I had tried a jillion things I found when I did a Google search, but NOTHING worked. Finally, my wife said "Have you searched on TH-cam?" She was right, and you were right. It's working again beautifully. THANK YOU!
I was FIVE SECONDS from calling in a warranty claim on Amazon for my GE Opal nugget ice maker because the blue light was CONSTANTLY on even though the machine AND the reservoir were both full. Your video worked PERFECTLY!!! I went according to your instruction. Thank you for also advising of the suction I should feel on my finger AND the water running down the backside as it should. I'll be saving this video for future reference!🎉💯👊🏽😎
Thank you so much for posting this video. We had problems with our ice maker not working after a couple weeks. Kept trying different things and watched your video. Tried it out and finally have ice again. Really easy method to use and works like new again.
Oh my gosh! This worked after only plugging the hole about three times! I bought the extended warranty from Best Buy but the first year of manufacturer warranty, isn’t up yet, and I really wasn’t wanting to be without my ice for a month or however, long it took them to send it off and fix it! So, thanks so much for posting!
Thank you so much for this video! It solved my problem of the blue light swishing despite being water in the tank and not making ice. Idk why they don’t include this in their guide! None the less it worked so thank you
Life. Saver. I took our machine apart at least 3-4 times thinking it was getting clogged and the tubes needed a thorough cleaning. Even if I could have just done this from the beginning to fix it, I’m glad I spent the time to do that though because it was dis-gust-ing. (And we’ve only ever used distilled water FTR). Regardless, I was pretty discouraged after the cleaning didn’t work consistently enough and determined it must be the pump. Fortunately this was the first video to pop up after googling, and we’re back in business!!
This was so helpful - thank you!! I tried cleaning it in hopes that that was the culprit but not until I followed your steps did the machine start working properly again.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I was beyond frustrated with my machine and the inability to reach anyone at GE. My machine is working now thank you to you and your video. So appreciate you posting this. 🙂
Tried this 4 - 5 times with no success. Filled up the reservoir with vinegar, put vinegar soaked towel in the ice shoot for over 12 hours. Removed soaked cloth, drained vinegar, and started the process over again. Yes, no more blue light with a full reservoir! Success!!!! Thank you!!!
Yes I do this every so often too! Now that I use RO filtered water I dont get as much build-up but it still doesn't hurt to soak it in vinegar. I also like to let it make 50/50 vinegar ice for awhile too. That seems to help dislodge any clogs.
Thank you so much! I really appreciate this! I was getting so frustrated and now it seems to be working well. I’ll talk to you and God bless you and your family!
Thank you so much!!! I was prepared to send this back. I have the side tank as well and I have my ice maker set to a schedule through the app. I didn't fill the side tank but the ice maker kept trying to make ice so I believe that's where the air got in. But this helped so much.
Just fixed mine this way as well. Thanks for the video! Agreed it should be in the manual. Happened to mine since the first time I drained it for a vacation.
Costco bottled water is reverse osmosis water, we started buying it to use in our opal after a water guy tested a bunch of different water samples for us.
This helped get mine, actually my sister-in-laws, going but seems like it's not fixing the real problem of the pump sucking air. Wonder if the intake tubes, clamps, etc. of the pump need replacing? I'm going to keep fiddling with this one and see if I can find a more permanent fix that doesn't require manually helping it every time. I'll enjoy the having the ice until then and have to return the unit!
@ktbrooke85 Thank you for this! You just saved my bacon! I've taken this thing apart so many times trying to figure out why the upper reservoir wasn't filling, and this did the trick!
Thank you so much for this video, I have the second generation Opal and after six months of use it was acting up. Priming the pump solved the problem, at least for now!!
I have the 2.0 as well and mine is saying "add water" but my side tank is slap full. Tried to prime it like this video for about 30 minutes, but no results. I did feel the suction though. Everything was fine until I cleaned it the other day. Ugggg
@@shotty6868 I'm sorry to say that my original comment was only a temporary solution, it died completely like a month later. The warranty support is absolutely horrible, I had to leave a bad review on the Opal website to get GE to respond to me. They sent me a refurbished unit but I was so pissed off by the experience I just chucked it in the basement. It was a pump failure, those things seem to last like a year tops. Also I forgot to say, that is the exact problem I was having. Your pump is more than likely dead (at least, that's what GE diagnosed mine as).
