--- title: "The ice machine will not restart after cleaning" description: "KitchenAid the ice machine will not restart after cleaning — common on the undercounter machines and usually not a failure at all." url: "https://kitchenaidmiami.support/symptoms/ice-machine-blinking-or-dead-after-cleaning/" date_modified: "2026-08-23" Appliance type: "Ice makers" --- # KitchenAid the ice machine will not restart after cleaning ### The fastest diagnosis is the code Work through the sequence rather than the parts: the cleaning cycle has to finish and be acknowledged, the drain has to be clear, and on most of these machines the power needs cycling before it goes back to making ice. If it has run a cleaning cycle and then simply sat there, that sequence is what to walk through before anybody is called out. ### A sequence, not a part An undercounter ice machine is more like a small piece of plumbing than like the module in a refrigerator door. It fills, freezes, harvests, drains, and it wants its cleaning routine completed in order. Most of the machines we are called to after a cleaning are healthy machines waiting for a step that never happened. ### When it really is the machine When the cycle has been run properly, the power has been cycled and the drain is clear, the usual answers are the evaporator plate, the harvest, or a sensor that has stopped reporting the bin correctly. Those are real repairs, they are diagnosed on site, and the cost is confirmed with you before any work begins. The cleaning cycle was not completed It has to run through and be acknowledged. A cycle interrupted halfway leaves the machine waiting, and waiting looks exactly like broken. The machine has not been power cycled Most of these want the power off and back on after a clean before they resume production. It is in the manual and almost nobody does it. The drain is slow or blocked On an undercounter machine the drain is half the appliance. A machine that cannot empty itself will stop, and it will look like a control problem. A sensor still seeing the bin as full Optics or a bin thermostat confused by cleaning solution or by ice left in the wrong place. It reports a full bin and stops making more. Scale on the evaporator plate What the cleaning cycle was there to remove. When cleaning no longer restores production, the plate and the water path are where the visit goes. Run the cleaning cycle to the end Right through, without interrupting it, and acknowledge it as the manual describes. An abandoned cycle is the most common reason one of these sits blinking. Cycle the power afterward Off at the switch or the breaker, a full minute, back on. On most of these machines that is a documented part of the procedure rather than a trick. Check the drain runs freely Pour a jug of water into the bin and watch it go. A gravity drain installed with too little fall never worked properly, and it is worth knowing that before parts are discussed. Then book the visit Tell us the model, what the light is doing, whether the machine drains by gravity or with a pump, and when it was last cleaned. Or a light blinking red What it usually means A red light blinking after a cleaning cycle The power button flashing and no ice It ran the cleaning cycle and then stopped The fastest diagnosis is the code Work through the sequence rather than the parts: the cleaning cycle has to finish and be acknowledged, the drain has to be clear, and on most of these machines the power needs cycling before it goes back to making ice. If it has run a cleaning cycle and then simply sat there, that sequence is what to walk through before anybody is called out. A sequence, not a part An undercounter ice machine is more like a small piece of plumbing than like the module in a refrigerator door. It fills, freezes, harvests, drains, and it wants its cleaning routine completed in order. Most of the machines we are called to after a cleaning are healthy machines waiting for a step that never happened. When it really is the machine When the cycle has been run properly, the power has been cycled and the drain is clear, the usual answers are the evaporator plate, the harvest, or a sensor that has stopped reporting the bin correctly. Those are real repairs, they are diagnosed on site, and the cost is confirmed with you before any work begins. ### How often should an undercounter machine be cleaned? More often here than the manual assumes — realistically a couple of times a year, and more if it is in a bar area or outdoors under cover. The machine runs its own cleaning cycle with the maker's solution; what it cannot do is clean the bin and the scoop, and that is where most of what you can see actually lives. ### Why is my ice cloudy now? On a machine designed to make clear ice, cloudiness means the freeze cycle is being cut short — water quality and a scaled evaporator plate are the usual reasons. It is a good early signal, because cloudy ice generally shows up months before a machine stops. ### Does the machine really need a drain? Most of them do, and it is the part people forget exists. A slow or blocked drain will stop a machine that is otherwise perfect. It is worth telling us when you book whether yours drains by gravity or has a pump. --- **[Read full article: The ice machine will not restart after cleaning](https://kitchenaidmiami.support/symptoms/ice-machine-blinking-or-dead-after-cleaning/)**