cuss a few times, cut it back apart, slide the heat shrink on, splice them, slide the heat shrink over the splices, realize you slid it too soon and they're hung up on the still-warm splices, cuss some more, say screw it and wrap the rest with tape.
I have 1 of those. Before a party or whatever she fills the icecube trays, puts them in the freezer, removes them and dumps the ice into a bucket and serves it. Also, because I chose a low maintenance model, she runs for years! 😉😊
They are handy, always flush through with fresh water every day, any ice not used just melts and recirculate. If not been used for while give it flush though with some sterilising solution and good rinse prior to use.
Interesting video! Two comments: about the fans, you chose an arctic F12. The F stands for Flow and P for pressure. I researched a bit online about this (it's hard to get clear data instead of marketing mumble jumble) but basically you want more flow-optimized fans where you want to move large volumes of air (such as in the enclosed box on a laser printer or while soldering, or just to refresh air in a room but then I wouldn't use a computer fan), and want pressure-optimized fans when you want to push air through a space with a lot of restrictions, such as a computer case. I am not sure which is optimal for a simple condenser but I would guess a pressure-optimized one is, like the old ones. You can see the difference as flow-optimized fans have more and more curved blades, but with larger openings between them, while pressure optimized blades are fewer, with smaller gaps between them. About letting the compressor rest: compressors have an oil bath in them for lubrication and as the oil doesn't vaporize - at least not within the normal operating temperatures of the cooling circuit - it's the oil you don't want in your circuit. Most compressors can handle pumping the refrigerant in a liquid state, as depending on temperature and whether it's starting, the refrigerant might be liquid in the compressor.
Those little "control switches" are hardly immortal. Fortunately they are the same as the switch types used in car key fobs (so available in bulk from "everywhere"). The refrigeration system is the most reliable element of those machines; reverse the direction of the fan, and it'll last a lot longer since the fan will be pulling fresh (so drier) air over the heat exchanger, since the moisture gets in mainly during the defrost cycle. It is also worth the tiny extra expense of a ball-bearing fan (ours has a rather jazzy multi-LED fan, for the extra disco effects!). These things are VERY popular Down Under.
Wow! I'd never contemplated this before, but this type of cheap ice maker does exactly what an air source heat pump does. Namely, has a change over valve to reverse the cycle for either heating or cooling. A standard AC unit (cooling only) does but one, and a heat pump comes with a 75% premium for the change over. Ok, it's not quite as simple as that - mechanical layout is slightly different, but all the same...
AFAIK the reason you should let compressor systems stay upright for a while before using them isn't refrigerant but oil for lubricating the compressor. That oil has to settle to the lowest point since you absolutely don't want any of it inside the rest of the refrigeration cycle. Oh, and 👍 for using an Arctic fan, they're really good and have an amazing price/performance ratio. Though I think a P12 might have been the better choice since it's optimized for static pressure, the F series is more for airflow.
You'd think a little conformal coating could've prevented the failure or at least prolonged service life, but that would defeat the purpose of engineered obsolescence.
We're on our second unit in 5 years.. had to replace the limit switches in the first one, and then the constant over-straining of the bidirectional motor combined with the motor shaft swelling with rust cracked the water reservoir. Bought a spare unit a few months ago when Lidl was selling them for £35.
I've repaired many commercial icemakers over the years, mostly in pubs, clubs and sports centres. The small domestic ones are generally too fiddly to work on. The reason for allowing the units to stand for a while after they've been tipped over (I've always left them for 4 hours) is due to the lubricating oil being sat in an open sump in the bottom of the compressor - should a sniff of that gets into the capillary pipework the unit's not going to work again, without some serious work. I'd imagine if some liquid refrigerant got somewhere it ought not do, it would sort itself out given a short time. I have seen older style refrigerators that have been force defrosted with a hairdryer or similar that limp along for a day or two before they settle back into proper cooling though...