@@rls5709 yea I purchased mine in the end of August lol. Its like a month old. It was fine until I cleaned it. And it makes ice as long as you fill the reservoir everyday. Water just isnt getting over.
Yes I had to do the same also sorta like giving CPR to the pump till the water get sucked in. TBH if I paid 500 for a ice maker I should not have to do this and it’s kinda gross to stick my hand in the reservoir and that same water will be ice in my drink I been babysitting my opal for over a year and finally stopped working today It takes about 7 hrs to make a whole bin of ice when it should really take just a few Hrs like in the past. I clean my unit every week and also had a mini fan blowing air into the Intake to make ice I love my icemaker but it’s sad how much it cost for it to start dying out after 12 months of daily use
Quick question. Did anyone ever experience water leaking prior to this solution? I've had mine 4 months, not the same model, I have the opal 2.0 xl. The entire tank leaked out while the add water light was on. I paid $700 so I was feeling frustrated and trying to maintain faith in this machine. By the way GE emailed me your video, thought that was awesome
I have issues every time I clean mine. It’s makes ice very slow and the right side gets super hot. I tried taking off the side tank and it seemed to do better. I love it but discouraged.
I have the newer model (not a brag) This works the same on that one as well. I was 3 days without Opal ice and I felt like I was living in the Dark Ages.
I was having this problem with my opal and kept repeating this process with no success. Turns out it was the added opal water filter that was causing the issue. I switched back to the screen filter that came with the machine and have had no problems since.
I've heard the filter can cause a lot of issues so I've never used anything except the included grate. We use filtered water from an under the sink filter.
I repeat covering the white hole until the water starts pouring from the top. If it is really dried out this might take two cleaning cycles. Then I wait 20 seconds and cover it one more time. I let the cleaning cycle finish and then turn it back to ice mode.
Katey, I only had to do the thumb trick (15 seconds) once, and then my ice maker started working again. I only use distilled water to make ice. Do you think it is ok to leave the plug/grate out of the machine all the time? It looks like it is just a filter, and if I'm using distilled water, there shouldn't be anything to filter.
I decided it was best to put the filter back in place. If I had to do prime the pump often, I might leave it out, but Katey's answer worked great and I haven't had a problem since.
I would not leave it out of the machine, because if something happens to get in the reservoir (hair, food, dust, etc) it would get sucked into the unit and could cause some issues. The grate will largely prevent that from happening.
So on the phone they told me that was fine, as long as it's still pouring. If you are noticing a big change all of a sudden, you may have a clog or some buildup. I'd try following the instructions on the website to clean it with vinegar.
There are two plastic bits holding it in at the bottom. I usually have to pull at the top of the plastic rectangle and then rock it forward to take the whole rectangle out.
I tried that and it works just like you said. However now the machine starts flowing like it's about to make ice but stops at the 6 min mark everytime and I get the blue swishy (needs water) light even though the reservoir is full? I wanna throw this thing out the window...
So ours recently stopped working altogether, even with this fix. We were still in warranty, and opal replaced ours with a new refurbished unit. I think something was wrong with our original pump from the start, because the new one just sounds different and it works more smoothly than the original ever did.
It isn’t working for mine I could literally die I need my ice omg 😭💔 I have done it 50 times. I have NEVER let it run out of water and it did overnight while I was asleep because I forgot to refill it one time and got the blue ring and I’ve had this thing 8 months and taken very good care of it!!! I am so upset omg no way. I pray I am doing something wrong. Could I be? Is there anything else in the world that could help? God I am so upset I literally need my ice for my health, mental and physical. It might sound stupid to a lot of people I know but I literally NEED it. And I don’t have the money at ALL for another one. God someone please help me 😭💔
How many times exactly did you have to do this? I’ve been at it all day. It’s been suctioning onto my finger but hasn’t budged. My thumb hurts. Lol mine is making the same exact noise as yours.
