# Icemaker Question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 25, 2011, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/icemaker-question/600775 "2011-10-25T20:27:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/icemaker-question/600775/1 "2011-10-25T20:27:27Z")
Our “fritch” (My Mom’s way of saying it), has an icemaker that, more often than not, will drop 4 half-moons of ice hung together, not single pieces. Very seldom do we get a single piece, which is what I want. The refrigerator came with the house, so I have no paperwork on it, but is there a setting I’m missing? Thanks Q ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/icemaker-question/600775/2 "2011-10-25T20:32:27Z")
> [@Quasimodem](#): > > Our “fritch” (My Mom’s way of saying it), has an icemaker that, more often than not, will drop 4 half-moons of ice hung together, not single pieces. Very seldom do we get a single piece, which is what I want. > > The refrigerator came with the house, so I have no paperwork on it, but is there a setting I’m missing? > > Thanks > > Q In most cases no, you get what you get. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/icemaker-question/600775/3 "2011-10-25T20:44:49Z")
If there is, it’s probably not something you have access to. How full the tray inside ice-maker gets is, AFAIK, purely a function of how long the valve stays open letting the water fill it. That’s probably controlled by a circuit board in a modern appliance. How is the water supply plumbed? Could you tighten down on the valve at the water supply end, allowing less water in? ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/icemaker-question/600775/4 "2011-10-25T20:51:05Z")
**KTK** , it comes through a copper pipe in back. I’ll get one of our nephews to come by and have a look, but shirley it has a valve that can be adjusted? Thanks Q ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/icemaker-question/600775/5 "2011-10-25T21:07:33Z")
Don’t count on it. A lot of water lines for ice-makers are created by popping a cheap self-piercing [saddle valve](http://www.checkthishouse.com/wp-content/uploads/saddle-valve-parts.jpg) onto an existing pipe. Those don’t really have a lot of adjustment for flow. But see what you’ve got before you give up. 🙂 Whatever you do, don’t kink the pipe like you did with the garden hose when you were a kid. You’ll wind up causing much worse problems down the line. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/icemaker-question/600775/6 "2011-10-25T21:24:11Z")
The “4 half-moons of ice hung together” is likely due to it being a frost-free refrigerator. During the defrost cycle, they meld together. Even without that problem, though, it’s random how many pieces drop at a time. “Just one more piece…” grind grind grind grind **chunk** out comes three or four. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/icemaker-question/600775/7 "2011-10-25T22:04:04Z")
Kinda hard to answer this without knowing the brand of the freezer. :smack: On our Frigidaire, under the plastic cover that’s the first thing ya see when you look at the icemaker (probably the plastic cover that shows you how to not get ice by lifting the metal arm on your’s too (which just pops off on ours)) there’s a screw with an arrow around it and a + & -, which only needs a tiny amount of turning - less than 1/2 a turn, to fine tune the “cube” size. CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/icemaker-question/600775/8 "2011-10-25T22:11:26Z")
Another thing to check that just struck me: if the appliance is not sitting level or if the ice-maker inside the freezer has shifted so that it is not sitting level, that could cause water to over flow the tray slightly on one side, creating conjoined cubes.