Common fault
Why has my ice maker stopped making ice?
Short answer
Pull a handful of cubes out and look at them, because their shape decides the whole diagnosis.
What is actually going on
Undersized, hollow or half-formed cubes say the mold never filled properly, and the cause sits upstream of the freezer: a filter well past its date, weak pressure at the inlet valve, scale sitting in the valve screen, or a fill tube with ice partway down it. A machine producing nothing at all, inside a freezer that is still perfectly cold, has the opposite fault and needs a different repair, because the harvest cycle is not running and that points at the module, its thermostat or its motor. Put a fresh module on a line that is short of water and you will be looking at the same undersized cubes a week later, having paid for the part twice over.
What we check, and in what order
Hard water makes this more of a San Diego problem than a Sub-Zero problem. The supply here is largely imported and mineral-heavy, and the parts that suffer are the ones with small openings: the screen in the inlet valve, the fill tube, and the solenoid seat. Scale builds slowly and the machine compensates until it cannot, which is why owners describe cubes that got gradually smaller over a year rather than an ice maker that stopped one day. We put a gauge on the valve before anything else comes apart, because that one number splits the job into two completely different repairs at two completely different costs.
Production that drops through summer without ever stopping is often not a fault at all. An ice maker is a small refrigeration system and it makes ice at whatever rate its condenser can throw heat away. In Rancho Bernardo, Poway or Escondido a machine in a warm August kitchen will run at a fraction of its winter output while working perfectly, and an undercounter machine in a tight cabinet with a dusty condenser will halve that again. Cleaning the condenser and clearing the airflow path recovers most of it, and that is a very different visit from a module replacement.
If that matches what yours is doing, say so when you call — it decides which parts come on the van.
Roasts were running long and one side of a sheet pan browned while the other stayed pale, so I assumed the thermostat needed calibrating. He tested the door with a strip of paper, found the seal wasn't touching at a top corner, and adjusted the hinges. Big heavy door, apparently they settle.
The induction cooktop kept dropping power partway through dinner once the kitchen heated up in the afternoon, so I figured it was done. He found the intake underneath choked with dust from our remodel. Also called ahead for the gate code, which nobody ever does.
Andrei did a fantastic job repairing my washing machine! He was punctual, polite, and very knowledgeable. He explained the problem in detail and fixed it quickly. I was impressed with his professionalism and the reasonable pricing.
Appliance down in San Diego?
Tell us the brand and what it is doing — we can usually name the likely repair before we arrive.
Questions
Answers before you call
The refrigerator is panel-ready and the front matches the cabinets exactly. Does it have to come out?
Almost never. Panel-ready Sub-Zero, Thermador and Viking installations are routine here, and the panel usually stays on: the condenser and its fan come out through the grille, the evaporator, defrost heater and thermistor through the rear panel inside the affected compartment, with the appliance in place. Sliding a built-in out of a tight opening is what damages custom panels, stone edges and flooring.