Before I got a replacement sent for that one I was having to do it at least twice a day. After we got our replacement, pretty much only if it is sucking air from an empty tank for too long.
@@ktbrooke85 thank you for the reply!! I have absolutely no idea what I did but I got it working again thank goodness. My dad suggested cleaning the sensors so I took the top and back off and I couldn’t find them so I put it back together again filled it up turned it on cleaning and it started working again. What a complete mystery. This is the first time I’ve ever had that issue.
onpoint.mizecx.com/cc/customerSupportRequest.html?account=FirstBuild#:~:text=Opal%20Support&text=Help%20is%20on%20the%20way,your%20Opal%20Nugget%20Ice%20Maker. I filled out this form and uploaded the pictures and stuff then called the number at the top of the form and gave them the reference number the form generated. Good luck!
Just so everyone knows. You can prime it by making sure the two water lines in the back are full of water, make sure the cap is back on, then squeezing the lines multiple times. The pump will make a different sound when it picks up. Once the pump starts, watch the lines to make sure the water isn't being sucked out. This is what causes you to loose prime. That way you don't have to stick your hands in the water. 🤮
My sweet dick it's magic!! Had recently done a complete teardown and descale and thorough deepclean of my unit, and it had worked great for a week, then today - no water, and yet it's full. Reset it, listen, and - low hum but no pump action noise. Ran a clean cycle, same, no water being pumped. Sigh, figured I must have dislodged some scale that is now trapped in the pump or something, might have to replace it, look up parts and see this video... this can't be it, can it? One Dutch Boy finger in the intake dyke, and... didn't have to wait, felt the increased suction as I removed my finger, and all is well. The water, like the Spice, must flow....
Ditto - This saved me a lot of dough. Love TH-cam for solutions like this, and awesome contributors like Katey!
I had tried a jillion things I found when I did a Google search, but NOTHING worked. Finally, my wife said "Have you searched on TH-cam?" She was right, and you were right. It's working again beautifully. THANK YOU!
I was FIVE SECONDS from calling in a warranty claim on Amazon for my GE Opal nugget ice maker because the blue light was CONSTANTLY on even though the machine AND the reservoir were both full. Your video worked PERFECTLY!!! I went according to your instruction. Thank you for also advising of the suction I should feel on my finger AND the water running down the backside as it should. I'll be saving this video for future reference!🎉💯👊🏽😎
same!! thanks Katy!!
Thank you so much for this video. Saved me from a $140 service call for just coming out.
Thank you so much for posting this! I called GE with this issue and they told me I needed to buy a new unit 😢 but it’s fixed now! Thank you so much!
Thank you. The first article I read led me to believe that the pump would have to be replaced. It took 2 tries to prime it, but now works fine!!!
Thank you so much for posting this video. We had problems with our ice maker not working after a couple weeks. Kept trying different things and watched your video. Tried it out and finally have ice again. Really easy method to use and works like new again.
Oh my gosh! This worked after only plugging the hole about three times! I bought the extended warranty from Best Buy but the first year of manufacturer warranty, isn’t up yet, and I really wasn’t wanting to be without my ice for a month or however, long it took them to send it off and fix it! So, thanks so much for posting!
Thank you so much for this video! It solved my problem of the blue light swishing despite being water in the tank and not making ice. Idk why they don’t include this in their guide! None the less it worked so thank you
Life. Saver.
I took our machine apart at least 3-4 times thinking it was getting clogged and the tubes needed a thorough cleaning. Even if I could have just done this from the beginning to fix it, I’m glad I spent the time to do that though because it was dis-gust-ing. (And we’ve only ever used distilled water FTR).
Regardless, I was pretty discouraged after the cleaning didn’t work consistently enough and determined it must be the pump. Fortunately this was the first video to pop up after googling, and we’re back in business!!
Katey,
Thank you for sharing the fix. My opal 2.0 ice maker was doing the same thing, and it worked!!!