Interesting item and fix is easy 2x 👍 ts like electric showers inside they are 90% the same parts, you can butcher any make to fix the one you have. You just reminded me I have a dehumidifier to fix its not spitting any water out
In Norway these are sold as the wilfa brand among others. Hasn’t changed since we had them at the store I worked at for ten years up until 2014. A lot of the unit failed but in Norway we have 5 years on stuff like this so we just swapped them with a new one, registered it with wilfa and they sent us a new one. I must admit that the one I have at home had the fan fail and is working to this date just fine. Amazing how much you can get for less than 100 pounds as was the price in Norway back then at least.
Neighboring tenants tossed an ice maker last year and it's been sitting outside under the porch ever since. Maybe I'll finally give repairing it a go since they seem simpler inside than l would have expected, and it would be nice to have something that could slowly stock up the cooler before camping trips
my grandpa used to get the larger under counter style ice makers. all "junk", but they worked of course. i like the cupcake style with the sprayers. although the tray with hot wire is also kind of cool for the nichrome wire.
Oh my god, I literally got this exact model of ice maker for my mother's birthday. At least I'll know how to fix it if it breaks in this specific way now.
Another reason to let a refridgeration thing sit at the right orientation for a while before running is the oil. The pump is designed to run upright, and tilting it gets the oil in the wrong spots. Gravity, of course, will fix the issue with a bit of waiting.
Heat exchangers are, just like (rocket) nozzles, extremely simple in principle and at the same time even more extremely _difficult_ in making one that actually works to spec. Spent a whole semester a couple of lifes ago trying to design a flow-through heat exchanger... let's just say that there was still a lot of room for improvement! And they are like so because everything is connected and interdependent. Change anything and everything else has to change too, domino effect on steroids.
I bought one of these from Amazon, it got returned because it was actually rubbish, it didn't make very good ice when new, the size up models are much better👍
Nice little unit. I bought a used ice machine a few years ago. It ran for a few months, then stopped working. I don't think it was the fan. I got rid of it in the end.
“It’s an icemaker and our favourite type, a faulty icemaker.”
Brilliant opening line!
Cool machine never knew how the system worked. Thanks, Clive, for doing the fault analysis and repair.
Dammit. I want an ice maker now.
I got one to take apart, and so far I've used it every evening after fixing it.
Do it!!
Go for it. We got one this summer and it´s absolutely great. It is quite slow and filtered water works better but it is an indispensable summer helper :)
It's so cute and small.
I assume you have to put the ice in your freezer relatively quickly though since the compartment isn't actively refrigerated.
Mine's part of my fridge, I don't know what I would do without it. It has a good filter cartridge, our local tap water tastes nasty. Replacing the filter every other year is about $40 but worth it.
The reason you let these things settle (some refrigerator manufacturers recommend leaving it for at least a day) before powering it up is so that the oil in the compressor pools in the bottom of the housing so that it can lubricate and cool the motor. A lot of college students, including your humble narrator, have ruined cube fridge compressor motors by plugging them in straight after moving into their dorm room because they want it cooling their carbonated neurotoxin beverages as soon as possible. Alec at Technology Connections has done a few videos on refrigerators and similar heat pump devices.
I was just going to say the same thing. In college I shared an apartment with some service techs and come summer there would be an entire fleet of old, leviathan trash picked window units littering the stairwell waiting for their mandatory 24 hour rest period to settle out the oil, repleat with cans of obsolete refrigerants like R-4 and R-22 to charge them back up. Surprisingly they usually made it through the semester and kept us cool despite costing nothing, even one Frankenstein that fell out of a three story window. Now if only they could have put those same efforts into actually studying 😅
If they can fix stuff they have a career for life.
A video about fixing stuff?? Clive! You changed path! LOL But a good example for those people who throw away stuff way too easy... Save the planet! One person at a time!!!
Bury people, not devices!
but he'd probably throw out the broken fan
That defrost kick works really well. Neat design.
Wonder if it makes use of the residual heat on the radiator to help defrost, so it can cool itself off a little, and also drop the ice when preparing for the next cycle.
