Whirlpool Refrigerator Water Dispenser Not Working - How to Repair 

Great video! 2 things to save some time: 1) if your ice maker works it's not a water supply problem 2) listen for a click when you push the water flapper... Mine stopped clicking (IE stopped making contact) because my plastic holders broke. Taped that bad boy up with electrical tape and made the wifey proud!

Excellent video. Thanks for sharing. Next time I pull a fridge out of swamp I’ll know exactly how to fix it.

@Bill Newberry - Thanks so much for the thorough review of the troubleshooting process! Turns out that I had either a frozen line in my freezer door or, (more likely) the cold water tank in the fridge. Some of the veggies in the bottom drawers of the fridge were frozen, so that was an important clue to the likely problem. I used a hair dryer on the fridge tank for several minutes, as well as in to the few areas of the freezer door that might reach the exposed water line. Neither of those efforts yielded an immediate resolution, but setting the temperature of both the fridge and freezer slightly warmer and waiting a day did the trick! Side benefit - taking off the front panel while I was troubleshooting the switch gave me the opportunity to do a thorough cleaning of the panel and drip tray ... It looks brand new, now! I also changed out the filter (which was overdue for a swap), thinking that perhaps it might be clogged up. Now I have a cleaner fridge/freezer, purer water, and saved big $$ versus calling in a repair tech! ;-)

Thanks, you saved us a service call and a bunch of money. We just turned up the temp a few degrees and whatever had frozen thawed out and now we have water again. Since we had just spent almost $100 on 2 new filters, I was not happy when it quit working. (I hope that refrigerator is not actually in use by anyone--it really is disgusting!)

Quick, to the point and you cover all connections and voltages. I couldn't have hoped to find a better video. Mine was a frozen line; My wife heard something about lowering the freezer and fridge temps, on the news, when we were expecting a hurricane. The idea was to keep it cold longer. only the storm missed us and now we're losing meat because we're defrosting the lines deep inside the freezer. Thanks Bill!!! (3rd time you saved an appliance for me)...

I really do appreciate Bill's help. What I can't get my head around is his insistent use of the verb "froze" in place of the adjective "frozen." I know it is a simple linguistics issue, and it'll be considered petty, but I felt compelled to say something. As long as we're all learning stuff here, might as well use proper English to save future repair men from the judgements of people like, well, apparently: me.

This video helped me a lot to show how to remove the control panel and identifying the micro switch . I discovered my front white tab was broken off and the micro switch slipped under the cup paddle actuator. I rigged up a zip tie to hold the micro switch in place ,so the paddle actuator would make contact with the micro switch ,and now I'm back in the water dispensing business.Thank You Bill!

Hey! Watched this for troubleshooting and got to the line from the front-bottom through the door. Must've iced up just enough to block it. Pulled it out, it cleared quickly from ambient air and put it all back together. The freezer has now been turned down a notch to the recommended setting in hopes that it doesn't happen again. Thanks!

Thank you. My switch was loose, I glued it back to its original position with double-stick tape. now works perfect.

Many thanks for your very informative video!! My water disp quit while it was dispensing and the valve solenoid coil went open. Wish I could buy you lunch, you certainly deserve it since I didn't have to trace it out it to find the problem.

I fixed it! Thanks for your help. In my unit the rate of water flow was slow. I turned the supply valve to the fridge on and off a few times and then water flow slowed even more ... to a drip. I found the problem was calcium build up in the brass fitting immediately before the solenoid. I used a drill bit of the exact size of the inside diameter to get the gunk out. It works great now. This video enabled me to isolate the problem to the solenoid. thanks so much!

Thank you Bill, I went through your steps and got my water dispenser working again in about an hour. Keep up the great work.

Thanks bro. I just fixed mine. The family broke the clamps that hold that little switch in place. Gorilla glue to the rescue. But, I never would’ve known how to get inside!!! Thanks you!!!

Going to be troubleshooting mine tomorrow. The water comes out for about five seconds, then stops. Thanks for the tips!

Having no understanding of how refrigerator repair, watched your video & was able to diagnose a bad switch bracket for my water dispenser. Thanks for posting

Excellent step by step diagnosis! (on the world's filthiest refrigerator). Many thanks, Bill!

Thank you!!! Like a lot of other commenters, my micro switch was also broken from the housing. I considered super glue but went with a zip tie instead. Works!

Thanks for the video… my fridge had broken brackets that was allowing the switch to move. Your video saved me from a costly repair. Thank you very much

Mine was the switch behind the front panel. Fridge is old. You pointed out not to break the plastic guides off. Mine were broken already from wear and tear, causing the switch to have "play" in it, allowing the lever not to be able to push the switch in. For now, 2 zip ties are holding it in place. We'll see... GREAT VIDEO!!! Thank you!

