Energy efficient ice-makers?

[dansand]

Our boat is wired 220V and the previous owners had a AC Icemaker installed. It was quite a pig on the AH and often pulled 15A+ while running which seemed like pretty much all the time...

Is there such thing as an energy efficient AC icemaker or better yet a DC marine model I could possibly replace it with.

The other option is simple ice trays which is what we are using now but once you have a maker it seems pretty hard to go back http://www.cruisersforum.com/images/.../whistling.gif

Any thoughts our guidance would be greatly appreciated...

[travellerw]

I think what you are looking for is beyond the laws of physics.. It take a lot of energy to make ice. It takes a lot of energy in a short period to make ice quickly.

Actually 15A at 12V (I'm assuming you were running on an inverter) is pretty impressive. Thats only around 200W(ish) of power to make ice. I don't think you will find anything with better efficiency out there.

[Captain Bill]

We bought a small tabletop ice maker from walmart several years ago (igloo brand). It's pretty much a power hog, but at 110V, not 220. We find that our solar controller goes into absorption mode by about noon on sunny days and we have way more amps available than we are using, so we turn on the icemaker. It makes a good bit of ice in 4-5 hours and it's done with electricity we would have just thrown away otherwise. We have a pretty good size freezer compartment in our fridge and just move the ice to a plastic bag and put it in the lower part of our freezer outside of the evaporator. It takes for ever to make ice in that part of the freezer and it will not freeze meat, but it will hold ice quite well. We once had a Uline ice maker/drink fridge that was AC only. It really didn't work for us while cruising as the compressor did not run well on our modified sine wave inverter. The ice maker portion died and we tore it out and it's now my tool closet. I don't know where you are going to get a 220V table top ice maker in the states, but if you can find one and you have solar it works pretty well.

If you are in St. Petersburg Russia and not St. Petersburg, FL then of course you might not have excessive solar power available.

[LLizzard]

I hate ice trays too! What about one of these countertop ice makers?
Most make about "26 lbs a day" Most make ice but won't keep in a freezer compartment, so you have to use it, remove it and put it in a tub in the freezor, or let it melt and some recycle the water and refreeze.
There are a dozen or more brands sold all over the internet and big box stores. I'm going to put one on my boatw hen I cruise south. Here is a listing from Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_s...d=Y6N1Y3GLQQ2U

[john61ct]

They are often poorly made. Uline and pro hotel-style are better but huge and pricey.

They need very clean water, hardness is the enemy, some very difficult to clean. Bottled or well-filtered water, watermaker is ideal.

The lbs / day only works if you stand by and empty the tiny "storage" before it fills.

That bin is not cold, lets the ice melt, recycling the water.

If on solar, run only when power is "excess", not suited for battery drawdown on most setups.

Better IMO is a strong 12V compressor freezer and manually changing out enough trays to satisfy your needs.

[zboss]

We successfully used on of those countertop ice makers at anchor several years ago. Especially when things were topped up like Captain Bill mentioned. The program is that the ice is not great ice. You may get 26 pounds an hour (not really) but you have to use new ice for each drink, so the ice goes quickly. Buuuuut.... its nice being able to turn it on a few hours before sundowner time and have some nice cold drinks to go along with your cheese and crackers!

[fxykty]

Whiskey stones and plastic reusables for us - no single purpose appliance, no water use, and no watering down of drinks. We keep 30 or so in the freezer compartment of our fridge and that’s enough for a small party.

[keith001]

My current best solution for ice is ice ball molds that I drop into the freezer. They make solid ice balls about 2” in diameter, are inside their individual plastic ball trays until u use them so no sublimation and they are already hardened (at freezer temp).