Dear Home-Ec 101,
I have a fairly new ice machine at the beach, a house we use roughly every other weekend. Lately, the ice machine does not seem to be cold enough to keep the ice it makes frozen. I have vacuumed the coils, ran a “Clean cycle” with the cleanser, turned it off and completely cleaned and dried. Once restarting, it seemed to work fine for the first day but now the top layer of ice is softer and melting. The gasket seems to seal the door shut. Not having a warranty and the business that I purchased from is now defunct. I’m reaching out for your expertise. Any guidance greatly appreciated.
Best,
Melting in Mulberry
Dear Melting,
When I was a kid, my dad had a timeshare in Myrtle Beach. We thought the coolest thing about it was the ice machine, because at home we were still using ice trays and getting fussed at for not refilling them. Thank you for the memory.
I also remembered that the bin, while full of ice, was never particularly cold, so I began doing some research. I found somewhere in the depths of GE’s online user manuals and FAQs that the ice machine is actually not a freezer like a deep freeze or attached to your refrigerator. Ice melting is actually perfectly normal and to be expected.
The good news is: Ice melting in the bin of your ice machine is actually perfectly normal and to be expected.
The bin itself is nothing more than a large, cooler to hold the ice while it slowly melts. You’ll likely notice more melting when it’s too hot for the AC to keep up and less on cooler days.
You did nothing wrong cleaning out the ice machine. It’s a good idea to do that once in a while so that the dirt introduced into the machine by careless hands can be cleaned out and none of that nasty black gunk builds up. (Give some serious thought to cleaning out the drain line once in a while, too.)
Enjoy your beach house and why not make some a nice lemon shake-up with some of that perfect ice?
Send your questions to helpme@home-ec101.com
Aside: For those who asked, I’m feeling much better, thank you.