I used these instructions and it worked, thank you. It turned out the hose from the wall to the refrigerator was squeezed off - crushed against the wall, so I routed it to let the water flow freely.

Last night my water dispenser stopped working on my Whirlpool side by side. It gets heavy use but the fridge is only 4 years old. Thanks to you I now know how to troubleshoot it.

Very well done and thoroughly explained; thank you. My issue was the bracket itself since the plastic pieces holding the solenoid broke. $10 on Amazon so I just ordered another and all’s good.

Thank you for this video! I like your logical approach and it helped me to diagnose my issue - which was not covered in your video. My symptom was that no water would flow. If I removed the filter (using the automatic bypass in the filter housing), I was able to get full flow. At this point, I knew it was either the filter itself or the filter housing. In the end, I replaced the filter housing and everything is now working. It appears that the mechanical flow control valve built into the filter housing (actuated by filter insertion or removal) had developed a defect and could only work when in bypass mode. it did not work when attempting to route the water through the filter. I think you need to add this possibility to your excellent video.

Great video, saved me from a repair call. Like a lot of other commenters, it was microswitch that came loose from the holders.

Great video as always Bill. Just a tip so your viewers can eliminate a step, if the solenoid in the back is getting voltage or you can hear the buzz when you depress the water paddle you can then assume the switch is good.

Mine was not working properly when I returned home from a winter week-end trip. After a minute or two, it worked again, but then the next day, same thing. So, I adjusted the temperature - as you suggested - because a frozen line seemed the most likely cause. And now it's fine! Thank you!!

Thank YOU so much. My moms refrigerator needs to be troubleshooted for this. Thank you again for sharing your knowledge of this. God bless you

Dude, thank you!!! I tried to clean the water spout on the door, and it broke into little pieces. I didn't know how to get the panel off so I could replace it, but it was included in your video! 😁👍

Good video, thanks for making. Viewers should be aware that when the dispenser cover is disconected, there is no power to the microswitch.

My issue was the pins holding the switch in place broke. Zip-tie did the trick. Great video!

Thanks, the information you provided give me the knowledge to investigate my no water issue in a structured manner

You are very knowledgeable and the video helped me. Serial killers everywhere know how to fix their corpse fridges now.

Love the video, you are a good instructor. Please clean the fridge for the next video it's nasty... LOL

That worked for me. You save me 1800 dollars, 18 yr ref. Still going. Bought a new one and didn’t last 3 yrs. piece of crap companies. All they care is about money. Thank you, Sir.

Thanks Bill! Mine ended up just being broken tabs on the board. $10 fix! Woohoo!

Dude I think you just saved me a bunch of money and time assuming I can find the parts. Thanks!

This is a WOW! Remove gasket from the PURELINE replacement cartridge then it will press in the 2 small white tabs (that you will see in place where new cartridge goes into); this lets water to then flow thru cartridge. Bingo-water dispenses again. Works for Whirlpool or Maytag. Best video after 1 1/2 hours search.

Thank you for putting together a concise video that covers a wide variety of effective troubleshooting tips.

Great video. I was able to fix my water dispenser, but my problem was that the microswitch holders broke and it had shifted down, making it hard for the paddle to activate it.

Thanks Bill, Those pesky pins! Had to order two plastic brackets to get one good one, but it did the trick. Thanks for your video!

You are a great instructor and very well laid out video instructions. Thank you very much!

Thank you sincerely for this video. Our fridge stopped clicking when the dispenser was depressed and no water was coming out. Thanks to you I knew that I should check the micro switch. After taking out the switch, nothing was wrong with it, but the cheap white plastic arm that supports the back of the switch was broken off, so the switch fell backwards (towards the front of the fridge), and the dispenser lever wasn’t making contact with the switch. After some hot gluing with large gobs to keep the switch in place, it’s back to normal. Again, thank you. Other videos kept pointing to replacing the valve. But if you don’t hear a click at the dispenser, check the dispenser’s micro switch first!

My issue was a bit different, but easy to fix. I had contaminates get into my pipes. Specifically, the membrane of my water softener gave out, sending billions of little resin beads through my plumbing. While you might think they'd all end up stuck in the filter, that wasn't the case. The water valve inlet (first place the water enters) was loaded with this gunk. There must be some sort of screen or filter there. I spent about 10 minutes at the sink with the sprayer, shaking it all out. Got a TON of gunk out of there. Works like a charm, now!