That device is incredibly well packaged and engineerd to a budget but not in a completely bad way. Whoever designed it has done a fantastic job.
Would've been even better if they had rotated the fan 90 degrees in any direction lol.
@@nexaentertainment2764 In all fairness, this is a difficult problem to anticipate and an easy one to fix without a redesign. I hope they are installing them differently on the newer ones.
@@nexaentertainment2764 if they did that why would you buy a new one?
One advantage to replacing the fans in such things, the replacements are often a lot quieter than the originals, as they use the cheapest ones they can get, which from experience are usually the most droney, whooshy sounding things out there, versus the nice, well-designed "silent" fans made for a nice PC build that doesn't leave your tinnitus going bananas... :P
people should be careful with those silent fans though. Especially when static pressure is needed to pass through radiator/convector fins.
@@PainterVierax shouldn't be too much of an issue, the Arctic F12 fans have decent static pressure, although with the spacing of that condenser coil's fins it doesn't need much static pressure to be effective. probably running R290 (odorless propane) in there so it'll likely be very well off with that new fan.
@@nightshadelenar sure it's not an issue in this case but people should be warned there are different fans for different use cases and in practice they are not as swappable as the standardized form factor allows. This is primarily an issue when seeking low noise operation like OP said, as much of the "silent" fans are just meant to be case mounted with low air restriction.
I've never seen one in operation before. Very neat. Nice fix, Clive.
I love Arctic fans. I've been using them for decades in PC cases. Very quiet. Very reliable. Very cheap.
I'm a fan as well.
Pun not intended.
I have one of these ice makers and it is the loudest thing in the kitchen. Maybe I should get a new fan for it.
Arctic has A and P variant fans. In this case, up against the condenser, a P or Pressure optimized fan seems better. But you can't always find them
@@stephen1r2 Ok I cant stand it, you've described what the P stands for, what does the A stand for? My guess is Assbackerds, butt surely not?
Impressed with the small compressor unit. It is a lesson in mechanical design that a simple issue with moisture and corrosion can wreck a unit. Reorienting the fan, or maybe a drain hole in the fan motor case, or even a sealed fan motor would have solved the issue and probably only have added a few cents to the cost.
However It screams "I need one" along with all the other worktop accessories (Air fryer, Coffee machine, Juicer, George Foreman Grill, Bread maker) which would lead to no surface for food preparation!
I'll have to stick to the freezer for ice and leave the worktop free 😊But if I ever get the summer house bar set up it will be a must have!
This was very interesting! Thank you for the long-form video showing the whole repair, along with the lessons along the way.
I fixed a small pub-sized counter unit. Amazingly similar, but scaled up all around and with stainless panels instead of plastic. In that case the gearbox had broken and the tray could turn down but not up.Was quite cheap to replace though. Another, smaller one, one was simpler - there were contacts in the ice basket that told it when it was full. They were caked with calcium and it just kept going when full. Cleaned them off and it was fine.
Adapter is a great idea. I always end up stuffing a resistor in the connector and clipping croc leads to it.
I have about 6 of these laying around because the bearings in the motor for the water pump are bad. Whenever the pump turns on, it has an awful squeal/screech sound. Another weird thing about these are when you have a halogen lamp shining down or near them, it causes interference with the infrared level sensors, and the unit will just keep making ice until it Jams up. Also, 6:18 is called a reversing valve. It can be operated manually with an earth magnetic as well.
Goes to show, sometimes all we need is the support of a fan to keep us from becoming waste :)
It's incredible to see. We have one of these to help make our dark and stormys that we share with you each week. Thanks Clive, and CHEERS!!
