Admiral/Norge/Magic Chef 'Twist Tray' Icemaker

History

Older Admiral made refrigerators (including Norge and Magic Chef) used an icemaker mechanism manufactured by the Eaton-Dole company, famous for their appliance water valves. This unit has all its workings in its 'head' and uses a flexible, twist-to-release, ice cube mold or tray. The mechanism could have had a 154 fill to harvest minute cycle, a 78 minute cycle or a very fast 33 minutes cycle which they dubbed the 'Party Ice' machine. The ice cube tray could be either 12 or 24 cube designs.

Component Identification

The following is an illustration of a complete icemaker:

The head basically contains a motor, thermostat, control cam and microswitches to turn the icemaker on and off and to operate the water fill valve on the back of the refrigerator.

Proper Operation

Problem Diagnostics

The problems are listed in the order that they most frequently occur.

Ice cubes don't separate from the tray and/or makes one large block of ice in the try or ice bin. The ice tray surface may have become calcified preventing the ice cubes from separating from it easily enough.
The ice cube tray has cracked. Replace the tray.
There is ice, slush or water in the mold, no harvest and the bail is down. It may not be cold enough in the freezer section for the icemaker to operate.
There is nothing in the mold, no ice is being made and the bail is down. Early signs of this problem may be small cubes. Check the water supply.
If the icemaker is making a grinding sound, the motor or internal gearing may be damaged. In such a case the whole icemaker will have to be replaced.

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