On The Rocks

I bought my refrigerator almost 12 years ago.  And the sucker is still going strong (knock on wood).  When I purchased it the store was having a sale....all fridges over a certain dollar amount qualified for a rebate on an ice maker.  Basically the ice maker was free....although I think I had to pay for it, and then receive a check in the mail...I don't really remember, since it was almost a dozen years ago, and frankly I can't remember what I ate for dinner last night so......

Anyway, when they delivered the fridge, they installed the ice maker, but couldn't hook it up, as my dwelling was not equipped for such modern technology.  I've since moved a couple of times...and the last couple of dwellings have been equipped, but alas I'd since lost the items necessary to complete the hook up.  So all these years every time you open the freezer you see the ice maker just sitting there with an empty bin under it, unable to produce ice.  All these years we've had to be very careful to keep the arm up so that the pump wouldn't burn itself up attempting make the glorious ice.  There have been a number of occasions when I've heard a strange noise and upon investigation have found that someone has been negligent and let the arm fall thereby forcing the pump to work itself into a frenzy.

All these years we have filled ice trays, emptied ice trays, bitched about ice trays being empty in the freezer, spilled water putting trays in the freezer, pulled half frozen trays out of the freezer spilling the water on ourselves and the floor...well you get the picture.  We've been living a hard life.

A couple of months ago out of frustration at pulling yet another empty ice tray from the freezer Denny suggested we go to Home Depot and get the items needed to step into the world of luxury.  So off we go.  As we were standing in front of the display of tubing and connectors not knowing where to begin we were actually approached by a Home Depot employee...did we need help?  After I picked my jaw up off the floor we explained what our "project" was.  This guy knew exactly what we needed.  Not only did he lead us to all the necessary supplies, he gave us step by step instructions on what to do.  I must confess, I couldn't believe our luck.

Our treasure has been sitting on the counter ever since.  I hinted several times to Denny to go ahead and hook it up.  Of course I made the mistake of telling him before he did it to be sure to put something under the valve and run the water for awhile first cause god only knows how long that waters been sitting in that pipe.  That, I guess is where I made my mistake....I tried to "direct" how to do it.  Now he had an excuse (in his mind) to not do it.  We've filled, empty, spilled, and bitched about ice trays ever since.  

Sunday I decided to throw caution to the wind and try to do it myself.  Pulled the fridge out of it's cozy stall and wiggled my way behind it.  After my torturous hike Saturday morning, my right knee is a little sore, and feels alotta swollen inside.  The quarters were cramped.  I was afraid if I sat on the floor wedged in behind fridge I might get stuck in there, along with the dust bunnies.  Luckily I had absconded with my niece's little step stool a couple of months ago, and that was just what I needed.  She was visiting a few weeks ago and saw it in the corner and asked her mom "did you give Aunt Cece my step stool?"  (hahah, wanna arm wrestle for it shorty?).

Of course by now it's been quite sometime since the expert Home Depot guy gave us instruction.  What I have now are little bags of nut thingies, little brass tube like thingies, a filter, and several feet of tubing.  I can't possibly remember how all this was supposed to be used.  So, drag my butt out from behind fridge, fire up computer and google it.  I also didn't really know exactly where on the fridge the water tube was supposed to go.  And I kept thinking maybe I shouldn't even do this, cause lets face it, the fridge is getting old.  I was having a hard time ignoring that little superstitious voice that says as soon as I do the fridge will break.

The Internets is an amazing thing.  You can find the owner's manual of a 12 year old refrigerator.  Amazing.....unfortunately it didn't include any information regarding ice maker.   But I did find a site where some guy posted a question about how to hook his up.  After getting past the rude comments like "times are tough, fill up the trays", I did find some helpful comments.  So back to behind the beast.  Drain the old stale water from the pipe, hook this to that, and that to this, check for leaks, wipe up water.  Tighten everything.  Wipe up water....tighten....Check for leaks..........

And now wait.

And wonder. 

Did we burn out the motor at some point in these last 12 years?

Will it work?

Take a nap.



I present:

Now That's a beautiful sight!

I'm keeping the fridge out of it's little cozy about 8 inches for awhile.  I want to be sure we don't get any leaks.  But so far so good. 

Thing #8, hooked up an ice maker to the water source.



I'll take mine on the rocks please.