Hollow ice cubes sound to me like an indication that only the outer shell of the cube is freezing. That could be either the water not getting cold enough to freeze all the way through, or the cube being ejected too soon before it's completely frozen. Have you measured the temperature in the freezer, and do you know the cycle time of your ice maker?

 

It looks like the temp is around +10 F, maybe a little less. My guess is it's a four cycle.

 

If the ice cubes are hollow then the water level must have been full initially. Then, the water level dropped before it froze all the way. The water must be going somewhere. Is there a big frozen puddle on the bottom of the freezer or in the ice pan? Or maybe it is draining out to the catch pan underneath?

 

It's hard to tell, nothing obvious, but sometimes the cubes are sticking together, more than they used to.

 

Here is an article about hollow ice cubes.


And here is a

. That seems to be what is happening.

 

I was thinking possibly a bad water valve. If you can cycle your ice maker in test cycle and disconnect the water line at the valve to the ice maker that would be a good way to test. If your water flow is good at the inlet and outlet of the valve then I would look at lines, water filter etc inside refrigerator

 

How is the water line from the refrigerator connected to the house water pipe?

 

Like I said in my original post, there is plenty of pressure available at the intake of the valve. Something is reducing the pressure on the way to the water dispenser and I believe the ice tray.

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OK, is your refrige line connected to the house pipe with a saddle valve?

 

I don't remember, it's in a hard to reach crawl space. I think I have a PEX Tee, which comes up through the floor. When I disconnected the hose at the intake valve, the stream was probably powerful enough to shoot 20 feet.

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So we know you have lots of water pressure but pressure is different than volume.

The opening made by a saddle valve is known to get reduced and even blocked by mineral deposits over time. If it is a saddle valve, close it. Close it all the way, screw it in as far as you can. That will reopen the opening made by the saddle valve. Then reopen.


I assume you have looked to see that there is nothing kinking the line to the refrigerator.

 

I replaced the saddle valve that came with the fridge with a proper tee within the first week. It went from 18 seconds to 8 seconds to dispense one cup of water.

 

I'm pretty sure I substituted the old saddle valve with a PEX T-fitting into the copper feed, then a piece of 3/8 PEX tubing up through the floolr to a shutoff valve.

 

It was the Inlet Valve!

The water dispenser is now pissing like a race horse and the first batch of cubes were solid! I took the old inlet valve and cracked it open, and found some debris that must have been fouling things up.

I said in the first post that it took 40 seconds to fill a pint glass, now it's only 8 seconds.:thumbup:

Thanks for everyone's suggestions!