Budget Ice Maker

[FSH 210 Sport]

There are three vids on this. Looks like a fun project.

Vid [HASH=6144]#1-building[/HASH] the ice maker

Vid [HASH=6145]#2-add[/HASH] second ice maker to increase production

Vid [HASH=6146]#3-add[/HASH] fans to increase production

Pretty neat concept! And unlike commercial ice makers this ice doesn’t melt after it’s made.

 

[Bluewater272]

Nice find, I'm intrigued. At least twice a year I go down the rabbit hole of trying to find some old used commercial machine. We spend about $20-30/week on ice, and cost aside, its just an annoying process - either have to run out before we leave, or stop somewhere with the boat.

 

[fatboyroy]

I bought 10 lb ice bag from amazon and have a little ice maker and my fridge, that I make about 1, 10 lb bag a day. I do this weekday for use on weekends. Nice how he solved the freezing issue at the tube entry to freezer.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

I was looking at some commercial ice makers, the good ones cost $2500-$3000.

Amazon.com

My HVAC friend has told me the low cost ones can have reliability issues and finding parts for the cheap ones would be difficult.

And one of the things I find interesting is that the commercial ones do not have a storage bin that keeps the ice frozen..

@fatboyroy That is a great idea! I’ve just been dumping my fridges ice maker bin into the OEM ice chest along with 3-4 small frozen water bottles. The ice does melt some but there is still plenty of ice left over at the end of the day. I just want enough ice to put into the built in fish box when I’m going fishing with the intent to keep them. Maybe I’ll take a cue from you, get a small countertop one and use that along with fridges ice maker to fill bags and put them into my 5cuft deep freeze.

 

[Adrian @ JB Solutions]

I got an old Manitowac ice machine as part of a trade for an old TV I had laying around. Had a make shift door, worked before summer hit then kept going into error mode (compressor was going bad). Got a new OEM door off amazon and know a girl that works on ice machines so she got me a compressor and installed it for a fair price. All in all, in it for about $500.

I like the idea above, I may try that out when this one finally dies.

 

[fatboyroy]

I was looking at some commercial ice makers, the good ones cost $2500-$3000.

Amazon.com

My HVAC friend has told me the low cost ones can have reliability issues and finding parts for the cheap ones would be difficult.

And one of the things I find interesting is that the commercial ones do not have a storage bin that keeps the ice frozen..

@fatboyroy That is a great idea! I’ve just been dumping my fridges ice maker bin into the OEM ice chest along with 3-4 small frozen water bottles. The ice does melt some but there is still plenty of ice left over at the end of the day. I just want enough ice to put into the built in fish box when I’m going fishing with the intent to keep them. Maybe I’ll take a cue from you, get a small countertop one and use that along with fridges ice maker to fill bags and put them into my 5cuft deep freeze.

Yea when I bought my house here in FL the previous owner left the 5 cft freezer so I use that for my bait and ice. I freeze water bottle too, that helps but on a 1 day trip, I usually take it out hour before i get thirsty, it's not melting for me if left inside the fish box or bring extra non-frozen for immediate thirst quenching.