We keep a cooler in our RV to keep drinks in and we have a portable ice maker right beside it. I would like to find a manual water transfer pump to pump water from the cooler as it melts to the ice maker. We currently dip it out but it is hard to get to the bottom thru the ice and drinks. I have looked on Amazon and they have several. Does anyone else do this? And what kind of pump do you use?Jeff

Do you scrub/clean all drink cans/bottles prior to placing in cooler and dumping ice on them?Now I am not a germaphobe by ANY stretch of the imagination but water going to Ice Maker needs to be clean/filtered so minimize clogging issues with water dispenser.If you have a fridge with ice maker...isn't water already provided?

Northern tools sells some 12 and 120 volt water transfer pumps.I have a Wayne 12 volt to pump water from a container into my water tank.

Some campers use a manual boat / kayak bilge pump to transfer water. And I too use a Wayne 12V pump to transfer water to my on-board tank.

we don,t no your set up ,but those bottles&cans have been in some very dirty places, BUT you could use frozen jugs of water and pump out of them .you got a good Idea just need clean water.

Why not put the cooler at a higher level than the ice maker (since it's a portable one), and then attach a drain hose to the cooler at the drain spout (if it has one), and the other end (lower) to the ice maker an let gravity feed the ice maker?

Water Transfer Pump for my Cooler | Good Sam Community

Happy_Prospecto
Explorer
Jun 20, 2016
Water from an ice chest, and you want to put it in an ice maker, sure, why not, what could possibly go wrong? HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA Good Luck
Grit_dog
Navigator
Jun 20, 2016
Where is it that desolate in Indiana you need to resort to recycling cooler ice to make more ice? Lol
Maybe filling gallon ziploc bags w ice then pour back into ice maker when melted?
Easy Plus it keeps down the scrungy ice factor.
Can't imagine your talking about massive quantities.
fcooper
Explorer
Jun 20, 2016
A 12 volt boat bilge pump would also work if it does not have to lift the water very high.

Fred
Need-A-Vacation
Explorer
Jun 19, 2016
Since you are only using the ice for the cooler, grab one of the battery powered kerosene pumps from HD ro Lowe's, or similar. Runs on 2-d batteries. Only thing you may need to do is lengthen the outlet hose, or pump the water into a jug.
fj12ryder
Explorer III
Jun 19, 2016
No offense, but that just sounds nasty. I wouldn't make ice out of water that cans and bottles have been in. I suppose if you clean the cans and bottles really well...

Oops, missed the post about just for ice. A filter would be a good idea to keep small pieces of crud out of the ice maker though.
buzzard616
Explorer
Jun 19, 2016
Whole bunch of pumps here.
jeffo
Explorer
Jun 17, 2016
Our cooler does not have a drain spout, we may have to trade coolers. Also we do not use ice from this ice maker in drinks (only to keep cans and bottled water in the cooler cold). I may have to try some of the hand pumps I see on Amazon, they are not very expensive.

Thanks
Jeff
DutchmenSport
Explorer
Jun 17, 2016
Why not put the cooler at a higher level than the ice maker (since it's a portable one), and then attach a drain hose to the cooler at the drain spout (if it has one), and the other end (lower) to the ice maker an let gravity feed the ice maker?
midnightsadie
Explorer II
Jun 16, 2016
we don,t no your set up ,but those bottles&cans have been in some very dirty places, BUT you could use frozen jugs of water and pump out of them .you got a good Idea just need clean water.
mbopp
Explorer
Jun 16, 2016
Some campers use a manual boat / kayak bilge pump to transfer water. And I too use a Wayne 12V pump to transfer water to my on-board tank.