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Shanaly · 06-01-2013, 06:06

just looking at kitchen counter domestic ice makers, make 15kg of cubes per day on only 75W (at 240v = 3A) . so could I run it off the genny or inverter to make ice for an hour or 2 when required, and put the ice in a bag or basket in the cool box? I guess water/air content of ice is important, but no data from th emakers....

any thoughts?!

DotDun · 06-01-2013, 06:14

IMO, very inefficient way to have an icebox, I think you are underestimating the amount of ice required. My experience with like machines is they don't put out the rated amount of ice until they been running for an hour or more (due to ice storage area needs cooled down). 75W will run a 12v compressor and keep the box cool 24/7.

sww914 · 06-01-2013, 06:19

I have a countertop ice maker. I takes about 3-4 hours to fill a gallon ziploc with ice. There's no way it could keep up unless it was a 6-pack sized ice box. It's just too expensive electrically to be feasible, IMO, even if it would keep up.
My refrigerator is almost a million years old and it only draws 5 amps and it runs about 50% of the time, in the tropics.

**noelex 77** · 06-01-2013, 06:36

I love back ups. Cruising boats have a lot of equipment failures. I have thought about the same thing. If the fridge failed an ice maker would at least supply cold drinks.
It seems like a simple cheap back up that could be run when the solar panels are regulating, for free ice.

I have not tried it, but I think trying to keep a whole fridge cold is optimistic, but drinks and a small quantity of food seems feasible.

Maybe a small car fridge (compressor) with freezing ability would be a better use of space as a back up. More cost, but not much in boat dollars?

RabidRabbit · 06-01-2013, 07:19

Short answer, No. This seems to be going the route of other marine reefer threads as an effort to not spend big bucks. Theres no way around it, if you want full time cold. You need to up your budget. Get a Dometic cooler, and a couple of solar panels.

foggysail · 06-01-2013, 07:47

Of course it will work under the right conditions to a limited extent. But your not going to wind up with a 25# block. A friend does exactly that while on anchor. He has to run his 7.5KW generator for at least 2 hours every morning and night so this is an example where doing so would work.

Efficient? Heck no but running a huge generator for 4 hours a day is not efficient either.

I have enough solar (for sunny days) to make ice cubes in my fridge where my freezer sits at -5 F. We never compensate the fridge's temperature for time on anchor.

GrowleyMonster · 06-01-2013, 07:48

For a short term backup, maybe. I have to agree with the others. Very inefficient and not very effective. But you would have ice for frozen margaritas and stuff. I say get it and use it when you need actual ice. Use a proper reefer setup for keeping food cold. There are ways to do it fairly cheap. Especially if you run your engine a lot. I always thought a compressor from a car air conditioner would make a pretty good engine driven small reefer compressor. I'm sure it would work great on a motorboat. But the figures I am seeing on 12V systems look pretty good, except maybe the price could be a little lower.

A cheap way to keep a few drinks or a couple days worth of food cold would be a 12v fridge like what they sell at truck stops. They are cheap as dirt but painfully small, usually. I don't know how much current they draw but probably more than a purpose built boat reefer.