Thank you
This was so helpful - thank you!! I tried cleaning it in hopes that that was the culprit but not until I followed your steps did the machine start working properly again.
You have saved sooo many of us! Thank you! I didnt want to buy another one!
Thanks so much for taking the time to make this! It saved me lots of time. I only had to prime it once for 15 seconds!
Thank you so much, perfect instructions. Took us 4 tries but worked like you said.
Thank you for this, worked for my 2.0. I was about to cry!
Thank you so much! Mine had the blue light problem. Followed all your directions and now I have ice!!! Thank you!!!
Thank you! This is exactly what our ice maker was doing.
Thanks for sharing! So many nuances to this machine, it can get to be a lot. Much appreciated!
I just tried this and it worked perfectly! I thought I was gonna have to buy a new machine but this did the trick. Thanks!!!
you save me from tearing it apart and a lot of time. thank you so much.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I was beyond frustrated with my machine and the inability to reach anyone at GE. My machine is working now thank you to you and your video. So appreciate you posting this. 🙂
Tried this 4 - 5 times with no success. Filled up the reservoir with vinegar, put vinegar soaked towel in the ice shoot for over 12 hours. Removed soaked cloth, drained vinegar, and started the process over again. Yes, no more blue light with a full reservoir! Success!!!! Thank you!!!
Yes I do this every so often too! Now that I use RO filtered water I dont get as much build-up but it still doesn't hurt to soak it in vinegar. I also like to let it make 50/50 vinegar ice for awhile too. That seems to help dislodge any clogs.
@@ktbrooke85 50% water/50% vinegar?
@@rynosoft yup!
I tried letting tube A drain for half a second also trying the tips you give and I see trickling!!! Thank you so much !
I am so thankful you posted this. This fixed my problem and saved me hours of trying to figure it out.
Thank you for this! I've had the Opal for less than a month and it's already acting finicky, but this seems to have solved the problem.
Great video! You are the only reason I got ours working again!
Thank you so much! I really appreciate this! I was getting so frustrated and now it seems to be working well. I’ll talk to you and God bless you and your family!
OMG, I just realized I've been fighting this problem for FIVE YEARS.
Good job, Katey. You got ours running again the day before a rather large meal. Thanks.
Thank you so much!!! I thought they sent me a broken one. This was great! Thanks again!
Thank you! Saved me a support call….. :) and a morning with no ice.
Thank you so much!!!!!! I wanna cry, thought mine was broken and I love it so much
This process fixed mine, too. Thank you so much!
You rock. Saved us. We were so bummed and thought it was broken. Boom this fixed it.
Thank you so much for doing this video ! Got mine to work
Thank you sooooo much for this. You saved my sanity.
I appreciate you! Ice is dropping again!
Thank you so much for this video, you saved me from throwing this thing off the roof. You are a saint.
Thank you so much!!! I was prepared to send this back. I have the side tank as well and I have my ice maker set to a schedule through the app. I didn't fill the side tank but the ice maker kept trying to make ice so I believe that's where the air got in. But this helped so much.
Just fixed mine this way as well. Thanks for the video! Agreed it should be in the manual. Happened to mine since the first time I drained it for a vacation.
THANK YOU THANK YOU. This worked perfectly. Appreciate your efforts to record this video. 💕
Costco bottled water is reverse osmosis water, we started buying it to use in our opal after a water guy tested a bunch of different water samples for us.
This was so helpful, thank you!
Thanks for the great tip!
Thank you for saving my sanity!!!
This helped get mine, actually my sister-in-laws, going but seems like it's not fixing the real problem of the pump sucking air. Wonder if the intake tubes, clamps, etc. of the pump need replacing? I'm going to keep fiddling with this one and see if I can find a more permanent fix that doesn't require manually helping it every time. I'll enjoy the having the ice until then and have to return the unit!
thank you for the tips!❤
Thank you SO much for this video!
@ktbrooke85 Thank you for this! You just saved my bacon! I've taken this thing apart so many times trying to figure out why the upper reservoir wasn't filling, and this did the trick!
