Maytag Refrigerator Control Panel Problems and How To Fix It

Most refrigerators, those from Maytag included, are usually built pretty well and are designed to last for a long time. That being said, modern fridges are a lot more complicated than they used to be, and nowadays fridges come with features like internal cameras, the ability to connect to a home network, and a built-in control panel. 

Maytag refrigerators are known to be susceptible to certain issues with their control panels. Usually, these problems are caused by a bad main control board or faulty UI board. However, there are a few other possible explanations for why your fridge’s control panel might not be working the way it’s supposed to. 

In this article, we’ll go into further detail about control panel issues in Maytag refrigerators. We’ll also go over some other reasons why your fridge’s control panel might not be acting normally and show you how to resolve them.

There are a few common hardware issues that tend to affect Maytag fridges, but there’s one issue with the control panel that tends to happen somewhat frequently.

In particular, this tends to affect French door fridges with a bottom freezer, so if you have this model of Maytag fridge you may be somewhat predisposed to this problem.

When this issue occurs, the lights on the control panel will continuously blink and the ice dispenser door may also open and shut itself repeatedly. This problem may persist even if you try resetting the fridge.

What Causes This Issue?

If this is what’s happening to you, the problem almost certainly lies with your fridge’s control board. It’s likely that your fridge has a few control boards; this issue indicates a problem with the main one.

The main control board in your fridge is a circuit board that is responsible for controlling many of your fridge’s functions.

It manages your fridge’s cooling and defrost times, collects information from your fridge’s various sensors, and essentially functions as the medium that connects all of your fridge’s components together.

In general, control boards tend to fail because of exposure to excessive heat or moisture, or because they are inadvertently subjected to a high voltage surge.

Since a control board controls most of your fridge’s functions, as the name implies, the failure of the main control board can cause any number of your fridge’s components to fail also.

In the case of the control boards built for this specific model of Maytag fridge, there seems to be some kind of widespread manufacturing defect, a flaw in the control board’s design, or just something inherently wrong with this particular type of control board.

Regardless of the cause, these control boards tend to fail in a very specific way, causing the blinking control panel lights and the flapping ice dispenser door.

Before replacing your control board, you should try resetting your fridge and see if that does anything.

While it is likely that you will end up needing to replace the control board in the end, doing so can be a bit expensive, and it takes no money and barely any time to try resetting your fridge as it is.

Reset Your Fridge

To reset your fridge, all you need to do is unplug it from the wall or flip the circuit breaker for the fridge, whichever you prefer to do. Leave the fridge unplugged for 5-10 minutes or so, then plug it back in or flip the breaker back on.

Wait another few minutes, then check to see if the fridge is cooling properly and if the control panel responds to your inputs correctly. If everything is working as it should, then congratulations, you’ve solved the problem!

Replace the Control Board

If this doesn’t work, the control board will have to be replaced. Unless you’ve had experience with this kind of appliance repair before or you just feel particularly bold, we’d really recommend that you leave this process to a professional.

Modern fridges are complicated on the inside and it can be tricky to work on them if you don’t know what you’re doing.

Most refrigerators, those from Maytag included, are usually built pretty well and are designed to last for a long time. That being said, modern fridges are a lot more complicated than they used to be, and nowadays fridges come with features like internal cameras, the ability to connect to a home network, and a built-in control panel. 

Maytag refrigerators are known to be susceptible to certain issues with their control panels. Usually, these problems are caused by a bad main control board or faulty UI board. However, there are a few other possible explanations for why your fridge’s control panel might not be working the way it’s supposed to. 

In this article, we’ll go into further detail about control panel issues in Maytag refrigerators. We’ll also go over some other reasons why your fridge’s control panel might not be acting normally and show you how to resolve them.

There are a few common hardware issues that tend to affect Maytag fridges, but there’s one issue with the control panel that tends to happen somewhat frequently.

In particular, this tends to affect French door fridges with a bottom freezer, so if you have this model of Maytag fridge you may be somewhat predisposed to this problem.

When this issue occurs, the lights on the control panel will continuously blink and the ice dispenser door may also open and shut itself repeatedly. This problem may persist even if you try resetting the fridge.

What Causes This Issue?

If this is what’s happening to you, the problem almost certainly lies with your fridge’s control board. It’s likely that your fridge has a few control boards; this issue indicates a problem with the main one.

The main control board in your fridge is a circuit board that is responsible for controlling many of your fridge’s functions.

It manages your fridge’s cooling and defrost times, collects information from your fridge’s various sensors, and essentially functions as the medium that connects all of your fridge’s components together.

In general, control boards tend to fail because of exposure to excessive heat or moisture, or because they are inadvertently subjected to a high voltage surge.

Since a control board controls most of your fridge’s functions, as the name implies, the failure of the main control board can cause any number of your fridge’s components to fail also.

In the case of the control boards built for this specific model of Maytag fridge, there seems to be some kind of widespread manufacturing defect, a flaw in the control board’s design, or just something inherently wrong with this particular type of control board.

Regardless of the cause, these control boards tend to fail in a very specific way, causing the blinking control panel lights and the flapping ice dispenser door.

Before replacing your control board, you should try resetting your fridge and see if that does anything.

While it is likely that you will end up needing to replace the control board in the end, doing so can be a bit expensive, and it takes no money and barely any time to try resetting your fridge as it is.

Reset Your Fridge

To reset your fridge, all you need to do is unplug it from the wall or flip the circuit breaker for the fridge, whichever you prefer to do. Leave the fridge unplugged for 5-10 minutes or so, then plug it back in or flip the breaker back on.

Wait another few minutes, then check to see if the fridge is cooling properly and if the control panel responds to your inputs correctly. If everything is working as it should, then congratulations, you’ve solved the problem!

Replace the Control Board

If this doesn’t work, the control board will have to be replaced. Unless you’ve had experience with this kind of appliance repair before or you just feel particularly bold, we’d really recommend that you leave this process to a professional.

Modern fridges are complicated on the inside and it can be tricky to work on them if you don’t know what you’re doing.