Why is My Refrigerator Water Dispenser Not Working?

broken refrigerator water dispenser image

Is the water dispenser on your refrigerator not working? If not, you can try to solve the problem by yourself or call Palmer Appliance Repair for professional refrigerator repair.

There are a lot of reasons for a water dispenser in a kitchen refrigerator to stop working. Again, some reasons are going to sound a bit crazy. However, something as obvious as an on/off switch on the refrigerator has been the culprit in some instances. Be sure to inspect the more obvious potential issues before moving forward with refrigerator repair. Let’s begin to cover this appliance repair issue and see what solutions we can cite for a broken water dispenser on a refrigerator.

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

New Refrigerator Installation Problems

You just purchased a brand new refrigerator for your kitchen with a water dispenser, but it is broken. The water dispenser must be connected to the water line. That could be the reason for the issue.

If the new refrigerator is replacing an old refrigerator that did not have an ice maker or water dispenser, there’s a possibility that you don’t have a functioning water line running to this area. A water line is typically run from under the house either in a basement or crawl space. You can buy this type of water line at just about any hardware store and they’re pretty simple for the typical homeowner to install. Typically they have include a water shut-off valve, which is necessary so that if you should need to relocate the refrigerator, you can turn off the water.

If there is an attached water line, is the valve on? The valve handle must be lined up with the hose. And, is water going through the pipe that you have used to connect the water line? Simple and questions, but things that need to be accounted for.

If you had to remove the doors during installation the water dispenser might not be plugged in. Review the manual to see the wire harness for the particular refrigerator. Check that it is plugged into the refrigerator.

If the water is hooked up, usually there’s air in it. So, lifting and lowering the dispenser lever on the refrigerator to get the air out of it is needed.
Filter Problems

On some household models, there are different filters. These filters might “expire”, clog or become frozen. All of the filters are based on the style and type of refrigerator. If your filter is blocked it might cause slow filling or no flowing. It’s suggested that your filter is changed every 6 months. Changing filters in a refrigerator can be hard sometimes. If you have hiccups, go online or call us and find the right process to change a filter.

One idea is to fill up the filter with water before installation. A lot of time the water filters need a long time to fill up, which might cause you to assume the water dispenser is not working. You will want to read the directions if nothing is working. To ensure it is not air caught in the lines, we recommend to depress the dispenser lever for around 5 minutes.

A frozen water tank could be the cause of the issue as well on some models. If the water tank freezes it will leak onto the food bins. Small amounts of food inside of the fresh food bins will cause freezing.

ADDITIONAL REFRIGERATOR RESOURCES