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Whirlpool Fridge Ice/Water Tray -Can't Keep Clean

13 years ago

So after the regrets of bying a side x side, my next regret was in regards to the handles...textured. Shows every single bit of dirt, grime, whatever.

I found myself wiping those handles every time I walked into the kitchen.

Now, I limit myself to twice, maybe 3 wipes a day, but still...Yucky!

The paddles to release the ice and cold water get just as bad, just as fast and the only thing I've found so far to get them almost completely white again is the Magic Eraser.

What I've been doing about the ice/water tray that looks horrible after one day....leaving guests to think that I've never cleaned it since I got the fridge five years ago....

I've been removing the tray, soaking it in a plastic bowl of CLR, rinsing it well and replacing tray. Only to have to do it again in two days!

NOT that I do it ever two days, mind you. Got other, more pressing things to keep me busy.

But there has to be a way to keep this cleaner looking, No?

We don't have hard water.

The darker gunk seems to settle more on the right side of the tray so I got out my handy-dandy level and found the fridge to be level...right on the button.

I thought maybe it was the purifier so I changed it even though the fridge 'change filter' light hadn't come on yet.

I've checked around the net to see if this is a common problem with the Whirlpool Fridge.

I found problems with the motor to ice maker going out too fast but not about the Ick in the tray.

Any other suggestions?

The picture below....I used the CLR the morning of Christmas Eve. The day after Christmas I had to do the CLR thing. This picture is from last night.

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Comments (3)

txpepper
13 years ago
My issue is not exactly like yours as I suffer from hard-ish water stains on my black-colored catch tray and push-lever. Shows up as white stains.

It's not the most attractive thing that I do, but it is easy to take off if company comes by....I put a ziplock baggie over the push-lever and a folded papertowel over the tray. The ziplock creates a little slide for the water and the papertowel catches any dribbles. Short of wiping off excess water everytime the water feature is used, this is the best work-around that I've come up with.

I just have to make sure that the lip of the ziplock is behind and clears the water spout so the water does not run into ziplock. The snack-size bag fits perfectly.

Pepper
~ Floor grout color selected and installed today.
ladyamity
Original Author
13 years ago
txpepper,

Apologies for not responding sooner!
Came here this morning and found my post had totally fallen off the radar scope. lol

Thank you very much for responding.....and good to know I'm not the only one with this problem!

Right about now I Don't care how attractive or unattractive a solution looks....I am just tired of walking by the fridge and seeing that area get darker and darker each time I walk by.

I understand your solution about putting a paper towel over the tray and as soon as I get the tray soaked and put back today, that's what I'll do.

But I don't quite understand the Zip-Lock bag creating a slide for the water?

Do you tape the zip-lock bag to the back of the paddle?
If not, how do I make sure the zip-lock doesn't get in the way of the water coming out?

OK, do you happen to have a pic of your solution? :)

This morning when I went to pour my cuppa, I seriously thought about scrubbing all the areas really well and then coating them with WaterLock or some other sealer. I didn't get to the tray/dispenser area other day and this morning it looks really nasty...yuck.
I'm thinking that guests popping in (which they do quite often to visit my Mom and Dad) won't even want to use the dispenser thinking that I've never, ever cleaned it...that's how bad it looks after a few days.
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I think it's a mixed bag. Some love them. Some hate them...mostly seems to be those who have had a catastrophic failure who hate them. Personally, my family has had had a leak happen at the dishwasher...I find the convenience of having a dishwasher worth the potential leak issue. I feel the same way about an in-door icemaker. We have the Kenmore Elite (has the same slim-in-door icemaker that you were describing). We've only had the icemaker running for a few months now and so far, I'm rather happy with it. A few little things that are slight annoyances - I wish that the ice cubes were just a bit larger. The formed ice cubes sometimes stick together, so you have to take out the ice hopper and break up the ice - nothing major and certainly not all the time, but an inconvenience to an extent - if you hope to never need to open the door to get ice, ours hasn't proven to be that way. But again, this has only happened a few times in the months that we've been using it. And if you are a very heavy ice-using family, the ice maker may not make enough ice for your needs. There's two of us in our family, and there's always plenty of ice for us (I'm a "light-ice" user and my DH is moderate. I would expect that it could supply our ice needs two times over without issue if necessary.
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txpepper
13 years ago
Amity,

A few disclaimers...
~ I am a tidy housekeeper...believe it or not. lol
~ What you see is construction dust, not dirt as my refrig is exposed to the work site.
~ You are also seeing condensation as it is really humid right now and I can't run the central air due to construction dust.
~ I only cleaned a bit after the fact as I was mortified how bad the pics looked. I didn't go to the extremes of using q-tips because I'm going to have to do it again (hopefully in a short period of time.)
~ And finally, I will probably regret sending these pics into the wild, but so what. : )

I know this is a sorry workaround BUT! I don't have water scale build-up.

Happy New Years!
Pepper

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