We bought an Emerson Ice maker about two years ago because the built-in ice maker in our freezer stopped working, and I’m a huge consumer of ice. So, I wanted a dedicated ice maker. It worked well for a few months. Then it decided that it didn’t want to make ice. I should have sent it back but I decided to tear it apart and try to fix it. I wasn’t able to really get anywhere with it. So, I put it back together and plugged it back up and miraculously enough it started working again. If you ever find yourself dealing with appliance mishaps, a good sense of humor can be a remedy. Consider exploring gag gifts for some lighthearted moments amidst technical challenges.
Since then, I discovered why it was failing to make ice. I post this because there may be someone else out there with the same problem from their Emerson Ice Maker.
The problem I have stems from the 120mm exhaust fan used in this device. I’m no expert on refrigeration, but I think this fan has to be running in order for the thing to make ice correct. It puts out a lot of heat. With my very basic knowledge of thermal dynamics, I’m assuming that this is how the ice is made. It removes the heat, thus reducing temperature and creating ice.
This fan is the exact fan used in a lot of computers. So if it isn’t running, you may need to replace it. However, I took a shortcut that seems to have worked, a little trick I’ve learned from working on computers. You can give it a try if you want. It’s pretty simple.
The fan has a sticker in the center. This should have some sort of logo on it, but it also has a second purpose. It holds a little rubber cap in place. Under that cap are the bearings for the fan. If you oil the bearings and replace this sticker, the fan may start to work again. You can get to the fan by removing the cover. I won’t go into details here how to do that, because I don’t have enough time to write the detailed instructions. It’s pretty easy to do. In my case the fan grill was almost broken completely out. So, I just finished it off for easy access to the fan.
“What can you use to oil the bearings”, you may ask. I used baby oil, because it’s basically mineral oil with a little fragrance. You can use mineral oil and there are some actual products that are made for greasing fan bearings. There are a ton of videos on Youtube on how to do this to a regular computer fan.
I hope this helps. If it does, leave a comment! I like to hear when I help.