Why is My Refrigerator Water Dispenser Not Working?

Is the water dispenser on your refrigerator broken? If so, you can attempt to solve the problem by yourself or call Tru Appliance Repair for professional refrigerator repair.

There are many reasons for the water dispenser in a kitchen refrigerator to not work anymore. Again, some of the suggestions are going to sound a bit crazy. However, something as obvious as an off switch has been the culprit in some instances. Be sure to inspect the more obvious potential problems before proceeding with complicated refrigerator repair. Let’s start to cover this appliance repair problem and see all of the solutions we can cite for a broken water dispenser.

The cause of a broken water dispenser is commonly an installation issue, a filter failure or frozen water tubes:

New Refrigerator Installation Issues

You just purchased a new refrigerator with a water dispenser, but it’s not working. The water dispenser has to be hooked up to the water line. That could be the reason for the issue.

If your new refrigerator is replacing a previous refrigerator that did not include a water dispenser or ice maker, there is a possibility that you don’t have a functioning water line running to this area of the kitchen. A water line is typically run from underneath the house either in a basement or crawl space. You can purchase this type of water line at almost any hardware store and they are pretty simple for the typical homeowner to install. Usually they have a a water shut-off valve, which is important so that if you need to move the refrigerator, you can turn off the water.

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

If you removed the refrigerator doors during installation it’s possible the water dispenser might not be plugged in. Read the manual to see the wire harness for that particular model of refrigerator. Be sure that it is plugged into the refrigerator.

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

On some refrigerators, there are different filters. These filters can “expire”, become clogged or freeze. All of the filters are dependent on the model and type of refrigerator. If the filter is clogged it will cause slow filling or no flowing. It’s suggested that your filter is changed every 6 months. Replacing filters can be hard sometimes. If you run into problems, go online or call us and learn the right process to replace a filter.

One suggestion is to fill up the water filter with water before installing it. A lot of time the water filters will need a long time to fill, which could cause you to think that the water dispenser is not working. You should read the directions if all else fails. To be sure it is not air caught in the water lines, we recommend to depress the dispenser arm for around 5 minutes.

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

ADDITIONAL REFRIGERATOR RESOURCES

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