I have the same unit. different brand and enclosure but as you said: these things come from the same factory
Nice of you to take it apart so I don't have to. That usually happens with new stuff entering my house
I got mine almost for free. Badly covered in calcium but it still worked fine
I was thinking about customizing the control with an arduino to have a (proper) compensation for ambient and water temperature to ensure even batches of ice. I found out that these are the most relevant factors in the size of the ice cubes (I think mine has a fixed freeze time) If you dump the first 2-4 batches of ice in the fresh water tank to pre cool it, the cubes get about double the size
I've been dumping the first batch into the water too. But I have the advantage of a cold house.
I've been using this sort of countertop ice maker for years and years now (I miss you, one and only kitchen I ever had with an icemaker-capable refrigerator/freezer space), and I agree that they're very handy and convenient and even cute, but they don't last too long. Spending more on one (over double) in the hopes of at least extending the time between replacements was a total bust. So now I buy the cheapest one I can and get a long extended warranty.
Unfortunately cost often reflects marketing more than value.
While shopping Amazon for a replacement unit for my refrigerator ( had fixed the original twice but the main body casting cracked) Amazon had a subscription offer, 5% off if I get one every 3 months.
Made me wonder about quality a bit, but still going strong after 3 years.
Got one of these off Temu for $50 and it works great. We use it everyday. Now I know what to expect to fail and how to fix it!
Noctua makes IP rated fans that can be used in high moisture environments. If you wanted a "permanent" fix, try using one of the Noctua PPC fans.
Never actually seen a deceased computer fan, I thought they were immortal.
Other than noisy bearings, it is quite rare for them to fail.
I've seen many fail. Many refrigerators/freezers just need the condenser coils cleaned & the fan replaced.
There speaks someone who never had a Cyrix 6x86 processor that would get red hot!
@@chinnyvision yay, mine smoked too, these things were totally unlocked for overclocking. Good old times....
@@Damien.D Got a huge replacement fan from Maplin and cranked it up! You didn't want to catch your fingers in it!
Yes Clive, premature shrinkage is the bane of my lashups too.😊 My friend showed me one of thes ice makers yesterday. He has it on his boat. Tempted to get one for my narrowboat now. Especially if I can find a cheap defective one on ebay, now I have the "insides" knowledge!
Very good description of the workings of the refrigeration system but if I were to be pedantic the reason for leaving the unit switched off for a while if orientated from it's usual position is because there is lubricating oil sitting in the bottom of the compressor, in the same way oil sits in the sump of a car engine, and it's to allow that oil to flow back to it's correct place. And the sausage shaped component is sort of a receiver, but it also contains a filter & desiccant beads so that the refrigerant in the circuit remains dry -it's called a filter drier.
The drier is not a "receiver", it's a desiccant drier.
Interesting; why would it need dessicants to absorb moisture? How is moisture supposed to get into the 'sealed' refrigerant loop post manufacture/re-gassing?
Ey big man, i find less and less time to watch your videos, but you did re ignite the love i had for electronics. Thank you for the years and years of content!
Really interesting thanks Clive for the teardown and repair, I've never owned one or had a freezer with one built in. Its fascinating to see how it works, its very neat.
Great vid as always Clive. I didn't scroll through every comment so forgive me if it was already addressed. When mounting directly to a radiator you would want a static pressure fan as opposed to an air flow fan. I belive that is the difference between the F12 and P12 on Artic fans. The fins on that rad aren't nearly as dense as on water cooling rads for PCs but, someone might still see higher efficiency with a static pressure fan.
The large ones in restaurants and bars are exactly the same, but bigger. They can get more efficient when extra fans or more powerful fans are added.
Yep, same theory of operation. Running water across cold ice forms and reversing flow to drop ice.
Had the exact same thing happen to my icemaker. Nearly identical to yours. Replaced the fan, and it's back to making ice!
@@MajorMokoto weird!
Usually it's the bearing that packs it up, not the fan motor. Of all the PC fans I've replaced doing desktop support I don't think I've ever found one with a dead motor.
@@volvo09 It would depend on the humidity of the environment and I'm guessing the ice maker is in a higher humidity one.
I did not know those machines used a tiny compressor. I figured it was some sort of peltier junction. I learned something new. And now I have an idea of how to maintain mine. Thanks.
