I replaced my fridge ice maker a few years ago because part of the circuitry burned out. The replacement has also now burned out (though not nearly as badly). For reference, the burned part is supposed to hold onto the end of a copper peg that leads to the heating element (which melts the ice slightly so it can be popped out of the mold).
It seems silly to spend $60 on a new one when it’s just $0.05 worth of copper that needs replacing. Is there a safe way to fix this? Unfortunately, I can’t just solder the connection because it is enclosed when assembled. For reference, those tabs aren’t just fouled, they are burned completely through. My first thought is to pull out the whole trace, solder on new tabs (not sure where I’d get the material), and put the trace back in.
Yeah, I suppose it would be different if this was the heating element of something that only gets used under supervision. There doesnt appear to be any kind of fuse, unless there’s one on the fridge side upstream of the ice maker.
Maybe I am better off replacing it and just keeping this one around for spare parts (I’m wishing I had done that when I replaced the first one).