Nobody likes the sight of mold. The presence of mold in your home can cause many long-term health problems, and let’s face it – it’s disgusting! Mold can grow in many places in your home, but the most dangerous is where you eat.
If you left your ice maker in storage for a while and recently decided to pull it out to make some ice – you may be shocked at what you see. Mold is growing everywhere inside your ice maker.
Mold in your ice maker can make you sick. You must deal with mold immediately and correctly if mold begins to form.
So what are the proper steps to tackle mold in your countertop ice maker?
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I have taken the time to give you an easy-to-follow guide on how to get rid of a mold problem in your countertop ice maker.
We also wrote a more detailed article on properly cleaning your portable ice maker. This article gives you the steps to thoroughly clean any portable ice maker band – Frigidaire, Igloo, and NewAir.
Why Does Mold Grow In Portable Ice Makers?
First of all, why does mold grow inside your portable ice maker? Portable Ice makers can get considerably dirty over time.
Don’t get me wrong, I love my portable ice maker, but you do have to take care of them, or they can be disgusting. So what causes mold to form in your portable ice maker? Let me give you a few common reasons.
1. Dirty Water
As residue from the water inside your portable ice maker is transmitted to the sides of your unit, the result can be that nasty “M” word – mold. I have been using portable ice makers for a long time and am shocked at how dirty these portable units can get.
Mold is more likely to grow in portable ice makers because they do not maintain a freezing temperature. Some portable ice makers have built-in freezers, but those units are rare. Follow the link to see some of the best portable ice makers that keep your ice frozen.
2. Bad Habits With Your Portable Ice Maker
When it comes to portable ice makers, people have bad habits. Two bad habits, in particular, can lead to mold forming in your ice maker are not cleaning your unit regularly and using your hands to get the ice.
The first bad habit is not taking the time to clean your unit. Cleaning your ice maker isn’t just about keeping mold from growing but also serving the best ice possible. I recommend you take some time once a month to wash down our ice maker with soap and water and then rinse it thoroughly. if you see dirt and grime in your portable ice maker, then you should fast-track your schedule and clean it immediately.
The second bad habit people have is grabbing ice with their hands without using an ice scoop. There is a reason portable ice makers come with an ice scoop. Using your hands to grab ice or putting back ice if it’s not used is a way for bacteria to grow.
Important: Use an ice scoop (I love the scoop that I recently bought from Amazon) to get your ice, and never (EVER) put the ice back into the basket. If some ice accidentally falls on the ground, throw it away.
What happens if you notice mold growing in your portable ice maker? Well, let’s take care of that problem now.
The Main Places Mold Will Grow in Your Portable Ice Maker
There are a few places on every portable ice maker where mold thrives.
These locations are along the ice maker’s sides, on the lid, and in the water reservoir are the most popular places for mold to form in a portable ice maker.
You can see the images below. I let my ice maker sit for a week without use, and when I came back, mold was growing on the side of the unit and on the lid.
If you haven’t used your ice maker for a while, check your unit extensively for mold inside the unit before you begin the ice cycle.
How Do You Get Rid of Mold In Your Portable Ice Maker?
If you find mold inside your ice maker, there’s an easy solution.
Let’s check out my simple steps below.
1. Create a Homemade Cleaning Solution or Purchase One on Amazon
Take a little bleach (5 cups of water and one teaspoon of bleach) diluted in warm water and thoroughly clean your ice maker.
It’s important to focus on where your ice maker produces ice, the water reservoir, and the inside walls of the unit. I would also run the unit with the cleaning solution in the water reservoir. This will help kill mold in places you can’t even see.
Ensure that all the mold is gone and that the inside of your ice maker is thoroughly cleaned and rinsed. You could also use this product: Complete Mold Killer & Remover DIY Bundle, to clean your ice maker.
This product is designed to clean, kill and prevent mold from growing in any ice machine. It’s also the fastest stain remover on the market today.
2. Deodorize Your Unit
Wash the walls with four tablespoons of baking soda dissolved in one quart of water to deodorize your ice maker.
Next, you want to rinse the ice maker, ensuring all the cleaning solution is gone (you don’t want the homemade cleaning solution in your ice).
Be Proactive With Your Ice Maker and Keep Mold From Growing
The best way to clean mold in your ice maker is to ensure it doesn’t occur.
How is this possible?
You want to make sure that you perform regular maintenance on your ice machine. I have compiled a shortlist of proper maintenance tips to ensure your unit is working at its best.
Tips For Maintaining A Portable Ice Maker
- Ensure you clean out your ice maker at least once a month. Cleaning your portable ice maker will help prevent mold from growing. Keeping mold from growing in the first place, keeps your ice safe to eat and tasting great.
- Unplug your ice maker if you are going away for an extended period. Running your ice maker is unnecessary if no one will enjoy the ice. If you are going camping, you may want to bring your portable ice maker along for the ride. To store your ice maker, dry the unit with a soft rag. Drying your unit before storage will keep mold from growing when you’re not using the ice maker.
- Use clean water when filling up the water reservoir. When you use dirty water in your ice maker, it will damage your ice maker. Use filtered water to ensure that your water and ice are clean.
Keeping your portable ice maker clean at all times is the best way of preventing mold from growing in the first place.
I hope that this article has helped you. Please leave your comments or questions below, and I hope you enjoy cold, mold-free ice.
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13 Comments
I want to comment on #3
I have used filtered water before. This means that it contains no chlorine. Yes i had mold, everywhere…
I cleaned the machine and ran 3 or 4 cycles to flush out any residue from cleaning.
I started using fresh tap water (has chlorine in it) and my mould problem pretty much went away. Chlorine, it’s in tap water for a reason, to stop bacteria and mould. Why would you want to filter out the chlorine? As this is the first thing that most filters remove.
Just my experience. Use clean fresh cold tap water. No need to filter right out of the tap..
I’m in Canada, our water is very good quality, for tap water.
Thank you for the tip. I cleaned my machine with lemon juice..I was using bottled water. 10 days latet..major black mold…So now I’m going to try your idea..it makes sense after all. Thank you for sharing. I’m betting it will at least help..Have a great day
My ice maker does not come apart how can I clean the inside of it and rid of any mold?
You can run a mold cleaner through the ice cycle.
Im with Alan. My ice maker does not come apart either and I HAVE RUN mold cleaner through it however it does NOT help n areas Im having trouble with not only keeping mold away but simply getting it cleaned out from n the first place. Its quite gross and im about to toss mine n2 the trash can!
All you can do is run the mold cleaner through the unit repeatedly until the cleaning cycle kills the mold.
Make sure that when you store the ice maker away each year, you clean and dry it. This is one of the main reasons mold grows on portable ice makers. The best way to tackle a mold issue is to prevent it from happening in the first place.
Probably a very unconventional way but I was a Water Pic, I use a new unused attachment. I am able to clean the ice area very well.
How much do I dilute the mold killer I bought the “professional disinfecting mildew, virus, and mold killer”?
The directions should be on the back of the bottle.
How do you clean the white tray behind where the ice is frozen.
I dont get mold I get a orange film on it.
The orange film is grim that’s forms on an ice maker over time. You can use an ice maker cleaner and run it through the ice cycle and see if that cleans it. Some ice makers can be taken apart and this gives you access to clean the water cup. My portable ice maker is large enough that I can get a cloth in the cup and wipe it down, then I rinse it down with warm water.
I just cleaned my ice maker but I did notice the tube the pulls the water out of the tank had mold or black funk in it. How do I get it out of there ?
You would have to run a cleaner through the unit so that it can clean it.