Portable Ice Makers

[RAurand]

Any recommendations, thoughts on portable ice makers? If someone is taking a ling trip and the freezer is full, I am sure there will not be any room to store bagged ice from the store.
Thoughts, Pros, Cons?

[craigav]

I like mine, (just a standard one like all the rest) and it starts making ice in about 5 minutes and it can make ice plenty fast enough to keep up with most drinks. On the downside, the ice is just barely frozen and melts very quickly, especially with a little alcohol in the drink. What I do is use the ice maker ice the first night or two and then as the freezer has a little more room in it then I freeze the ice made in the portable ice maker in the RV freezer in a ziplock back in order to get it colder so it will last longer. When doing that, the cubes will stick to each other in the bag and will have to be hit upon a bit to free them up. ~CA

[Kmo]

I just bought one of those little ones from Canadian tire or Walmart has them too, work good.

[TWP723]

My son bought us the EdgeStar icemaker a couple years ago for Christmas and it works awesome. The only downfall, you have to constantly be on it and empty it constantly.

[Camper_bob]

Originally Posted by craigav

I like mine, (just a standard one like all the rest) and it starts making ice in about 5 minutes and it can make ice plenty fast enough to keep up with most drinks. On the downside, the ice is just barely frozen and melts very quickly, especially with a little alcohol in the drink. What I do is use the ice maker ice the first night or two and then as the freezer has a little more room in it then I freeze the ice made in the portable ice maker in the RV freezer in a ziplock back in order to get it colder so it will last longer. When doing that, the cubes will stick to each other in the bag and will have to be hit upon a bit to free them up. ~CA

This is about how my experience has been.

I love ours despite those shortcomings. The first few batches are a bit "wet" and the ice is small, but once it gets going, the "cubes" (they're not cubes at all) are much more robust. I also bag it or put it in a bin in my freezer to have extra.

The big downfall in my experience is the amount of heat it creates. I have enough trouble keeping the "main" living area in my rig cool, and that little ice maker dumps a BUNCH of heat into that area. And it uses a fair bit of energy too, so I have to be careful with power management when it's running.

But again, we love it, and would (and have) recommend one.

[LuckyDuck]

Sorry, but I’ll be the disagreeable one here. We bought a name brand one from Target or Kohl’s (I forget) and tried it out at home. Took it back the next day. It was basically the Easy Bake oven version of a real ice maker. After 10 minutes, it spits out a handful of watery cubes that are hollow, so very little actual ice. Not enough for two good tumblers. And it puts out heat and noise. For $150 I can buy a lot of bagged ice and throw into smaller ziplocks in the freezer. It was an expensive toy.

[RAurand]

Thank you all for the inputs.

[Finally Able]

Late last night, beyond the time of truly rational thinking, I had a thought nonetheless: so far, we've only used our microwave as a clock display and to tell if we on shore power. Why not pull it and use the bay with 110V to hold a portable ice maker? Then we could assist the refrigerator cooling, have enough for drinks, etc. Hey, I maybe could also haul our Kitchenaid stand mixer (as I said, it was a bit late in the evening for effective brain output.)

The unused microwave will remain (until a better idea comes along.)

[dannyabear]

They are all the same, made in china, buy where cheapest and pay the extra $10 for ex warranty, i'm on my 3rd one in 5 years

[Palms]

Ours is 4 yrs old and working like a champ. A few weeks ago the ice maker on the home fridge went out and served our home needs for 3 weeks before this trip. Has been on constantly for almost 5 weeks on the road and is probably the best $100 you can spend, in spite of it’s known shortcomings.

[Woodworker]

We have a Magic Chef an it is great. The only "issue" I've had was making ice in the camper when the temp was 98 or 99 an I didn't have the a/c running. It wasn't "as efficient" an ran hot so I turned the a/c on an it worked flawlessly.
It doesn't make cooler friendly ice cubes but for drinks can't beat it. The cubes don't stick together like commercial ice in a bag does either.
Between the ice maker an the Cooler Shock bags I use for the cooler the only time I've bought ice in the past 3 or 4 yrs is when I catch fish or harvest a deer

[RedHorse1]

We have a Magic Chef countertop ice maker. Seen them under several different names. It makes ice ok but won’t store ice for very long, the holding area isn’t cooled. It’s ok if we use the ice as it’s made or collect it in the freezer. That wouldn’t work if the freezer is full and it’s just not that useful. It’s $100 that I wish I had back.
Like others I’d suggest buying a bag of ice and keeping it in a chest. Eat what’s in the freezer first so you can make your own ice.

[Camper_bob]

Originally Posted by LuckyDuck

Sorry, but I’ll be the disagreeable one here. We bought a name brand one from Target or Kohl’s (I forget) and tried it out at home. Took it back the next day. It was basically the Easy Bake oven version of a real ice maker. After 10 minutes, it spits out a handful of watery cubes that are hollow, so very little actual ice. Not enough for two good tumblers. And it puts out heat and noise. For $150 I can buy a lot of bagged ice and throw into smaller ziplocks in the freezer. It was an expensive toy.

