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Old 07-12-2008, 20:59   #1
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Icemaker

A year or so ago, I saw a small ice maker at Home Depot. It was advertised as being able to make ice in 15 minutes. I thought they might be good for using on a boat. Fire up the Honda generator to charge batteries and plug in the ice maker as well for happy hour.

Anyone with experience with these small portable units?
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Old 07-12-2008, 23:00   #2
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I just sailed from Puget Sound to San Francisco with a couple of friends a few weeks ago. The boat had a Costco ice maker and it worked great. We used a lot of ice and it kept up as long as you kept feeding it water.
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Old 08-12-2008, 13:41   #3
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I've often wondered about the option of using an ice maker instead of a cold plate for refridgeration in addition to having ice. I know freezing water, takes a lot of energy, but it's energy you are free to use when it's available - such as when the engine is running or when you fire up your generator.
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Old 08-12-2008, 13:54   #4
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Ice maker on an Inverter

I don't know about other ice makers, but while mine works great plugged into the dock or running on the generator I can't get it to make ice when running on a modified sine wave inverter. It will keep ice frozen, but it won't make any new ice. I suspect the compressor does not run efficiently on a modified sine wave.
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Old 08-12-2008, 14:52   #5
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Does anyone have a name that one can google and look for? I recall the ice maker in question, some friends bought one and it was relatively cheap but worked as advertised. I still see some advertised in cooking catalogs but they seem to be very expensive.
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Old 08-12-2008, 15:30   #6
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We purchased a portable unit from Target several months ago. The brand name is Magic Chef and it sold for approx $150.00.
They will not keep the ice froze so if you don't use it right away the ice will melt. We make large amounts then put it in the freezer for future use. We have run it off the inverter several times with no problems and it does not seem to put much of a drain on the battery bank.
My complaints are even though they say compact they are quite large so finding a spot for it is a pain. We have to secure it before getting under way which is also a pain. The other problem is the obvious that it does not keep ice frozen.
From what I understand the built in units will keep ice frozen and when you do the measuring they do not take up much more space than the portable unit.
Personally I am keeping my eyes open for a nice built in unit.
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Old 08-12-2008, 17:16   #7
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Maybe some of the old salts can advise us of what is actually the best way to make a fair amount of ice. I was thinking that when I do get my boat, I'd either get a 12v freezer which could make a lot of ice in trays or a serious ice maker which when turned on for a couple hours could make enough for a couple of days. Or, maybe for the money your better to just buy 10 bags and let them melt in your cooler. My home built in ice maker makes a ton but the ice in the hopper is always melting. Keeps it fresh but takes a lot of juice.
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Old 08-12-2008, 17:38   #8
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We have a U-Line icemaker (model SS98 or something like that) that was specifically built for boats, although it runs on AC. When we have shore power, we just keep it on. When we're motoring, we run it off the inverter (pure sine wave, so I don't know how it would do with a modified sine wave inverter). When on the hook, we'll run it whenever we're running the genset. The advantage to these is that they can make a lot of ice, fast. It will make a couple of gallons of ice in about 2 hours. When it is time to turn off the genset (or stop the engines), then the ice goes into the freezer. That also helps the freezer, as it takes up some empty space and thus helps the freezer be a bit more efficient.

U-Line icemakers aren't cheap, but it has been rock-solid reliable and we've never run short on ice!

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Old 30-12-2008, 23:18   #9
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I have been using a Waeco, model CF-18. One can use it as a refridge or to create ice. It is not cheap but I consider its reliability and features to be worth the cost. To read the specs check out the following.
www.zerofreight.com/waeco-coolfreeze-cf18dc-p-30.html
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Old 08-01-2009, 05:24   #10
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We looked at an ice maker but decided against it for two reasons. 1. The initial cost of the fitted option from the manufacturer was $2000!!! and 2. It uses a lot of power.
As we already have a freezer on board we buy these ice cube bags Ice Cube Bags, 10-pack - Item - Camping World
which work fine and it's one less piece of equipment to go wrong.
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Old 08-01-2009, 07:16   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chucktro View Post
I have been using a Waeco, model CF-18. One can use it as a refridge or to create ice. It is not cheap but I consider its reliability and features to be worth the cost. To read the specs check out the following.
www.zerofreight.com/waeco-coolfreeze-cf18dc-p-30.html
Does the waeco freeze it quickly? Am I to assume that you have to fill ice cube trays or is ther an ice maker option with it?
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Old 08-01-2009, 07:38   #12
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We recently bought a table top ice maker at Target, it works great!! We fire up the gen in the morning to charge batteries and make ice! It works quickly too...less than ten minutes per batch. We put the ice into ziplock baggies and place them in the freezer for later. It is quicker than our cold plate. The downside is it does take up counter space. We have ours on the counter under the stairs which with our set-up is pretty much wasted space anyway.
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Old 08-05-2009, 06:04   #13
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I run my little icemaker of the invertor/solar pannels...its is great
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