Portable Ice Makers

[wbwood]

Went camping this weekend and forgot to grab some ice. Wasn't a big deal. Didn't end up needing it so much. Made a tray of it and it sufficed. Saw some people with a portable ice maker and thought it would be a good idea to have one. Ordered one and hope to have it soon.

For those that have them, how do you like them?

[wbwood]

Actually ice prices will depend on where you are buying it. We've seen it for a couple bucks and even twice as much depending on location. Plus, you gotta stop what you are doing and normally drive somewhere to get it. Depending on how far you gat to drive, that $2 bag of ice can easily cost you $5 or more. And the. You got to have a place to put it. Bag of ice will go in a cooler. Then it melts faster than the ice in the freezer will. I just think in the long run, it will be a better choice for us. Less taproom than a cooler and lighter than a full cooler as well.

[John_Joey]

wbwood wrote:

John&Joey wrote:
When we're on the road we buy water to drink. So it only makes sense then to use bottled water for the portable ice maker. If I'm going to do that, I might just as well buy a bag of ice.

We have one and used it a few times.

I can see your point, but I can buy a gallon of purified water for less than $1. I want to say you can get it even cheaper at Walmart. How much ice does a gallon of water make? Even better, how much would two gallons make compared to the size of a $2 bag of ice? The one thing I like about it, is that we can make ice when we want it and have it. We can make as much as we want. We will be able to put it in a bin in the freezer and it will stay frozen. A bag of ice we will have to put in a cooler that's taking up more room than the Ice maker. Plus the ice is going to melt. A cooler would be out outside and depending on the temp, it will melt even faster. And then we have to worry about someone stealing our cooler as they did two years ago.

We have even gotten away from canned drinks. We have a soda stream and can make what we want when we want to. We have a few bottles to make different flavored drinks and those bottles fit in the fridge easily.

Those are all good reasons and some of them were even ours. Our biggest thing at the time of purchase was if we had a party/happy hour going we would not run out of ice. Plus, it just looked darn fancy sitting on that table next to the RV clunking out ice :B

Just a couple of things to think about that we found out after traveling with one. They are heavy, they take up a fair amount of room, buy one that recycles the melted ice water, the ice is always wet when you put it in the freezer in zip lock bags so it freezes into a block, also I often wonder if they are that sanitary since it's hard to drain all the water out of them, maybe a little bleach water might be in order.

We still use ours once or twice a season, but not in the RV anymore but at our cabin. For the RV we now just buy ice and have a sliver ice bucket for when a group is over. That looks pretty fancy also sitting on that table. A five pound bag of ice is a couple of bucks, and a portable ice maker is around $100. In hindsight, I should have skipped the icemaker. YMMV

[wbwood]

John&Joey wrote:
When we're on the road we buy water to drink. So it only makes sense then to use bottled water for the portable ice maker. If I'm going to do that, I might just as well buy a bag of ice.

We have one and used it a few times.

I can see your point, but I can buy a gallon of purified water for less than $1. I want to say you can get it even cheaper at Walmart. How much ice does a gallon of water make? Even better, how much would two gallons make compared to the size of a $2 bag of ice? The one thing I like about it, is that we can make ice when we want it and have it. We can make as much as we want. We will be able to put it in a bin in the freezer and it will stay frozen. A bag of ice we will have to put in a cooler that's taking up more room than the Ice maker. Plus the ice is going to melt. A cooler would be out outside and depending on the temp, it will melt even faster. And then we have to worry about someone stealing our cooler as they did two years ago.

We have even gotten away from canned drinks. We have a soda stream and can make what we want when we want to. We have a few bottles to make different flavored drinks and those bottles fit in the fridge easily.

[John_Joey]

When we're on the road we buy water to drink. So it only makes sense then to use bottled water for the portable ice maker. If I'm going to do that, I might just as well buy a bag of ice.

We have one and used it a few times.

[wbwood]

If they have 30amps service, then that means they are capable of 30amps of electric at once, right? In other words, if I try to run 50 Amps of electric at once, then it will trip or some things won't run, right? The park needs to able to handle 30amps x number of sites, especially on hot days.

By the way, we got our ice maker in today. A newair. Does 28lbs a day. Seems to work ok so far. We let it run a couple of cycles and has produced ice as promised. Turned it off to go out. Will let it run tomorrow for a longer period of time.