Had the same problem; water dispenser not working. Thanks to your video, I knew how to disassemble the front panel. Turned out the retaining tabs were broken off (cheap plastic) I replaced with some long skinny screws and it works just fine

I was able to fix the water thanks to your video. 🙏 a lot

Thanks to your video i fixed my water dispenser in 10min. . The switch holder broke and I used a rubber band to keep it in place. I reversed ther order of things to troubleshoot because the freezer was making ice so i knew the other components should be good. Thanks

there is no better troubleshooting video!!! thank you

Excellent. My problem was broken mounting tabs for the micro switch.

Very helpful troubleshooting steps. Led me right to the issue with frozen water reservoir

Thank you, I just needed to figure out how to take the dispenser cover off without breaking it.

Excellent troubleshooting video for this particular problem. Thanks!

thanks bill my problem was the mounts fir the microswitch broke and it dropped nothing a cable tie couldn't fix works like new thanks again

great video tutorial Bill. Thank you. P.S. please ask that refrigerator's owner to invest in a bottle of Formula 409 and a sponge.

Beautiful instruction Bill .. Mine was a simple frozen line behind the crisper like you mentioned .. back in business!

Hey Bill...what if the water flow is quite low? It takes about 30 seconds to fill up a small glass.

Hi Bill, I think you produced a great video! I am pretty good at troubleshooting electrical stuff (retired electrical engineer), but I glossed over that part of the video since my problem was clearly no electrical, and the ultimate problem ended up being "none of the above". The symptom was a severely reduced water flow, probably 20% of normal, accompanied by a new noise we had not hurt before. Last night we had a new problem, water leaking from under the refrigerator. I pulled the unit away from the wall, removed the rear bottom cover, and had my wife operate the water dispenser while I observed the water lines inside the refrigerator. The problem immediately became obvious, the lines leading to and from the cold water tank had deteriorated and split and were spraying water whenever the dispenser was activated. The noise was that spraying water, and since most of the water was going on the floor (just took awhile for enough to build up for it to appear in front of the refrigerator), not much was left for the dispenser. I cut out the damaged sections of line and reconnected the undamaged parts, all better now!

Thanks for the help. My housing for the micro switch busted but I have the same set up so it was easy to fix. Thank you so much

Excellent video, very concise. Got mine up and running again. Thank you sooo much!!

I determined that the line in my door was frozen... How to unclog that line of ice? My solution was to connect a bicycle pump to the line coming out of the water dispenser. One hard pump and I could hear the water squeezing back out where the two lines connect at the bottom of the door. I detached the bicycle pump and voila the water dispenser was working. I should mention that before I connected the bicycle pump, I turned off the appliance and left the freezer door open for about a half-hour. Maybe that softened the ice.

awesome video, i will test the solenoid and frozen line at the same time unhooking the line on the front and pushing the water dispenser paddle, if water comes out then seleoind is working and no frozen water. i live alone and i cant press the paddle and watch the voltage on the back at the same time.

Great video and thanks Bill... I ordered both the micro-switch and the frame section where the micro-switch rides on those pins. Turns out the pins were broke off which I figured could be the case and it was. Our fridge is 17 yrs old now so I decided the replace the micro-switch while I was in there. Both parts cost $17.00 dollars shipped free with Amazon Prime and it took me all of 20 minutes to complete the repair.

Thanks for mentioning the frozen line.. I checked that and realized it’s all iced up. That must be the issue.. I raised fridge temp and hopefully it’ll work after thawing out eventually

Thank you for this perfect explanation at the 6:52 mark. I watched the whole video and like knowing the progression of your thought process. But with that alone I know what to replace. I was filling an emergency water container and it suddenly stopped after about 6 gallons. I am curious why there are no warnings about running it for too long, especially when we are actually told to run 3 gallons thru after replacing the water filter. We have stupid warnings in life about not licking a light socket, keeping your head out of the way when closing the hood of your car, etc. But not for this?! :)

Great Video Thanks!....What about the Opposite??? I have water that won't STOP coming out!

Excellent info, even was relevant for a bit newer model of whirlpool.

Thanks for the info. It was those stupid plastic tabs that broke for me. Instead of replacing the entire plastic panel I drilled out the holes and ran small machine screws through the switch to hold it in place.

Man thanks! Video saved for future reference lol. My line was frozen.

