American style Fridge Freezer – water flow issue

Why should there be water flow when you press the ice button?

Without make and model numbers, youre not going to get much input

The water is controlled norrmally on one side by the user activating the switch in the door for water, and the machine asking for water for the icemaker….not the user.
I must say you seem to have too greater a concern for water flow rates. A fridge freezer like this and all fridge freezers that take water do not dispense it at full flow like a tap.
There is no harm in declining a job if it’s something you haven’t done before. After 42 years, whilst there isn’t anything I havent done now, I don’t bother with American fridge freezers.

Here are a couple of pointers / background principles for you, they should apply to almost any fridge freezer with a mains water fed automatic icemaker and water dispenser.

Water valve: [INDENT]One valve output feeds the cold water and the other is purely for the icemaker
[/INDENT]
Water Dispenser: [INDENT]When the user calls for water the water valve will open allowing water to flow into the reservoir tank in the fridge, out the front pipe behind the plinth, up through the door hinge and then out the nozzle in the door to the waiting glass. In practice it will push the cold water from the reservoir bottle out to the glass allowing the water that has just come in through the valve to get chilled ready for next time.[/INDENT]

Ice Maker: [INDENT]Most of these icemakers work on the same basic principle: When the ice is turned on the unit will fill the icemaker tray with water, this will then be frozen at which point the ice will be tipped out (or in some cases scooped) into the holding bucket in the fridge, this process will repeat approximatley every 45minutes to an hour till the bucket is full at which point it will stop making new ice till the level in the bucket goes down.
When the user presses the button to call for ice a flap in the door will open in the chute, an auger (Large corkscrew) will pull some ice in the bucket to the chute and depending on if the user has selected crushed or cubed a flap at the top will either direct the ice through the blades or let it drop.

If you want to test the mechanical functionality of the ice maker (including water) then take the bucket out from inside the unit, place some form of bowl/dish below the ice maker then press and hold the test button (located on the bottom of the ice maker) for a couple of seconds, this will cause the ice tray to twist and dispense any ice/water within, the arm on the side will also come down (how the unit checks to see if the bucket is full), the unit will then pause for a few seconds before returning to its start position at which point it should activate the water valve which will then put some water into the tray.
[/INDENT]
In your case it sounds like the water valve is okay (at least on the cold water side), if when it is all hooked up you can hear the water flowing when you press the button then either the system is starting from empty (in which case hold the button and wait 30 seconds for the reservoir etc to fill up) or you have a leak, if you don’t see a puddle on the floor then check the hose from the valve to the point that it enters the fridge as they can crack at which point it will fill the drip tray. If you can’t hear the water flow then disconnect it at the bottom of the door and see if it will dispense into a bucket, if it won’t then the bottle is probably frozen, I have never had a blocked pipe.

Hope that helps.

Jem