No water from dispenser. Icemaker works. Unit has a dual water solenoid valve. Disconnected water line on valve which goes to dispenser. Water shoots out valve when drinking cup is placed in dispenser as it should. Tried blowing air in the disconnected line without success. This line goes through a hole in the refrig to somewhere ( I assume to cool the dispenser water) and back out through the same hole to the water spigot (faucet) on the dispenser. When I opened the 2nd line (to the dispenser) I was able to blow air to the dispenser spigot. So there is a blockage somewhere up this hole where the dispenser cools the water. I emptied the freezer compartment and removed back freezer panel to access the evaporator coil but did not see any water lines. Some icing found on evaporator coil, but did not appear excessive. Removed ice with hair dryer and put unit back in service. Still no water. Think maybe the hose(s) going up the hole are clogged with ice but have no idea where to look.

Oh, by the way, the refrig compartment is too cold (milk freezes) so maybe a new control will fix both problems??

The likely cause of your trouble is the water tank in the refrigerator compartment is frozen especially since thing are freezing in there. Depending on the age of the refrigerator you may only need to defrost the damper control between the refrigerator and freezer to stop the freezing. Some newer refrigerators have a damper that is controlled by a thermistor. The brand and model number would be helpful if you could provide it.

Thank you for the response. The is a Sears Conamore 106.74203400 circa 11/2004. The illustrated parts breakdown show a user interface, thermistor, electronic control PCB and a control box all in the same area - but no damper. Would the damper be part of the control box?

You are on the correct picture. Go back farther the damper is item 26 (they refer to it as an air separater, they always change the names) but it is controlled by the thermister which may be bad or the damper is just iced up. Remove the housing and inspect the damper.

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Originally Posted by applsvcgirl

You are on the correct picture. Go back farther the damper is item 26 (they refer to it as an air separater, they always change the names) but it is controlled by the thermister which may be bad or the damper is just iced up. Remove the housing and inspect the damper.

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24 hours after I defrosted the refrig it is no longer not freezing the refrig compartment. My neighbor wants to keep his temperature setting at 38 degrees F (range is 33 to 45). The freezer is 0 degrees F (range is -5 to +5). He has a separate thermometer in the refrig. Which reads in the low 40s.

The water reservoir has not thawed yet.

It will take time for it to thaw. Hopefully the damper doesn't freeze open again. Let me know if you need more help.

I really appreciate your help. You provide a valuable service and have restored my faith in mankind. I believe the problem is solved, at least I know what to do if the damper freezes again. I am a retired electrical engineer, but I have very little experience with refrigerators.

It might be interesting if I gave you the history of this refrig. About a month ago my neighbor said the light on his water dispenser was intermittent. When the light was off the dispenser would not work. I told him I believed it was probably a loose connection and offered to wiggle the wires. He is 81 years old and set in his ways and wanted to replace the water filter first. After this failed to correct the problem, I again offered to check his refrig but he declined since he did not consider cold water from a refrig high on his priority.

Then 3 days ago he said the refrig was freezing his milk and Sears said it would be 3 days before they could make a service call. I have no experience with his problem so I found him a repairman who made the service call in 1 hour. The repair said he could not address the excessive freezing problem until the dispenser problem was solved. This required replacing the dispenser power supply ($175) and wiring harness ($15). He said it would take 3 weeks to get the parts. This is when I politely intervened and asked him to wait 24 hours before ordering parts to give me a chance to make a continuity check of the wiring. A quick visual check I found the harness disconnect had a badly corroded pin causing the open circuit. I jumpered around the disconnect. The water dispenser would be working now except for the frozen reservoir.

The part that did not ring true was the water dispenser causing the freezing in the refrig. Of course, the converse is true since the freezing temperatures have caused the water dispenser to not operate. The repairman, who was paid $73 dollars for the service call, has never called back as he agreed to do.

Anyhow, my neighbor says we saved him about $400 and the refrig works.

Thanks again

Wow! You are a good neighbor and I hope I have been a good cyber neighbor for you! My industry unfortunetly requires no licencing for technicians to prove their ability or qualifications which makes us look like a bunch of "snake oil" salesmen when guys like that service tech come out.

Ask me anytime for appliance help!