It’s hard to imagine a time when ice was not a freely available commodity in Bethesda – the kind you can create in your freezer or add to your glass with the press of a button. But only 100 years ago that was the case. Ice was expensive and was carefully stored and cared for. Today, most homes have an icemaker in the kitchen that produces unlimited ice on demand, so what exactly is in these machines and how do they do what only a century ago was very complex?

 The Basics of Your Icemaker

Your icemaker runs through a cycle much like your air conditioner or refrigerator. When everything is ready, the cycle starts – initiated by an electrical switch that determines when new ice is needed.

  1. When the cycle begins, a switch triggers a water valve. This valve is behind your refrigerator, but connected to the same central circuit in your refrigerator. The valve opens for roughly seven seconds to fill the ice mold in your icemaker.
  2. When the mold fills, the icemaker freezes the water using the cooling unit in your refrigerator to remove heat and create ice. When the temperature of the ice reaches a certain point, usually around 9 degrees F, the thermostat triggers and closes the switch.
  3. Closing the switch activates a heating coil that warms the ice enough to detach it from the ice mold, and then it turns on the motor for the ice machine.
  4. Small plastic blades then begin to rotate to move the ice from the mold to the front of the ice maker where they are accessible to the dispenser.
  5. The ice cubes themselves act to interrupt the cycle and keep it from starting again. As long as there are enough ice cubes in the cam, the system will not turn back on. As soon as the plastic arms that scoop the ice can rest, the switch activates and more ice is made.

The process really is quite simple, but it uses a number of technologies including the freezer in your Bethesda refrigerator and multiple electrical switches to ensure you always have ice when you need it.

For any refrigerator repair service you need, give All Time Services a call!