[doxiemom11]

We have an ice maker in our indoor freezer, however we do not use it. We also do not use coolers unless going to the beach or something. Something to keep in mind is that many parks only have 30 amp service. All the extra appliances that everyone keeps adding puts a strain on the electrical system during hot weather. Many of us would rather have a refrigerator that can run without alarms going off, or be able to run an air conditioner on excessively hot days. We have worked in 2 parks that all the extras became a problem, and some parks are no longer allowing outdoor appliances because of this.

[wbwood]

jkbrea wrote:

rockhillmanor wrote:
The less I have to put in my MH that takes up any more space the better. Bags of ice cost a few bucks.

Four bags of ice in a cheap throw away cooler has always keep me and my friends in cold ones! Just don't see the need for an ice maker.

I don't like extra stuff either. Prior to a trip I empty my home ice maker into a couple large zip lock bags and put them in the RV freezer. I still end up buying a bag or two. I usually leave an ice chest full of water, gatorade, beer...outside so the kids don't have to go in and out all the time for a drink.

Having a cooler is taking up extra space as well....right?

[jkbrea]

rockhillmanor wrote:
The less I have to put in my MH that takes up any more space the better. Bags of ice cost a few bucks.

Four bags of ice in a cheap throw away cooler has always keep me and my friends in cold ones! Just don't see the need for an ice maker.

I don't like extra stuff either. Prior to a trip I empty my home ice maker into a couple large zip lock bags and put them in the RV freezer. I still end up buying a bag or two. I usually leave an ice chest full of water, gatorade, beer...outside so the kids don't have to go in and out all the time for a drink.

[Ric_Flair]

I'm fortunate to have an ice maker that came with the fridge, otherwise I'd get one of these.

[Lantley]

Executive wrote:

ReVoker wrote:

Executive wrote:
Another advantage if you don't always need the ice, you have an extra freezer.....Dennis

These icemakers are not freezers in anyway at all. They make ice cubes and nothing else. You cannot put anything in them and expect them to stay frozen. If you had one you would understand this.

We had two rigs with the ULine separate ice makers and used them as freezers quite a bit..so I guess it all depends on what brand you buy.....Dennis

Where your units portable ? Or were they built in?

[Executive45]

ReVoker wrote:

Executive wrote:
Another advantage if you don't always need the ice, you have an extra freezer.....Dennis

These icemakers are not freezers in anyway at all. They make ice cubes and nothing else. You cannot put anything in them and expect them to stay frozen. If you had one you would understand this.

We had two rigs with the ULine separate ice makers and used them as freezers quite a bit..so I guess it all depends on what brand you buy.....Dennis

[JamesBr]

I have the smaller version made by igloo that makes 26# a day with about a 2LB basket capacity. It is correct to say it is not a freezer, just an ice maker and as the ice it makes melts it falls into the resevior and makes more. The smaller version is good for 2 maybe 3 people max if everyone is using a lot of ice for drinks. For me it was pefect for the smaller size.

The larger one a friend has that he got from camping world and its good for 4-5 people. So far I have seen it from Dometic and Newair with a 50# per day cycle and I want to say a 5# basket capacity as its a little more then double the little one I got.

[gaymeadowsman]

B.O. Plenty wrote:

gaymeadowsman wrote:
We bought an Emerson Ice maker from Target for $109.99. Three months and 5 camping trips it stopped making ice.
Then bought one from Camping World on sale for$179. After a year the pump started going out so we carried it back and they exchanged it,NO questions.
We haven't bought ice in two years. More than paid for. and no problems in the last two years with the newest one.

If you put them side X side you will realize the one you paid $179.00 for is exactly the same as the one from Target for $109.99...Just has a different name on the outside.

B.O.

Not so, we still have the broken Emerson Ice maker. Target said we had to send it back to manufacturer,at our cost. The Dometic is larger with a one gallon water resevior. The Dometic wil drop ice 7 minutes after it's turned on and the Emerson was never that fast.

[ReVoker]

Executive wrote:
Another advantage if you don't always need the ice, you have an extra freezer.....Dennis

These icemakers are not freezers in anyway at all. They make ice cubes and nothing else. You cannot put anything in them and expect them to stay frozen. If you had one you would understand this.