Peltier-effect stuff is way less efficient, is the problem.
@keyboarderror1
Both types are still available. Jury is out on which is best.
Compressor cooling is much more efficient and effective than a Peltier cooling system
There isn't an ice maker on the market that uses a Peltier. Coincidentally I am in the process of making one though.
So satisfying to see that machine work.
If your want to know more about Refrigeration, Alec from Technology Connections is your man.
There is also the Hyperspace Pirate
A fellow fan of the Latent Heat of Vaporization (and/or The Magic of Buying Two Of Them)
Why don't you ask a refrigeration engineer or is everyone a expert at everything now😊
@@adrianellis4497 They definitely aren't, but they like to pretend.
It's always gratifying to see BigClive repair something exactly the way I would. Nice job, BigClive!
I was given a nearly identical unit that wouldn't stop making ice. The IR emmitter/reciever was no longer working. I think I spent around $10 for a replacement and it works perfectly.
I fixed one that was the opposite, the IR reciever had corroded so it thought it was always full, bypassed it and now it will just continue to make ice untill the tray cant move and it shutsdown because the bucket it stuck, been working for a few years now haha!
that is absolutely one of the cleanest condensers i've ever seen on a used piece of equipment
This is a very informative video, Clive. I like the way it covers two of my favourite subjects, electronics and refrigeration. I'm glad you made the important point of letting the compressor sit for a while before running it. I remember from many years ago to leave a refrigerator or freezer for 24 hours, after it has been delivered and put in position, to allow everything to settle before applying power and running the compressor.
More recently, I've heard that 30 minutes is enough but personally I'm sticking with 24 hours. The 30 minutes maybe enough to allow the refrigerant to settle as it can evaporate and condense, but the compressor oil is a different matter and will invariably take much longer to settle.
One thing I was surprised at is that you simply cut the wires from the dead fan instead of desoldering them which would have left you with the full length of the wiring harness. The 12V fans I have experience of generally expose the soldered connection points underneath the label. It is fairly straight forward swapping fan wiring which I've done myself a number of times, especially in custom situations like this. Swapping the wiring would have enable you to show the wiring and solder points inside the fan for the video and resulted in a much simpler and neater repair for the ice maker.
Awwww that’s adorable! Look at those cute little refrigerant lines!
Excellent video. I've bought some faulty units and they were mostly simple fix. I wanted re-use parts to make a small eye drops cooler that would be quicker and cooler than my peltier unit. I've seen some of the same issues, fan fail, logic errors. The fan could easily be modified to have a wicking drain. Ideally I'd like to buy only the cooling unit but it works out about double than buying a complete portable cooler and scavenging parts.
I’ve started using the heat shrink with a ring of solder in the middle and a band of hot melt adhesive each end. Insert one wire each side, line up and blast with heat, does all of the work for you. I first used them in 1985 while reconditioning radar booths for the mod. Sort of forgot that they existed until temu tried to sell me some.
Is that available for such thin wires? I've only seen it for like 0.75mm² and upwards.
A lot we take for granted in everyday devices. What we don't see is how these components have been improved over sixty years. We take it for granted .
Just watched the rest of the video :-). For best efficiency you'd be better with the fan pushing air from outside of the unit through the condenser, that way it's getting maximum cooling, that's the way the commercial ones are configured. In the commercial type there's an additional advantage, which isn't really applicable to these units - the dust and junk that collects on the condenser collects on the side facing you, so it's much easier to remove/clean.
While its more efficient at cooling the radiator, its likely a lot less efficient overall as it would push the hot air back into the unit. By directly exhausting you only have room temperature air going through the unit itself. It may even be factored into keeping the compressor cool.
@@alexatkin The hotter the compressor runs (until it fails, of course) the more efficient the icemaker will be. The most critical point for cooling in the machine is the condenser (for both running cost and maximum production of ice). In every commercial icemaker I've worked on over the years, I've never seen one that pulls hot air through the condenser. It's possible that this unit is built down to a price, efficiency is largely unimportant to the manufacturer, and it needs the airflow to be reversed in order to see out the guarantee period.
