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?

[Rick_Jay]

I think ours in an Emerson, I think we bought it at Target about 8 years ago, I think I paid about $99 for it, and it's still working fine.

The only problem I have had with it is that the water inlet line clogged up once. I had to remove the cover to clear it out. However, in retrospect, that was my fault. I was dumping the ice in our cooler and then reusing the cold, cooler water in the ice maker (since it was already cold, it helped the ice maker work better). However, there were bits of paper labels and things in that water and they ultimately clogged things up. So, I don't do that anymore! 🙂

I think most of them are the same underneath the case.

~Rick

[nineoaks2004]

We got the large one at Wally World and love it, sure beats running to the store for ice, ours makes a load of ice about every 15-20 minutes, they are ice makers, not ice keepers such as one in the freezer at home, I just dump the cube into a small cooler and enjoy the ice in our tea or sodas. Well worth the price as ice here is about $2.50 bag.

[bob213]

Magic Chef from Walmart. We use filtered water from our Brita picther since it melts in your cup and you end up drinking it. If it's hot out it will work much better inside the trailer. Love ours. No reason to spend big$$$. They seem to be about the same.

[rexmitchell]

We have a dometic ice maker and love it, best investment for the rig after satellite tv.

[dockmasterdave]

Got ours from walmart.com, not sure of the brand name.
X2
We have two, one in the house and one in the tt.
We also put the ice into the freezer, but we put it in a ziplock bag.
If we ever find a bag of frozen puddled ice, we throw everything out.
zero degree ice lasts a lot longer than 31 degree ice.
We had one break after about a year.
We just bought another one.
Makes it's first batch of ice in about 5 minutes.
Prolific little buggers.

[tvman44]

Got ours from walmart.com, not sure of the brand name.

[JoeTampa]

dwayneb236 wrote:
We have an Emerson we got at Target about 3 years ago for $99. Don't know how much it makes in a day, the cubes are pretty soft and the box is not refrigerated but works very well. We just dump in a bowl in the freezer as it cycles. Makes a good amount of ice. We don't really use it anymore as we now have a fridge with an icemaker, but it's pretty slow so it may be coming with us in the future.

Same one, same length of time, no issues, and very happy with it. Haven't had to go for a bag of ice, ever!

We generally don't save the ice in the freezer for three reasons: The cubes tend to melt slowly after being made (as mentioned, the box is not a freezer), so they tend to be slightly wet and therefore stick together in the freezer. Also, the full tray of ice in the maker is usually sufficient for our needs at any given time. Lastly, the already-made ice helps keep the box cold, which probably aids in production and retention. However, I'm confident that it would be great for ice to put in an ice chest.

[cmeade]

We have the large Dometic ice maker and works great. It is wet ice we put in a bowl in freezer to harden. We use bottled water only to cut down on hard water deposits.

[the_bear_II]

We've had two Magic Chefs one for home one for RV both died after about 5 years of use. Like others have posted they all are about the same mechanically and electronically with just a few manufacturers and a lot of re-branding.

They work well but the ice is airy so it melts quickly in drinks.

[Us_out_West]

We have the Magic Chef 27 lb. Portable Countertop Ice Make.

Recommended by a couple of friends and works fine.

[Crazy_Ray]

IGLOO from Sam's club, $90.00 two years ago.

[Johno02]

Looks to me like that are all the same also, Ours an IGLOO brand, bought on sale at Sams Club. Makes good ice, about 10 pieces every 10 min or so. Ice chanber and basket are NOT cooled, so they do not hold ice very well. Normal use is to make ice, when basket is full, pour in a bag and put in freezer for storage. leaving it on and making ice, the basket holds two or three glassfulls at a time. but just keeps filling as long as you pour water in it.

[dwayneb236]

We have an Emerson we got at Target about 3 years ago for $99. Don't know how much it makes in a day, the cubes are pretty soft and the box is not refrigerated but works very well. We just dump in a bowl in the freezer as it cycles. Makes a good amount of ice. We don't really use it anymore as we now have a fridge with an icemaker, but it's pretty slow so it may be coming with us in the future.

[old_guy]

don't quote me but I think they are all made by the same company with different names placed on them