counter top ice makers

[lrrowe]

Here is a 2016 piece on them.
https://learn.compactappliance.com/port ... ers-guide/

See page 6 of this model's manual. It says to set unit upright for an hour before use.
https://secure.img1-ag.wfcdn.com/docres ... 211429.pdf

I did not check my Igloo menu yet.

[flboy]

I received mine from Amazon today. It was on its side in a larger box that was upright. It spent a few days on its side in any case.

I have to send it back, so won't be able to test it this weekend. The box was damaged and the bottom of the icemaker was cracked .

:-(

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[jwhite]

I bought mine at Walmart and I turned it on it's side to get it out of the box I think I set it on the counter for a little while before I turned it on but I have not had a problems.
I had heard the same thing about those portable AC's that they should sit for a while after a trip for the oil to settle,

[flboy]

I got the replacement today and it looks to be in good shape. It was on its side in the Amazon box. I am going to let it sit upright for a few hours. The manual says at least 2 hours. I am going to wait 4 hours or so. I'll give you the review later tonight or tomorrow assuming it works.





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[flboy]

Well, this Icemaker is not noisy at all except when Ice Drops... and that isn t what I'd classify as noisy. Not sure why reviews would say that. It came one and did what it is designed to do. On the large cube setting, it makes a batch of 8 cubes every 13 to 15 minutes. I am going to let it run overnight to see how it does and make sure it shuts off and etc.

So far, I am liking this Icemaker. It seems to be built well. We'll see how long it lasts.

The first 8 cubes came out about 13 minutes after I plugged it in.

I noticed that after about 4 batches the cubes have doubled in size. I believe the water in the tank is getting chilled as the cubes cycle and since it is a fixed time operation, more water freezes on the evaporator rods. At least that is what appears to be happening. The first cubes were small and now are about 2x larger in diameter.



The cubes are not huge, but the are made quickly.



The cubes are accumulating and appear to be getting larger.



After 1 hour and 15 minutes, the cubes are even larger and the bin is 2/3 full already. That is definitely enough for a few large iced teas! That is what I missed when camping. Ice in my drinks.



1 hour and 45 minutes. Tray full and first bag of ice. That is impressive for this little machine.



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[McDave]

That is impressive. What kind of power consumption? I suppose that if you started with say 38f water you would get better production, at least larger to begin with but since the delta between water and ice would be closer faster too?

McDave

Wait, you said fixed time cycles. So just bigger?

[John61CT]

Ignoring ice for drinks for the moment.

Assuming a cooler was pre-chilled, well filled with a mix of frozen and cold food & drink.

Keeping up with the bin getting filled, dumping what is that, a gallon ziploc? into the cooler every couple hours

Do we think in hot weather 90+° the unit would keep up?

How big a cooler, assuming like a Yeti or Pelican type?

Also, if you toss that bag into a deep freeze to accumulate quantity, is it so wet it turns into a solid block, or can you separate the "cubes" by hand?

Have you got a meter to track battery power consumption?

[daveesl77]

We have the igloo (same version, different logo) and have had it for years. When talking about the noise, after a few months it may or may not start making a fairly loud noise when the fan is running. Our solution is a quick whack to the side and all is well.

After Hurricane Irma came, our power was off for a bit over 2 days. Our little HF 800 watt generator can run the icemaker AND by using a predefined starting routine, the little 3 cu ft Haier dorm fridge, at the same time. 80-90 degree temps, really high humidity outside. We fired up the icemaker at the end of the first day, because we knew there would be no ice available anywhere. The dorm fridge in the camper kept the stuff cold that we would need regular access to. One ice chest, loaded with prefrozen jugs of ice was used for the freezer compartment stuff and not opened. The other ice chest, with pre-frozen jugs and ice from the icemaker, held refrigerated stuff. The little Igloo kept up just fine, using it to make ice during the day while we ran the gennie. At night, it got shut down and we shifted the dorm fridge to the battery/inverter hook up in the camper. We lost very little stuff. Now we have ordered a new quiet 2000 watt gennie, so we can take it camping or in an emergency run the house fridge.

dave

[flboy]

That is impressive. What kind of power consumption? I suppose that if you started with say 38f water you would get better production, at least larger to begin with but since the delta between water and ice would be closer faster too?

McDave

Wait, you said fixed time cycles. So just bigger?

I did not measure the current myself, but the unit label on the back of the Ice Maker says 1.7A @ 110VAC during Ice making and 2.1A during "Ice Harvest". It is confusing because the box says 98 watts which is not consistent with the unit label. I'd tend to believe the label since the box is all marketing stuff.

I will make it a point to measure the current myself next time I turn it on. If it in fact takes 1.7A @ 110VAC then my 4.3 cft Dorm Fridge is more efficient... but it cannot make ice that fast at all (takes hours to freeze small Ice Cube trays).

It certainly would not be more efficient to make ice to feed a cooler instead of just running the fridge. The Dorm Fridge takes <100W and my 21cuft home fridge only consumed ~ 180W as measured during the storm when running off the generator with a kill-a-watt meter.

In any case... I did not buy it for power efficiency, I bought it to make ice and it does that quickly...

[lrrowe]

In any case... I did not buy it for power efficiency, I bought it to make ice and it does that quickly...

[McDave]

I was just curious as I presumed you would run off inverter/batt/solar. You have a lot of capacity and wouldn't need to run it all the time. Or if you were running the gen. for the A/C anyway, no sweat. If you started with a supply and just replenished what was used an hour or so may do it. Unless you throw a cocktail party at ONF. Or need a ice bag for post soil sample gathering. You never know...Handy to have. Just as an aside, I have noticed that the aluminium ice tray makes ice way faster than the plastic trays. In my case the trays are in contact with the evap., so the alum naturally conducts much better, and the plastic rely on air temp. No fans and the "freezer" is open so as to convect, like the reefers we had as kids, till somebody defrosted with an ice pick.
Cheers

McDave

[flboy]

Yes.. I can run it for an hour on the inverter and get the ice and the shut it off. Also, if out running around and batteries are charged, there is unused power the solar cells have available that the batteries don't need, so in that regard... it has no impact overall to have Ice. My solar cells could run the ice maker outright and provide charge to the batteried with good sun.

This obviously is just a luxury.. not needed, but nice to have.

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[McDave]

Who doesn't need luxury? Isn't that what this entire exercise has been about since we put wheels on our tents?
just sayin'...

McDave

[CAJUN LADY]

I have this one. Got it two years ago.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Igloo-Portab ... 3=&veh=sem

Love it. It does make ice quickly, no cleaning issues and I am satisfied with the quality of the cubes. If any one wants me to, I will get it out of the CT tomorrow and run a time test with some photos.

Mine is similar to that one but the ICE108 model in silver. It works great and I only use it to supplement the ice for drinks, not for the cooler. I also put the ice cubs in a zip lock bag and into the freezer when camping. It's faster than making ice with trays. I have to add, I was so curious as to how it worked, I watched it freeze the cylinder to make the cubes for the very first batch. I was like a kid.

[flboy]

Who doesn't need luxury? Isn't that what this entire exercise has been about since we put wheels on our tents?
just sayin'...

McDave

Good point. It is all relative. :-)

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