You’re very good.
It is a receiver in effect, but it’s main purpose is a drier/filter for the refrigerant. By fitting it the way it is angled, it encourages a full flow of liquid into the capillary.
(Refrig and Ac tech for years)
Try and get your hands on a Whirlpool k20 or k40.
They do a very funky way of switching to defrost with magic and stuff. No relay.
Thanks for the video. I have a similar unit, though mine is better built. It's mostly metal on the outside, not plastic. And the exhaust fan is properly aligned to the exhaust hole and has a metal grill on it. But otherwise, the construction is pretty much identical. Good to know how these are built in case I need to fix mine someday.
Another thing worth mentioning - if the machine suddenly loses power while it's running, eg. you accidentally unplug it, don't start it back up outright ! You need to give the unit some time for the pressure in the system to equalize (several minutes), otherwise you can damage the compressor.
I did that once, the unit vibrated violently, made some clunking noises, and also released a bad burning smell. Fortunately I was lucky this time and the machine survived with no damage.
Fridges have a timer in them to prevent this issue, but these ice machines don't.
When this one is powered up and the start button pressed, the first thing it does is operate the hot gas defrost valve to equalise pressure across the compressor before starting it.
I've replaced the main IC on this little board with an ESP32 with esphome so I can control/monitor it from Home Assistant! Very simple little ice makers that make decent ice cubes. Great fix too!
I fixed one of these for my dad a few years ago. The issue was that it was constantly reporting full. Turns out the IR LED that's used to detect when the tray is full had corroded. Replaced one of the diodes and coated it in silicone, and then it started working again. Saved a fair chunk of money and it's been working fine since.
Very interesting case! I repaired a few counter top models in the past and the faults were always broken plastic parts. Never seen a fan, motor, or control board fail, but this was years ago.
Brilliantly described never knew half the things you mentioned, amazing how those work. many thanks Clive!
This is very good to know. I don't have an ice maker, since I don't really need one but I have two dehumidifiers and now I know what to check first if they ever fail.
Really interesting for me, not so much for the fixing, but how it works! I have seen these at Lidl from time to time and been tempted, but couldn't figure out how they worked. I think I might get one next time they come round.. probably next spring!
such a wonderful thing. i guess people that have been watching defrag in the past, might find this satisfying to watch, too :D
defrag was the best.
Having bought two of these and knowing the price they’re sold at, I am convinced these are meant to be disposable on a one to two year basis. I use an ice tray now.
You forgot to do a Technology Connections (best channel) and spend 30mins explaining the refrigeration cycle!
I should follow his example and do a no-effort November. Although he does still put a lot of work into those videos.
We've had an ice-maker for about 18 months, used it probably 10 times and stored the unused chucks of ice in the freezer. Works well and with Yuletide approaching we will start to make ice chunks again. Very useful post to have if the ice-maker goes wrong, thanks Clive 👍
British military tanks have water coolers for drinking water, a mate of mine got a contract to design protection electronics because the compressors were burning out due to trying to compress liquid and being military hardware this wasn't cheap. so he used an accelerometer to detect movement and whether it was level along with a timer to disable the compressor when it was unsafe.
Nice repair video. 👍
I’ve always wondered how these machines make the individual ice cubes. (Why doesn’t it end up like a block of ice?) Now I know, and I felt strangely happy when I saw it.
0:17 technology connections entered the chat
You spliced those wires incorrectly. You're supposed to splice them, realize you forgot the heat shrink, cuss a few times, cut it back apart, slide the heat shrink on, splice them, slide the heat shrink over the splices, realize you slid it too soon and they're hung up on the still-warm splices, cuss some more, say screw it and wrap the rest with tape.
Bought one just before the 2 hot days this summer and it's paid for itself already with the amount of ice the kids use!
