Also on the truck · Olympia
The other five
$99 to diagnose, one written figure, printed coverage — the same for every machine we take in Olympia.
No part of a refrigerator is as sensitive to the tap as its ice maker, and around Olympia the tap ranges from moderately hard city groundwater to iron-heavy well water on Steamboat Island and at Summit Lake.
Weekdays 7:30–5:30 · Saturday 9–1 · closed Sunday · Woodland Square Loop, at the Olympia–Lacey line
$99 to diagnose, one written figure, printed coverage — the same for every machine we take in Olympia.
Think of the ice maker as a small machine living inside a bigger one, dependent on three things the rest of the refrigerator is not: a steady trickle through a narrow valve, a freezer cold enough to set a tray in a couple of hours, and a mechanism that ejects cubes without jamming. Around Olympia, the water usually goes wrong first. Iron and manganese from wells north of the college, on Griffin and around Black Lake silt the valve until the tray fills halfway.
In town, the city's groundwater is gentler but still loads a filter ahead of the reminder light. A second refrigerator in a Steamboat Island garage, freezing in January and sweating in August, asks its ice maker to work in conditions its designers never pictured.
A dry tray means water is not arriving. The inlet valve at the rear of the cabinet has clogged with well sediment, its solenoid has died, or the shutoff beneath the sink was never opened fully. On Delphi Road and Summit Lake properties the screen is usually packed with rust. We test the coil, measure the flow, and replace the valve or clear the supply as the readings dictate.
Undersized, hollow or speckled cubes are the sign of a slow fill. The valve opens for a fixed number of seconds, and if hardness and manganese have narrowed it, only a partial dose reaches the tray. A saturated filter does the same on city water. We check flow at the dispenser, change the filter when that is the cause, and otherwise fit a new valve.
Off-tasting ice in an Eastside kitchen usually traces to a filter well past its life or a freezer holding food that has not been sealed. On wells, dissolved iron and manganese give ice a metallic edge that no filter inside the refrigerator will fully remove. We change the filter, scrub the mold and bin, and explain when an upstream treatment system is the honest fix.
A tray or bin that has become one solid mass means water has leaked or overfilled and refrozen, or the freezer has cycled warm and cold during a PSE outage. The fill tube at the back can freeze solid, then thaw and dump water at once. We thaw the mechanism, clear the fill tube, test the valve for a slow leak past its seat, and check the freezer thermostat.
Built-in refrigerators in Cooper Point and West Bay homes carry their own ice systems with dedicated evaporators, water valves and control logic, and their failures do not match the ice makers in ordinary refrigerators. Salt air on the inlet waterfront is unkind to their valve solenoids. We service these built-ins in place, with the correct parts and the maker's diagnostic steps.
A spare refrigerator in a Cooper Point, Black Lake or Mud Bay garage stops making ice when the garage falls toward freezing, because the compressor runs too little to keep the freezer cold enough. In summer the reverse happens and cubes come out soft. We check the freezer temperature, the module's thermostat and the water line for a frozen section, then advise whether a garage kit would help.
An ice maker call is a refrigerator call with a narrower focus, and it carries the same $99 diagnostic anywhere in our ring. The technician tests the water path and the mechanism, names the failed part, and writes down one repair figure. Approve, and the $99 is swallowed by that figure rather than added to it. Decline, and $99 closes the visit, with a clear word on whether the water, not the machine, is the real problem.
Parts and labor carry a printed warranty term on the invoice. Ordered parts return on a trip we schedule, unbilled. If the maker's coverage still applies, we tell you before anything is spent. Second-home owners at the lakes text their approval, get the invoice by email, and know a dock or gate code is kept only until the job closes.
Iron, manganese and hardness in wells around Steamboat Island, Griffin, Summit Lake and Delphi Road collect in the inlet valve's screen and narrow its opening until the tray fills only partway. Replacing the valve fixes it for a time; a whole-house iron filter or softener fixes it for good. We will tell you which stage you are at after measuring the flow.
The ice maker is almost always repaired or replaced on its own. The module, the inlet valve, the fill tube and the filter are separate parts from the cooling system, and a failed ice maker says nothing about the refrigerator's health. Only when the freezer itself is not staying cold does the diagnosis widen to the refrigerator.
Less time than the six-month reminder implies. Olympia's groundwater carries moderate hardness and some manganese, and a filter that has slowed the dispenser to a trickle is already starving the ice maker. Watch for small or cloudy cubes and a sluggish dispenser, and change the filter when they appear rather than waiting for the light.
The inlet valve is either leaking past its seat when it should be closed, or the fill timing has gone wrong in the module. On well water, sediment can hold the valve open a fraction. Occasionally the refrigerator's water pressure is simply too high for the valve. We check the valve for seepage and the module's timing before replacing anything.
Yes. The Sub-Zero, Thermador and Miele units in Cooper Point and West Bay kitchens use ice systems that differ substantially from those in ordinary refrigerators, with their own valves, sensors and fault logic. We service them in place as an independent shop, and we confirm whether the maker's coverage still applies before ordering any part.
The price goes on paper before a screw comes out.
Ring or use the form; a phone photo of the display or the model sticker saves a step. We ring back with an arrival window and text again as the van pulls off Woodland Square Loop.
The technician tests the suspect part with instruments, tells you in plain words what gave out, and writes the repair down as a single price. Your $99 is already inside that number.
Fill valves, defrost heaters, igniters, drum rollers, drain pumps, relays — the things well water, salt air and PSE outages wear out on this shore of the inlet. If we have to order something, the second trip is ours to make, not yours to pay for.
You watch the machine finish a whole cycle, the kick panels and the floor go back the way they were, and the warranty term is typed onto the invoice.
Tell us over the phone. For $99 a technician tests the machine and writes the repair down as one price with that $99 folded in, and the invoice carries the warranty term in print.
