Ice Maker

[homer3]

Any ever use portable ice makers>

[rsl]

I have one of the Newair AI-215, 50 lb per hour portable ones, use it for froze drinks and to keep the cooler iced down and love it. we keep bottled water and the kids drinks in the cooler so they are not in and out of rv and the fridge all day. As a tip I use the melted water in the cooler to refill the ice maker so I don't end up with 5 or 10 gallons of water with some cubes floating in it, in the cooler. The intial investment pays for itself in no time vs buying bags of overpriced ice at the campstore.

[kfxgreenie]

Holy smokes 50 lb's per hour, I had to google it, 50 Lb's per day. Still a fast little machine.

I've had the one linked below for about a year now. Only use it to replenish the ice in the drink cooler, but it keeps up and does a good job at that, for the $. I do the same and use the melted ice water out of the cooler as I believe cold water would probably freeze faster harder.

http://www.shopko.com/product/entity/70658.uts

[Desert185]

I use the Magic Chef from Walmart. Works great.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/13308699?w...&wl13=&veh=sem

[shov]

We had an Igloo from Sam's Club, worked great for about 5 days, then kaput...

[chuckster57]

Don't recall the brand right now, but we bought it at Target for about $75.00 four or five years ago. One of my better investments. I recycle the water from the ice chest, so I don't waste water.

[sourdough]

The Dometic below is what we purchased and have been really pleased:

http://www.westmarine.com/buy/dometi...FQmQaQodlagARw

We did buy it from CW and not West Marine....I just couldn't find it on the CW site.

[scott24]

We use an Igloo bought from Walmart. Makes 26 pounds in 24 hours. Works nice and fast.

[bg71361]

Keep in mind if you have not had one of these ice makers , certain models can make upwards of 50lbs as some have already said, but keep in mind the ice storage tray that the cubes dump into holds about 3lbs of ice so when you go to bed in the AM you end up about 3lbs of ice. If you are able to sit at the trailer and babysit the ice maker you will get maximum production otherwise the amount of ice you really achieve is much less depending on your schedule .

Having said that I have not weighed the full container of ice cubes, but feel I'm pretty close, I have had great luck with mine for about 10 years, trust me it will have a hard time feeding a 48qt. cooler in OBX in August.

Remember your mileage may vary, good luck!

[jje1960]

Love ours, have used it for years every trip. Little tip, let the first three cycles drop the ice back in the water hopper, it will speed up the cycles and quality of ice. These units make ice fast once the water is cold. I have not needed to buy ice in years.

[tnscoutr]

We bought this Magic Chef unit last August and love it. We are actually using it in our house while waiting to get the home frig ice maker fixed.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Magic-Che...M22TW/13308699

[Cbrez]

We live at the beach and have been using a Dometic table top ice maker for years. Works great for filing the cooler for the beach and we always take it on our RV trips. Great for filling the cooler and staying out of the fridge. I am sure it has paid for itself many times over.

[mfifield01]

Could you leave one of these outside? Would it kill the efficiency?

[chuckster57]

Mine sits outside under the trailer next to the steps. Works good even in 100 degree heat.

[spicercars]

Igloo from walmart. We love it.

[goldtr8]

I have been checking online and no one stocks these things. I want to get one but not sight unseen

[JRTJH]

Originally Posted by goldtr8

I have been checking online and no one stocks these things. I want to get one but not sight unseen

Sam's Club has them in Traverse City, Midland, Saginaw and Detroit.

[cjelliott81]

We've got this one: https://www.amazon.com/Dometic-HZB-1.../dp/B00EVIIBGC


and this one: http://www.walmart.com/ip/25538170?w...456952&veh=sem

The intent was never to end up with two of them, after a fair amount of hand wringing on the ROI of a $200 icemaker vs bagged ice we finally bought the Dometic. Not two weeks later we came across the Magic chef at a yard sale for $20. With it's larger capacity we use the Magic Chef in the camper in the area between the sink and the window, storing under the dinette when not in use. The Dometic typically stays at home for use when we have people over and more ice than the kitchen fridge can produce is needed. We will bring both if camping with a lot of friends in the Florida heat.

From a recommendation to buy standpoint - the Dometic is faster but makes smaller, faster melting ice cubes and holds less of them. The Magic Chef has a larger ice bin (approx 7 lbs) but takes a little longer to make ice. Both work on the same principle where the ice is dumped into a colander type basket suspended over the water reservoir, draining back into it. Neither has any sort of refrigeration to keep the ice from melting but the melting ice does cool the water reservoir considerably leading to shortened cycle time once the machine is running for a few hours.

[Bumala]

Originally Posted by mfifield01

Could you leave one of these outside? Would it kill the efficiency?

We keep ours out in the outside kitchen. Works great, even over 100 degrees. We used it last weekend at Shasta (102 in the shade). I have some cokes in a cooler for when I'm driving, so before taking off I fill the cooler from the ice maker. Also I go out and fill a bowl from the ice maker, and keep it in the freezer for drinks.

[Cbrez]

Originally Posted by jje1960

Love ours, have used it for years every trip. Little tip, let the first three cycles drop the ice back in the water hopper, it will speed up the cycles and quality of ice. These units make ice fast once the water is cold. I have not needed to buy ice in years.

I overlooked your comment originally. Great tip. The first couple of cycles of our Dometic table top ice maker produce partial cubes. I will give your recommendation a try. Thanks