Surprisingly sophisticated machines!
A lot going on in there for a such a cheap machine
its always a no nonsense video from bigC, love it
You have my attention fellow engineer
I always find myself watching BigClive videos when I feel unwell or anxious.
A "Fix It" "How it Works" video in one :) Thanks Clive
Nice little unit! A must have in every bar section ov the living room😊 👍
I have 1 of those. Before a party or whatever she fills the icecube trays, puts them in the freezer, removes them and dumps the ice into a bucket and serves it. Also, because I chose a low maintenance model, she runs for years! 😉😊
They are handy, always flush through with fresh water every day, any ice not used just melts and recirculate. If not been used for while give it flush though with some sterilising solution and good rinse prior to use.
Interesting video!
Two comments: about the fans, you chose an arctic F12.
The F stands for Flow and P for pressure. I researched a bit online about this (it's hard to get clear data instead of marketing mumble jumble) but basically you want more flow-optimized fans where you want to move large volumes of air (such as in the enclosed box on a laser printer or while soldering, or just to refresh air in a room but then I wouldn't use a computer fan), and want pressure-optimized fans when you want to push air through a space with a lot of restrictions, such as a computer case. I am not sure which is optimal for a simple condenser but I would guess a pressure-optimized one is, like the old ones. You can see the difference as flow-optimized fans have more and more curved blades, but with larger openings between them, while pressure optimized blades are fewer, with smaller gaps between them.
About letting the compressor rest: compressors have an oil bath in them for lubrication and as the oil doesn't vaporize - at least not within the normal operating temperatures of the cooling circuit - it's the oil you don't want in your circuit. Most compressors can handle pumping the refrigerant in a liquid state, as depending on temperature and whether it's starting, the refrigerant might be liquid in the compressor.
Those little "control switches" are hardly immortal. Fortunately they are the same as the switch types used in car key fobs (so available in bulk from "everywhere"). The refrigeration system is the most reliable element of those machines; reverse the direction of the fan, and it'll last a lot longer since the fan will be pulling fresh (so drier) air over the heat exchanger, since the moisture gets in mainly during the defrost cycle. It is also worth the tiny extra expense of a ball-bearing fan (ours has a rather jazzy multi-LED fan, for the extra disco effects!). These things are VERY popular Down Under.
I had to resist the temptation to fit an LED fan.
F and P fans are F - air Flow, P - static Pressure it’s all in the blade angle - these days most fans are a hybrid design and fully PWM
Wow!
I'd never contemplated this before, but this type of cheap ice maker does exactly what an air source heat pump does. Namely, has a change over valve to reverse the cycle for either heating or cooling. A standard AC unit (cooling only) does but one, and a heat pump comes with a 75% premium for the change over. Ok, it's not quite as simple as that - mechanical layout is slightly different, but all the same...
I wonder if it needs a full changeover valve or just one to short out the capillary, giving a momentary burst of hot refrigerant into the evaporator?
a simpler take compared to what i've been watching recently, nice! there's a fair bit going on in those things, as HVACR Videos has showed many times.
Never knew why there always was a deep dimple in ice, I am thus informed. Clever solution, not at all what I had imagined.
A man's got to avoid premature shrinkage!
AFAIK the reason you should let compressor systems stay upright for a while before using them isn't refrigerant but oil for lubricating the compressor. That oil has to settle to the lowest point since you absolutely don't want any of it inside the rest of the refrigeration cycle.
Oh, and 👍 for using an Arctic fan, they're really good and have an amazing price/performance ratio. Though I think a P12 might have been the better choice since it's optimized for static pressure, the F series is more for airflow.
I chose the F version for a higher airflow.
Honestly, that was so intriguing. Who would have thought an ice maker could be so interesting.
Great repair demonstration. Thank you.
You'd think a little conformal coating could've prevented the failure or at least prolonged service life, but that would defeat the purpose of engineered obsolescence.
