It’s hard for you to make a decision on choosing a right portable ice maker from various brands if you don’t know about it well enough. Anyway, you have to consider its function, usability, and appearance. There is no doubt that normal operation is front and center for a machine. A trustworthy brand, GEVI deserves your attention, with versatile functions and high performance. Most importantly, with a self-explanatory control panel, it is easy to use and makes a large amount of fresh nugget ice.

Your ice machine has been running well for a long time without any defective. However, someday you notice that an indicator “Add Water” light is on when the water reservoir already has enough water. It’s confusing why this happens so suddenly.

To help you tackle the issue, we will dig deep into the issue with our engineers. It is found that it probably relates to a clogged water filter screen in the water reservoir, but how does it lead to a wrong signal given out by the indicator light?

The first question we have to figure out is why the water filter screen is blocked. If you live where the water is hard, you will notice that there are mineral deposits like calcium in your ice machine or kettle. After you use hard water for a long time, minerals may gradually build up in the small filter screen.

If the filter screen is blogged, water cannot be taken by a water pump that is set horizontally under a water tank. The pump tries to suck water out of the water reservoir and get it into the tank with a tube.

But how does the water pump know when to work? Actually, it is relevant to an important part-float switch in the water tank. The float switch, a sensor, is composed of a float, magnet, and reed switch system that automatically opens and closes when water levels fall and rise in the tank. To be more specific, it is achieved when a magnet controlled by the float moves towards or away from the reed switch, an electromagnetic switch controlling the flow of electricity in a circuit.

The floating body will rise with the water level increases, which makes the magnet move toward the magnetic reed switch. The system automatically closes creating an electrical signal to set off a water level alarm telling the control panel that the water level is too high. With an automatic water level control system, the panel will tell the pump to turn off and stop pumping water.

(NO: normally open; NC: normally close)

When the water level decreases, the float goes down and moves away from the reed switch. The system opens and then produces an electrical signal and then triggers an alarm telling the panel that the water level is too low. At the same time, the “Add Water” indicator light will be on. So, the water pump will turn on and pump water into the tank after receiving the signal from the panel.

From the working mechanism, we know that water cannot be pumped into the tank probably because of the clogged water filter screen. If it is blocked, the float will detect that water at a low level and trigger an alarm in the control panel. Therefore, the indicator light “Add water” is on, although there is enough water in the reservoir.

Watch this video to be more clear about the reason and get the solution.

The most important thing is how to remove the minerals built up in the filter screen. In fact, it’s very easy for you to take it out from the reservoir to clean it. About the corner of the reservoir, you can clean it thoroughly with an ice maker cleaner. Here are several cleaning steps offered by GEVI. 

1. Remove all the ice and then empty the unit.
2. Add water and cleaner.
3. Press and hold the “Clean” button for 3 seconds.
4. Drain out of the dirty water.
5. Run the cleaning program twice.
6. Refill water several times and repeat the cleaning cycle for a deep cleaning.

If you’ve come across this issue, you can try to clean the ice maker and check whether the indicator light is still on. If you cannot troubleshoot it, please don’t hesitate to contact GEVI customer service. We will offer professional tech support for you and help you resolve the issue as soon as possible.