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We have to replace our current refrigerator because there's mold in the insulation in the door where the water dispenser is. When we shopped for a new refrigerator, we tried to find one without a water dispenser/ice maker, but they're hard to come by. I'm wondering if it would be OK to never connect the dispenser/ice maker in the new refrigerator to a water supply. We would just never use them. Would that do any damage or affect the way the refrigerator/freezer works? Thank you.

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  • Any appliance store (I.e. not a big box store) can get one pretty quick if they don’t have it in stock. If you can’t find an appliance store call a home builder in your area and ask who they use for appliances in there new homes, that will lead you to a company that only deals in appliances. Big box stores won’t have what you want but it’s available if you can find an appliance only store.
    – Tyson
    Oct 28, 2018 at 14:45
  • Far better to hunt down one without, as those things take up valuable internal space and may also waste power even while not doing anything useful (i.e. keeping their empty waterlines from freezing up by running heaters in your cold space.)
    – Ecnerwal
    Dec 7, 2022 at 1:04

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Ones without water dispensers are readily available. It may be hard to find one without an ice maker.

You don't need to connect the ice maker (and water dispenser) water line, and lack of water won't hurt anything.

Ice makers can be shut off by just positioning the ice sensor bar in the up position. But there may also be a simple way to disconnect it (like an electrical plug), so that it doesn't make noise if the bar accidentally gets lowered (it would make occasional clicking noises when it turns the water valve on and off, and motor whirring when it's time to dump the "ice"). It might even be possible to remove it and free up space, but that would probably require a technician.

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    I agree that it won't damage the unit to not hook up the water and it would be a good idea to turn the ice maker off. I have a fairly high end fridge that has constantly leaked had enough problems and warranty calls when new we finally disconnected the water line and although no ice water or ice now we don't have the constant water problems.+
    – Ed Beal
    Oct 28, 2018 at 10:16
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I asked Home Depot about this. I was told you don't have to connect the water line if you will never use the water dispenser and ice maker.

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    This doesn't add anything to the already posted answers.
    – JACK
    Dec 6, 2022 at 23:44

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