You should have let it make at least a few batches before you made that call (IMHO).

Like I said before, the first batch or two of ice is no good. But once it gets going, the ice is MUCH larger, and MUCH "drier". In fact, I've been known to just dump the first 2-3 cycles back in the water. This is why I make a bunch and store it in the freezer. If I'm not running the genset in transit (thus not running the ice maker), it'll take the machine some time to make "reasonable" ice when we get where we're going. We go through A LOT of ice, so I always like to have some in reserve.

I also sometimes do not depend solely on my ice maker. We've been known to buy a bag of ice to use, and I have a good set of ice trays for the freezer. I look at it like "layers of support" for our "ice habit"!!

I'll agree that it creates some heat, and it can be annoyingly loud. I usually turn ours off at night. But for the convenience, it's worth it for us.

If I get a chance or remember, I'll try to take a comparison picture of the ice between the first batch and later batches. There's a HUGE difference.

[Kmo]

I only use mine outside and I leave it on all weekend, always have ice in my drinks and a yeti mug helps.

[LuckyDuck]

Originally Posted by Camper_bob

You should have let it make at least a few batches before you made that call (IMHO).

Like I said before, the first batch or two of ice is no good. But once it gets going, the ice is MUCH larger, and MUCH "drier". In fact, I've been known to just dump the first 2-3 cycles back in the water. This is why I make a bunch and store it in the freezer. If I'm not running the genset in transit (thus not running the ice maker), it'll take the machine some time to make "reasonable" ice when we get where we're going. We go through A LOT of ice, so I always like to have some in reserve.

I also sometimes do not depend solely on my ice maker. We've been known to buy a bag of ice to use, and I have a good set of ice trays for the freezer. I look at it like "layers of support" for our "ice habit"!!

I'll agree that it creates some heat, and it can be annoyingly loud. I usually turn ours off at night. But for the convenience, it's worth it for us.

If I get a chance or remember, I'll try to take a comparison picture of the ice between the first batch and later batches. There's a HUGE difference.

Thanks Bob. We actually ran it through several batches that first day but just didn’t see it was worth that much cash. We do fine by freezing a couple of ice trays each night and have a large bag full in a day or two. And they have twice the ice content as the machine-made ones. If we need a bigger batch, we just buy a bag at the camp store.

Besides having another 150 bucks in my pocket, that’s another 25 pounds I’m not towing, not to mention the distraction. But, hey, I’m glad it works for others.

[GHen]

We have tried a few portable ice makers and have been disappointed. We now have one at home that needs to be plumbed in and it’s awesome, brand is an SPT and looks like the ice maker in a home freezer. It puts out 20 pounds a day. But it’s fairly big and with plumbing it’s not a great choice for an RV.

With that said, we don’t take a portable ice maker with us anymore. We have an Artik cooler (like a Yeti) that holds 2 bags of ice very cold for 5 days plus. Those are expensive coolers but they really really work well. Of course there are all kinds of sizes, but if you need ice to last, you need to keep them full. 2 mediums are better than one large.
No power, no plumbing, no noise, no heat. The family has a few of them, as we use ice we move the ice to make sure the cooler are full and keeps our drink cold for a week or better of Boondocking.

[Camper_bob]

Originally Posted by LuckyDuck

Thanks Bob. We actually ran it through several batches that first day but just didn’t see it was worth that much cash. We do fine by freezing a couple of ice trays each night and have a large bag full in a day or two. And they have twice the ice content as the machine-made ones. If we need a bigger batch, we just buy a bag at the camp store.

Besides having another 150 bucks in my pocket, that’s another 25 pounds I’m not towing, not to mention the distraction. But, hey, I’m glad it works for others.

Well, you gave it a chance, and you didn't like it. Can't fault you for that!

And that's also why I keep PLENTY of ice trays around. You just never know. Ice trays are cheap and light...

Full disclosure: My neighbor got one for his 5er a couple years before I got mine, and I gave him TONS of crap over it. Then I got one, and took it all back...

[JimD]

I use these ice trays which are a bit smaller than standard and have sealed lids. You can cram them in some tight places. They don't spill like a normal ice tray would. Freeze a bit faster too because the cubes are a little smaller.

[MQuick]

I got our portable ice maker 3 years ago from Cabelas. It can crank out the ice. I bag the ice and put it in the freezer. It makes more than we need. I have a ice maker in the refrigerator but don’t use it. It puts out very little ice and have not used it after or 2ed trip. Also, with the portable ice maker you get to choose what water you use to make ice

[h3is3m2n]

We have a countertop version, bought it the beginning of this season and love it, makes ice really fast. Just about keeps up with our drinking! I bought clear plastic freezer bins for our fridge and keep filling them as we go. Ice cubes themselves are shaped differently, but they work.