Also on the truck · Fox Island
The rest of the lineup
$99 to meter it, one figure on the ticket, coverage printed on the invoice — identical for every machine in Fox Island.
The bin holds a handful of cloudy pebbles after a week, or the ice maker has been silent since the last outage.
Weekdays 8–6 · Saturday 9–3 · closed Sunday · truck based on 4425 Harbor Country Dr NW
$99 to meter it, one figure on the ticket, coverage printed on the invoice — identical for every machine in Fox Island.
Hale Passage is a few feet from the kitchen window in many Fox Island houses, and the air that comes through it carries salt onto every metal part of the ice maker: the ejector, the mold heater leads, the fill tube clamp and the module's own contacts. Meanwhile the water feeding the ice maker comes from a well with hardness and iron in it, shutting the inlet valve down a fraction more each month, until hollow cubes are all the mold can make. Caught between two slow forces, the ice maker is usually the first thing in the refrigerator to fail. We cross the Fox Island Bridge from the Gig Harbor shop with valves and modules for the common models aboard.
Second homes complicate it. An owner arrives from Seattle in June and finds the bin empty, and nobody knows whether it stopped in January during the windstorm outage, or in March when the salt bin under the softener went empty, or last week. We sort it out in order: freezer temperature, water pressure and filter, the fill volume, then the module and the board's signal to it. Columns from Sub-Zero and from Thermador, in the view homes along Fox Island Blvd and on the waterfront, go through the same sequence. Only refrigerator-built ice makers are our work; a standalone ice machine is outside our six, and the phone call is where you hear that.
Well scale has narrowed the inlet valve so the mold gets a short fill, or the filter is spent, or house pressure has dropped. We measure the fill against the maker's specification, check filter and pressure and replace a scaled valve from the truck the same visit.
No power at the module, a bin sensor or arm that reads full, or a freezer too warm to harvest after a generator ran it unevenly. We confirm the freezer temperature, test the sensor and module supply and force a cycle to see what the unit will do.
A mold heater or thermostat not releasing the cubes, or an ejector jammed by a stray cube. Salt air corrodes the heater leads on waterfront units. We meter the heater, clear the ejector and replace the module if the heater is open.
A frozen or misaligned fill tube putting water past the mold, or a valve that dribbles after closing. We thaw and reseat the tube, replace a valve that does not shut cleanly and watch two fills to confirm. Dispenser chute flaps get the same check.
Well iron and manganese getting past a lapsed filter into the mold, or freezer odors soaked into the bin itself. We change the filter, clean the mold and bin and tell you whether the well water needs treatment before the refrigerator.
Sub-Zero, Thermador and KitchenAid columns in the island's view kitchens log ice-system faults. We read the code, check the valve, line, heater and drain where fitted, and tell you first if the maker's coverage still appears to apply. A photo of the code tells us what to load.
The call begins at the shutoff and the filter, then the pressure gauge, because on Fox Island the water is the first suspect. Inside, we read the freezer temperature and check that the refrigerator itself is sound, since an ice maker above about 10 degrees will not harvest whatever we replace. Then the module: power at its connector, the arm or optical sensor, a forced harvest timed with a watch and the fill caught in a measuring cup against the maker's figure. The mold heater and thermostat are metered, and the heater leads are inspected for salt corrosion. Within the hour we can usually say water, valve, module or board, and one figure goes on paper.
Most Fox Island ice makers live in French-door units from Whirlpool or KitchenAid, in Samsung and LG models, or in GE and Frigidaire side-by-sides, while the waterfront and view homes run columns from Sub-Zero, from Thermador and from Viking. Off-island owners see a picture of the failed part, approve by text, and find the invoice with its warranty in their inbox; a gate code or lockbox is all we need. Crossing the bridge changes nothing about the money: diagnosis is $99, that $99 is counted inside the written repair figure you approve, and $99 is where it ends should you decline. Every number comes after the diagnostic and is written down.
Hard well water on Fox Island scales the inlet valve feeding the ice maker until the mold gets only half a fill. A spent filter or low house pressure produces the same hollow, cloudy cubes. We measure the fill against the manufacturer's specification, and a scaled valve gets replaced.
Two likely stories: a windstorm outage and the surge or generator power that followed took out the module or the board's output to it, or the softener ran dry and the valve scaled shut. We test the board, module and fill in order so you replace only what actually failed.
Yes. Ice systems in the Sub-Zero columns of the island's waterfront homes, and in Thermador and KitchenAid columns too, are regular work for us. We are independent, not the maker's dealer; if the manufacturer's own coverage still seems to apply, we tell you before quoting. A photo of the code helps us load the truck.
Those we leave to others. Our ice work is limited to the makers built into refrigerators and refrigerator columns. Clear-ice undercounter units and commercial machines are not among the six machines we service, and you hear that on the phone rather than paying for a visit that cannot finish.
Over time, yes. The freezer door opens many times a day and the kitchen air that enters carries salt, which settles on the module's heater leads, the ejector and the wiring plug. On a Hale Passage waterfront unit we often find green corrosion on the connector where an inland unit would be clean.
Phone or form, either way a dispatcher sends a two-hour window and a text the moment the truck rolls — from Harbor Country Drive, or off the bridge deck for Tacoma stops.
Clamp meter, thermometer, manometer where propane is involved. The failed component is identified and explained, and one figure goes on paper with the $99 built into it.
The truck carries what salt air, iron water and outages break: fill valves, defrost heaters, igniters, rollers, relays. Anything ordered comes back on our schedule, not your bill.
A complete run of the machine while you watch, the floor and panels put back as found, and the warranty term printed on the invoice.
$99 gets the meter on it, the figure goes on the ticket, the part is usually already on board, and the coverage term is printed on the invoice. Same card on both shores of the Narrows.