I've torn-down, repaired and build many things, yet it still surprises me sometimes how much they can cram into device/enclosure efficiently. 😂
We're on our second unit in 5 years.. had to replace the limit switches in the first one, and then the constant over-straining of the bidirectional motor combined with the motor shaft swelling with rust cracked the water reservoir. Bought a spare unit a few months ago when Lidl was selling them for £35.
Refrigerant is a bit like a "heat sponge."
When it expands it sucks up heat.
Compressing it squeezes heat out.
worth watching for the finale. even eskimos would be impressed with how it works.
I've repaired many commercial icemakers over the years, mostly in pubs, clubs and sports centres. The small domestic ones are generally too fiddly to work on. The reason for allowing the units to stand for a while after they've been tipped over (I've always left them for 4 hours) is due to the lubricating oil being sat in an open sump in the bottom of the compressor - should a sniff of that gets into the capillary pipework the unit's not going to work again, without some serious work. I'd imagine if some liquid refrigerant got somewhere it ought not do, it would sort itself out given a short time. I have seen older style refrigerators that have been force defrosted with a hairdryer or similar that limp along for a day or two before they settle back into proper cooling though...
Interesting item and fix is easy 2x 👍
ts like electric showers inside they are 90% the same parts, you can butcher any make to fix the one you have. You just reminded me I have a dehumidifier to fix its not spitting any water out
In Norway these are sold as the wilfa brand among others. Hasn’t changed since we had them at the store I worked at for ten years up until 2014. A lot of the unit failed but in Norway we have 5 years on stuff like this so we just swapped them with a new one, registered it with wilfa and they sent us a new one. I must admit that the one I have at home had the fan fail and is working to this date just fine. Amazing how much you can get for less than 100 pounds as was the price in Norway back then at least.
1:26 BigClive said "This is a very Big Unit" - Nov, 2024 !!!Luv ya Clive!!!
i have a similar unit and needed to replace the microswitch once and clean out the pump twice in 10 years but it's still going strong!
Neighboring tenants tossed an ice maker last year and it's been sitting outside under the porch ever since. Maybe I'll finally give repairing it a go since they seem simpler inside than l would have expected, and it would be nice to have something that could slowly stock up the cooler before camping trips
my grandpa used to get the larger under counter style ice makers. all "junk", but they worked of course. i like the cupcake style with the sprayers. although the tray with hot wire is also kind of cool for the nichrome wire.
I bet you had this project on ice for a while now :P
Nice one, I wondered how those work. Since back to the future 3 made it look so complicated.
Honestly Clive, this video ranks up there with my all time favorite Big Clive videos ! Now you have to one up yourself !!! 😊
That's wild. Thanks Big Clive. Just a simple computer fan to fix it.
this was such a nice wholesome video. good ending as well, so satisfying :)
We got one of these that makes that fancy aerated ice and it's amazing.
Oh my god, I literally got this exact model of ice maker for my mother's birthday.
At least I'll know how to fix it if it breaks in this specific way now.
Another reason to let a refridgeration thing sit at the right orientation for a while before running is the oil. The pump is designed to run upright, and tilting it gets the oil in the wrong spots. Gravity, of course, will fix the issue with a bit of waiting.
Heat exchangers are, just like (rocket) nozzles, extremely simple in principle and at the same time even more extremely _difficult_ in making one that actually works to spec. Spent a whole semester a couple of lifes ago trying to design a flow-through heat exchanger... let's just say that there was still a lot of room for improvement!
And they are like so because everything is connected and interdependent. Change anything and everything else has to change too, domino effect on steroids.
I bought one of these from Amazon, it got returned because it was actually rubbish, it didn't make very good ice when new, the size up models are much better👍
Nice little thingy. You beat the system by repairing it.
Nice little unit. I bought a used ice machine a few years ago. It ran for a few months, then stopped working. I don't think it was the fan. I got rid of it in the end.
Maybe a small hole at the bottom to drain ?? For a fun little bit get the fans with LEDs in them some change color !!