Thank you so much for this video, I have the second generation Opal and after six months of use it was acting up. Priming the pump solved the problem, at least for now!!
I have the 2.0 as well and mine is saying "add water" but my side tank is slap full. Tried to prime it like this video for about 30 minutes, but no results. I did feel the suction though. Everything was fine until I cleaned it the other day. Ugggg
@@shotty6868 I'm sorry to say that my original comment was only a temporary solution, it died completely like a month later. The warranty support is absolutely horrible, I had to leave a bad review on the Opal website to get GE to respond to me. They sent me a refurbished unit but I was so pissed off by the experience I just chucked it in the basement. It was a pump failure, those things seem to last like a year tops.
Also I forgot to say, that is the exact problem I was having. Your pump is more than likely dead (at least, that's what GE diagnosed mine as).
@@rls5709 yea I purchased mine in the end of August lol. Its like a month old. It was fine until I cleaned it. And it makes ice as long as you fill the reservoir everyday. Water just isnt getting over.
Thanks so much for making this!
This was very useful, thank you Katey.
It worked!! Thank you for posting this video!!!
Thank you !
Perfect fix ! Thanks !
Thank you!!! I was about to order a replacement- you saved me!!! :-)
Thank you. This really helped me out!!!
Yes I had to do the same also sorta like giving CPR to the pump till the water get sucked in. TBH if I paid 500 for a ice maker I should not have to do this and it’s kinda gross to stick my hand in the reservoir and that same water will be ice in my drink I been babysitting my opal for over a year and finally stopped working today It takes about 7 hrs to make a whole bin of ice when it should really take just a few Hrs like in the past. I clean my unit every week and also had a mini fan blowing air into the Intake to make ice I love my icemaker but it’s sad how much it cost for it to start dying out after 12 months of daily use
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Super helpful, thanks!
Omg! Omg! Omg! It worked! Thank you sooo much!
Quick question. Did anyone ever experience water leaking prior to this solution? I've had mine 4 months, not the same model, I have the opal 2.0 xl. The entire tank leaked out while the add water light was on. I paid $700 so I was feeling frustrated and trying to maintain faith in this machine. By the way GE emailed me your video, thought that was awesome
Very helpful. Thank you.
You are amazing. Thank you so much.
Thanks, it worked for me....
I cleaned my for the first time so do I put water back in the reservoir to start making ice?
Thanks that worked!
I have issues every time I clean mine. It’s makes ice very slow and the right side gets super hot. I tried taking off the side tank and it seemed to do better.
I love it but discouraged.
I have the newer model (not a brag)
This works the same on that one as well. I was 3 days without Opal ice and I felt like I was living in the Dark Ages.
Thanks great help
I'm starting to regret buying one of these. It ran well for about 6 weeks. Now I am constantly looking up videos for trouble shooting.
Are you using filtered water? Ours works so much better since we started using only reverse osmosis filtered water.
I was having this problem with my opal and kept repeating this process with no success. Turns out it was the added opal water filter that was causing the issue. I switched back to the screen filter that came with the machine and have had no problems since.
I've heard the filter can cause a lot of issues so I've never used anything except the included grate. We use filtered water from an under the sink filter.
Thanks so much!!!!
So you were telling us how to prime our Opal ice maker so when do you change it out of the cleaning mode & how long do you do it for?
I repeat covering the white hole until the water starts pouring from the top. If it is really dried out this might take two cleaning cycles. Then I wait 20 seconds and cover it one more time. I let the cleaning cycle finish and then turn it back to ice mode.
I HOPE YOU GOT PAID BY FIRSTBUILD IF NOT YOU DEFINITELY SHOULD HAHA
Katey, I only had to do the thumb trick (15 seconds) once, and then my ice maker started working again. I only use distilled water to make ice. Do you think it is ok to leave the plug/grate out of the machine all the time? It looks like it is just a filter, and if I'm using distilled water, there shouldn't be anything to filter.
I decided it was best to put the filter back in place. If I had to do prime the pump often, I might leave it out, but Katey's answer worked great and I haven't had a problem since.
