Q: I have a KitchenAid ice maker that makes cloudy ice cubes because the water tank fails to fill properly. It always puts in too little water so that when the pump tries to send water to the freezing grid, the tube in the tank cavitates and produces cloudy ice. The ice maker worked fine for years until a new pump was put in several months ago. The repair people refused to come out and fix it, saying that the water in the house is too hard. We have a water softener in the home. If you turn the ice maker off and restart it, the first few batches of ice are clear until the reservoir gets too low and the cavitations starts again and so does the cloudy ice. Any ideas?

A: This is one of the problems you handle by the process of elimination. You say the ice maker has been around for a few years. Remember most appliances have a life of 8-10 years. You might look into purchasing a more energy-efficient unit.

The repair people say you could have hard water. When was the last time you had your water tested? Most water treatment companies do this test free of charge. Maybe your softener is not up to par.

You could use a new softener.

If I were a betting man I would say your problem has to do with your new pump, if everything was working fine until your pump went out. The new pump was installed and you started having problems. Hmm. Fire your repair person. Hire another repair company, and get a second opinion. If you had an operation and it didn't solve your problem, I'm sure you would call another doctor. Do the same thing here. Hire another repair service.

Bill Hibbs is the store manager for Home Depot in Fairview Heights. He has been in the home improvement business for more than 30 years.

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