You are a God among insects. Thank you!

you just saved me alot of money.thank you

We appreciate your video and complete details it help us a lot keep on

Man Bill had the best videos

Thanks for this informative video! Just this morning the water dispenser stopped working. When I press in on the paddle, it seems to already be pressed in. It does not spring back. I'm sure the refrigerator is getting water as the ice machine is still pushing out ice and refilling after. I may go straight to the part where you pried the front cover off. Possibly one of the posts may have been broken. Do you provide parts that we can order that were mentioned in the video?

That refrigerator is nasty! Thanks for the info!

Great video, think I would have clean fridge first

Love the vedio and the presentation was good and I see what I was looking for. Thanks I will share my knowledge

Nicely presented. At least I now have a few ways to diagnose my issue. Thank You.

Many thanks for the video - this was VERY informative and very well done. Great job and again, thank you!

Excellent! The best!

very well done and very helpful. however what if it is control board issue? did not talk about that

Nice job explaining the sequence to diagnose the dispenser. Mine turned out to be a frozen waterline inside the freezer door. Clearing it was easy - once I got the hose out of the door. It took some fidgeting to get the hose back through the door to the dispenser. Anyone know a way to unfreeze that hose without removing it or turning off the freezer?

My tabs are broke on the microswitch for drinking water, I have a feeling I wont find a replacement tray, any suggestions,, ok,, I actually found the trays LOL thank you for the video

All of your videos are excellent. They help me characterize the problem so I know what parts to check /ohm out.

Bill, Thanks for this video. I opened front pannel where we have switch. I found my white prong broken from control panel (W10282667 Bracket, Control). do i need to replace whole bracket?

This is a great video. Thanks

Great video. Water valve solenoid frozen on mine. New valve doesn't have threaded fittings, but "snap-in" hose connectors. Would appreciate help installing them correctly. The valve came with zero instructions.

Bill, you forgot one possible cause with not getting water to the dispenser or filling up the ice maker water trays. That is in my circumstance, with the water filter inserted and locked into the compartment at my Whirlpool WRS325FDAB02 24.5 cu ft fridge, the water dispenser stops. When the filter is removed, the water runs again from the water dispenser after depressing the water lever. The water filter is a standard filter and I tried 2 other new ones. Each time the filter is inserted an locked in and the door to it is closed, the water ceases. What say you?

Hi and thanks total educational but my problem is when I press the water lever the water flow but don’t stop keep flowing until I set the dispenser lock and leave it alone for a couple min and stop but keep dripping little drops what you suggest?

THANKS FOR THE HELP!

If your freezer produces ice cubes then there is no need to pull your heavy fridge out to see if your getting water to the fridge, right? good video.

New to this thread. I have no ice or water nor do I hear any activation sound when I press the water dispenser. Could this be a switch problem only or a switch problem and a valve problem as well? Will test the valve later today hopefully. Thanks.

Awesome Video. Thanks a lot for the help. God bless

Going to try to troubleshoot mine tomorrow. This is helpful, but my problem isn't that I get no water, it's that the water is delivered very slowly despite having installed a new filter. We leave this fridge unplugged and idle for about five months each summer. Suspecting some blockage somewhere in the system. Guessing it will be hard to find.

My man!!! Great video

Thank you Bill

great video.. my refrigerator dispenses the water but it is very slow.. what should I be checking to see how to increase the flow.. Thank you

Thank u very much bro, u helped me so much

Your videos are the best

If you had voltage than you don't need to check micro switch on the paddle correct?

Hi - long story but our situation is that we had a leak about a yr ago, and called in Kitchenaide repairman for our side by side withinterior water dispencer. He said we had to order a part to "fix/replace" a tube that was too small. So he turned off the water going to the fridge to prevent further leaks and he emptied the overfill pan. The part came a few weeks later from Kitchenaide, he came back ( about 2 months after initial visit) to put it in, but then said we had to get a filter before turning the water on again. So we ordered a filter, but then when we got it after a few weeks it was November, so didn't put it in immediately. Recently, we put in the filter and turned the water back on, then tried purging the air from system (press 5 sec, wait 5 sec, repeated several times) for about 15-20 mins as directed, since it had been sitting for several months, as we learned from a tip website but no water or ice came. Another video suggested hair drying/heating the water tank inside and tubesp, but after 1/2 hr of heating it all and trying to purge still no water or ice?? Came across your video so can you adivse how long should this purging air take up to 1hr,2hr, etc.? Our water shutoff said off, and we switched it to "on" position, so we have no reason to believe there is a problem with water line coming to fridge. I'm reluctant to pull off back of fridge to check the switches and valvles,, etc. Any other suggestions before we have to call repair guy again? Your advice/help would be much appreciated, thx.

Does the polarity matter on the electrical connectors on the water valve? Is there a wrong way to reconnect?