I would not leave it out of the machine, because if something happens to get in the reservoir (hair, food, dust, etc) it would get sucked into the unit and could cause some issues. The grate will largely prevent that from happening.
Thanks it worked 🌹
Have you ever had blackish specks on your ice. I have to clean twice a week.
Did you ever figure this out? Ours drops bits of plastic all the time
I am not getting a stream of water, its like a waterfall going down the back wall. Any suggestions?
So on the phone they told me that was fine, as long as it's still pouring. If you are noticing a big change all of a sudden, you may have a clog or some buildup. I'd try following the instructions on the website to clean it with vinegar.
I can’t get the filter out ? What am I doing wrong ?
There are two plastic bits holding it in at the bottom. I usually have to pull at the top of the plastic rectangle and then rock it forward to take the whole rectangle out.
I tried that and it works just like you said. However now the machine starts flowing like it's about to make ice but stops at the 6 min mark everytime and I get the blue swishy (needs water) light even though the reservoir is full? I wanna throw this thing out the window...
So ours recently stopped working altogether, even with this fix. We were still in warranty, and opal replaced ours with a new refurbished unit. I think something was wrong with our original pump from the start, because the new one just sounds different and it works more smoothly than the original ever did.
@@ktbrooke85 That is awesome they replaced it. Crazy what a mixed bag these things are. I'm out of warranty and looks like out of luck.
It isn’t working for mine I could literally die I need my ice omg 😭💔 I have done it 50 times. I have NEVER let it run out of water and it did overnight while I was asleep because I forgot to refill it one time and got the blue ring and I’ve had this thing 8 months and taken very good care of it!!! I am so upset omg no way. I pray I am doing something wrong. Could I be? Is there anything else in the world that could help? God I am so upset I literally need my ice for my health, mental and physical. It might sound stupid to a lot of people I know but I literally NEED it. And I don’t have the money at ALL for another one. God someone please help me 😭💔
I can’t get it to prime .. I did it through 4 cleaning cycles
How long have you had it? If you're still within the warranty call customer support!
How many times exactly did you have to do this? I’ve been at it all day. It’s been suctioning onto my finger but hasn’t budged. My thumb hurts. Lol mine is making the same exact noise as yours.
Before I got a replacement sent for that one I was having to do it at least twice a day.
After we got our replacement, pretty much only if it is sucking air from an empty tank for too long.
@@ktbrooke85 thank you for the reply!! I have absolutely no idea what I did but I got it working again thank goodness. My dad suggested cleaning the sensors so I took the top and back off and I couldn’t find them so I put it back together again filled it up turned it on cleaning and it started working again. What a complete mystery. This is the first time I’ve ever had that issue.
Didn't work for me 😢
Tried this and it’s not working. Who did you call? I keep just finding an email
onpoint.mizecx.com/cc/customerSupportRequest.html?account=FirstBuild#:~:text=Opal%20Support&text=Help%20is%20on%20the%20way,your%20Opal%20Nugget%20Ice%20Maker. I filled out this form and uploaded the pictures and stuff then called the number at the top of the form and gave them the reference number the form generated. Good luck!
Just so everyone knows. You can prime it by making sure the two water lines in the back are full of water, make sure the cap is back on, then squeezing the lines multiple times. The pump will make a different sound when it picks up. Once the pump starts, watch the lines to make sure the water isn't being sucked out. This is what causes you to loose prime. That way you don't have to stick your hands in the water. 🤮
My sweet dick it's magic!! Had recently done a complete teardown and descale and thorough deepclean of my unit, and it had worked great for a week, then today - no water, and yet it's full. Reset it, listen, and - low hum but no pump action noise. Ran a clean cycle, same, no water being pumped. Sigh, figured I must have dislodged some scale that is now trapped in the pump or something, might have to replace it, look up parts and see this video... this can't be it, can it? One Dutch Boy finger in the intake dyke, and... didn't have to wait, felt the increased suction as I removed my finger, and all is well. The water, like the Spice, must flow....
Thanks it solved my problem