Portable Ice Maker

[RAS43]

After many years of running to town for ice for our coolers we have decided to invest in an ice maker. I have been researching and leaning toward one that produces 26lbs a day as that should be sufficient and the size is about what we want. And they are available from many sources like Amazon, Ebay, CW, etc. So, what brand have you had good luck with and would recommend?

[Arcamper]

RAS43 wrote:
Lots of good info, thanks. I have noticed that many brands look the same except for the name and some minor change. And we are aware that they are not freezers so the ice will have to be moved before it melts. So we will do a bit more looking online and buy one as soon as we return home next week.

We just use the ice as needed for drinks for the two of us without dumping the basket. In a few hours the inside gets cold enough to keep the ice for a while. I have seen ice still in the basket 5 hours after we unplug from power. I think ours is an Emerson also. Nice thing to have.

[davosfam]

We have one but don't use it for filling a cooler, just for drinks. We dump the ice into what used to be a fridge drawer and keep it in the freezer so it can fully harden.

[jplante4]

Just be sure to make ice and store it while on shore power if you plan to boondock. My Walmart version seems to draw a lot of amps (somewhere around 13).

[wingsfan20]

We have an emerson. Had another similar. The ice is soft. We put in plastic gallon bags in freezer. They stuck together. We full time in winter and find buying a 10 pound bag of ice is a whole lot easier than spending a day tending the ice maker.

[RAS43]

We bought a Della brand small ice maker and received it today. It looks like many of the brands we saw online. It does make ice fast as it has been running about 2 hours and I have filled a quart bag so far. Cubes are a bit small and this model doesn't have a size choice so we will see how it works out as our original idea was ice for the coolers instead of buying ice. On our last trip we saw 6lb bags selling for 2-3 dollars so if we can get 10-15 lbs a day it will be worth it.

[Hudsoner]

I just picked up a brand new, never used Emerson (identical to the Igloo) from Craigslist. I got it for $50!

[wendyly]

I have an Igloo ice maker that I found on amazon for $95. It works great for our needs. I had it out at the house yesterday making ice for next weekend's camping trip, since I won't have hookups, and I don't want to run the generator just for ice. When the basket fills, I dump the ice into a gallon freezer bag. Takes 3 or 4 baskets to fill the bag.

[mhawk4]

We have a New-Air, best investment we have done.
We also put ice in bags and keep in the freezer. No more buying ice for us.

[reluyog]

We use a Whynter 120/12 volt freezer with regular ice trays. The freezer can be programmed up to 8 below zero so the ice is very cold. It's a little more manual labor, but the ice sticks around a lot longer.

[wa8yxm]

I notice that no matter the make they all look alike too, and work alike.

I have one I avoided it for many years but a young lady I spend way too much money one got one and it was too big for her house so she got a smaller (half size) one which she uses and gave me the big one.. I have space for it so it's making ice... ONE thing you need to know, they have limited "ice tray" capacity, but work constantly, the way it works is they make ice, then dump it in the tray, the ice melts over time and drips down into the water tank is is then re-frozen.> To get 26 pounds you have to empty it EVERY LOAD.. they only hold a couple pounds of ice at any one time.

Back before I got my Class A.. Back in the PUP and small TT days, I used to buy bags of ice every day for my coolers during the summer.. Then the campground started charging for electric (Not something that was in the membership contract) so I traded the coolers in on a "Dorm/Office" size Fridge.. About 100 bucks at the time at Sears.

Sold it for 25 when I got the class A to another camper

Many advantages to this small Fridge over the cooler and with the door tied closed (I put a cargo strap around it in transit) the food stays cold for around 8 hours without power.. and when I was working, We never went more than 4 hours without power to the fridge..

Of course today, Fill timeing .. I'm often glad I have the RV type absorption Duel Fuel (Gas/Electric) fridge.. But back when I was weekending... That dorm unit was great.

[GramaofAAAA]

Funny, we just made a trip to CW as ours died yesterday. We had the large Dometic for 3 years and it worked great, and we used it every day! We are iced tea drinkers and go through so much ice. We too put it in the freezer in Z-lock bags and let it harden....we bought the small Dometic today, so hope it's as good as the one had.

[Need-A-Vacation]

We have had a larger one for quite a few years. Used in the house for holidays until we had a fridge with an ice maker. Then transferred into the trailer.

We usually just use it to keep ice in the cooler. Drinks are cold enough out if there or the outdoor fridge that we don't need ice in the drinks. We store ours under the front bed, and use a rag to keep the lid propped open when not in use. Just dry it out the best we can.

At times I wish we had the smaller one only because it would fit under the outdoor kitchen overhead cabinet. But we just use a table under the awning.

Highly recommend as mentioned!!!

[RAS43]

Lots of good info, thanks. I have noticed that many brands look the same except for the name and some minor change. And we are aware that they are not freezers so the ice will have to be moved before it melts. So we will do a bit more looking online and buy one as soon as we return home next week.

[Bill___Kate]

Like others of said, most of them are made by the same company. They come in small and large. Get the large one. They do a pretty good job, and definitely will help with the cooler. We have an Igloo 32 qt cooler we use for drinks, and it will keep up in the spring and fall enough so that we only have to buy a bag of ice every third day or so, but in the summer, we have to supplement the icemaker with a bag of ice almost every day. If we had a Yeti cooler , it would probably help, but I can buy a lot of ice for the price of one of those, and they seem to grow legs ....