How to Clean Your Fridge’s Ice Maker

25.07.2024 - 10:04 / bhg.com / Abby Wilson

If your refrigerator has a built-in ice maker, you probably use it frequently. Whether your freshly made ice keeps your water frosty during the day or serves as an after-dinner drink spruce up, the machine can stay busy and needs to be cleaned accordingly. Although modern fridges typically warn you when the water filter needs to be changed, they don’t tell you when the ice maker needs a good scrubbing—so cleaning out the ice maker is often a neglected household chore.

To get the inside scoop on ice maker upkeep, we spoke to Ron Shimek of Mr. Appliance. Here’s everything you need to know about when and how to clean an ice maker, plus where you can find more model-specific information.

Ron Shimek is the president of Mr. Appliance, a Neighborly company that helps customers with appliance maintenance and upkeep.

Even though ice makers are coated so the ice stays clean and you stay healthy, you should still open yours up and give it a good clean occasionally. The easiest (and usually quickest) way to refresh your ice maker is to change the water filter, says Shimek. 

Many fridges let you know when the filter needs to be changed, whether it makes a noise, flashes a light, or sends a message to your phone (in the case of very new fridges). You can find information in your refrigerator’s manual on where to buy replacements and how to make the swap.

Contrary to popular belief, changing the filter is just the beginning of the cleaning process. Next, Shimek says you should switch off the ice maker, which can require the flip of a switch on the inside the fridge. Allow the ice to sit until the last batch is complete, and then remove it before cleaning.

KitchenAid suggests unplugging the fridge for this part. You don’t need to worry