small 30cm high front loader icemaker?

[vas]

went shopping for various things, and as it always happens I came across something completely different: a small foot cube sort of size icemaker. 220V, touchscreen (even for on-off ffs!) and quite cheap at 350euro.
I have a place to fit it (just) and it seems that I'm ok, other than I'll need a 300W sine inverter (my 1kW mobitronic is quasi and wont work!).

So anyone has used such a small icemaker, are they any good or should I not bother?

I'm talking about this particular one (just on sale in a local shop in Athens as a special deal for the last 2 pieces)
https://www.dhgate.com/product/ce-ce...389538990.html

so, should I get it, should I buy something else (remember limit is 30cm height and no access on top!), or should I not bother with an icemaker at all?

cheers

V.

[rafiki_]

Vas, you can buy an ice maker here in the U.K. for £120 ish. Friend had one on his boat, and it worked a treat. Have a look on Amazon UK. We don't bother on Rafiki as our freezer compartment is big enough for several trays, plus whatever else we need to freeze.

[jrudge]

They work well and I had a similar on on my targa.

Ventilation for an ice maker is CRITICAL. I used another computer type fan to extract from the cabinet or it simply won’t work. You need to avoid any build up of heat.

Mine made cubes about every 10 mins. I loved the sounds as it meant I could have my first drink !

[rafiki_]

How about this Vas? https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb...=22J9JEXIWBDIK

[Nick_H]

We have a desktop ice maker like the one you've linked to Vas, and it's OK, but only OK.

The ice cubes are small and hollow, and they come out of the machine at only marginally below freezing point, so they melt very quickly in drinks and are next to useless for dropping in rose to keep it chilled. You end up needing so much on a hot day that the wine gets watered down. There's no chiller in the machine, so they also melt quickly in situ if you don't use them or transfer them to the freezer.

We only really use ours for the ice bucket, where they're better than nothing, but I still prefer one of these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Vacu-Vin-Ra...TSJDZWK2EMWX2W. We keep 3 inners in the freezer which can be rotated. They wont take champagne bottles though, which is when we need the ice.

For putting in drinks we use ice from trays from the freezer, which are bigger, solid, and much colder, so they have 20+ times the ability to chill the drink, and will last a few minutes.

I've also found the ice maker cubes cause fizzy drinks to fizz so much they go almost flat. Not sure why that is, but again the ice from trays is much better.

[jrudge]

Mine was like that until I vented it. Is it in an enclosed cabinate?

When I put a fan it it made heaps of solid ice.


As you say it does not have a freezer capability but after 2-3 cycles ours was cold inside ( full of ice!) and kept ice pretty well.

[vas]

thank you v.much gents! couldn't imagine that I'd get such interesting (and money saving advice from here tbh )

How about this Vas? https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb...=22J9JEXIWBDIK

Paul, main issue is (rather WAS) a front loader as I was thinking of fitting it in a 30cm high slot, so the one you linked is fine, but no go...

We have a desktop ice maker like the one you've linked to Vas, and it's OK, but only OK.

The ice cubes are small and hollow, and they come out of the machine at only marginally below freezing point, so they melt very quickly in drinks and are next to useless for dropping in rose to keep it chilled. You end up needing so much on a hot day that the wine gets watered down. There's no chiller in the machine, so they also melt quickly in situ if you don't use them or transfer them to the freezer.

We only really use ours for the ice bucket, where they're better than nothing, but I still prefer one of these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Vacu-Vin-Ra...TSJDZWK2EMWX2W. We keep 3 inners in the freezer which can be rotated. They wont take champagne bottles though, which is when we need the ice.

For putting in drinks we use ice from trays from the freezer, which are bigger, solid, and much colder, so they have 20+ times the ability to chill the drink, and will last a few minutes.

I've also found the ice maker cubes cause fizzy drinks to fizz so much they go almost flat. Not sure why that is, but again the ice from trays is much better.

Nick, yep that's the things I wanted to hear, so no point really as I could give some more effort in sorting out ventilation on both my fridges and hopefully have ice there.
The no chiller is interesting as well, obviously was no manual around (veritable China product) and couldn't find anything online so had to resort to the dealer's views. He did mention that you can either plug it in, or simply fill it with water and then the water is picked up from the tray (where obviously the ice also melts!) and is converted to ice cubes. Pic on the web of icecube formation was rather creepy reminded me of some scifi movies, not nice!

Mine was like that until I vented it. Is it in an enclosed cabinate?

When I put a fan it it made heaps of solid ice.


As you say it does not have a freezer capability but after 2-3 cycles ours was cold inside ( full of ice!) and kept ice pretty well.

Jeremy, that's no go for me as I was planning to fit it in probably the hottest part of the boat, under the dash over the steps going to the cabins. There is a bit of volume of air in there, say half a cube m, but not easy escape routes unless I start drilling the superstructure and fit vents and I definitely don't want to do that.
The true sine inverter supply is also a problem for now at least.

cheers

V.

[rafiki_]

Yep, good call. Stick with the fridge/freezer

[MapisM]

Stick with the fridge/freezer

Positively +1.
With a good freezer onboard, an icemaker is a solution to a problem that doesn't exist.

[Portofino]

Positively +1.
With a good freezer onboard, an icemaker is a solution to a problem that doesn't exist.

Funny you should say that because in the Med there’s a lot of chaff around ice makers to the point that without one somehow a Med boat is incomplete.
We have not got one we have space but there are Batt drain issues @ anchor however the motivation to fit one is almost zero .
Our two freezer boxes hold up to 100 cubes in batches of 12 .A refill only takes 15/20 mins to freeze .
Even with 4/6 pax on board and 4/6 cubes in a large Pastis or maybe 3 max in a rose ( not too many here as it’s pretty watered Fr wine anyhow ) .
We can,t drink fast enough to warrant a lack of ice problem that requires us to blow €€€ on another gadget .
Then there’s the water supply issue while it’s running , and a wider hygiene issue when’s it’s off during period s of inactivity.
So no thanks we will stick to topping up trays with Evian thanks