Ice machines

[Patbwell]

Does anyone use portable ice machines? If so, what's a good brand. Is the self cleaning feature a useful thing?

[floyd]

We have an Emerson, but I am sure the exact machine is sold under other brand names. We have had it for two years now and LOVE IT!
I am sure it has paid for itself in savings from ice purchases. Even in southern Florida we never ran out of ice. Plug it in and get the first tray of ice in eight minutes! When in use, it has kept our cooler full, our glasses full and even allowed us to occasionally share with with fellow campers.
I don't know what the "self cleaning" feature is unless it simply means you have to "clean it yourself". We use clean filtered tap water for ice and clean it after each trip. We run it outside the camper so I keep a dishtowel draped over it to keep the dust out and to keep the lid clean.
I'm sure it works even more efficiently inside the camper with the A/C. It is certainly wise in hot weather to keep it in the shade when possible.

[steelypip]

We've got one of the big Dometics and have thoroughly enjoyed it. It also helps keep us up with ice at home, but was bought for camping.

[glamfib]

We have the Avalon Bay https://goo.gl/av5QM4
ice machine. For under $150, works very well, good quality, and apparently got a lot of good reviews.

[Terry R.]

We have the small Dometic and it keeps up with our needs.

I don't know if this speaks to the build quality of this brand... but one night, we had it on a table outside our Casita, when the raccoons decided they could use some ice as part of their nightly scavage. They pulled the machine off the table and outside the awning area. They were very noisy about it.

We had to do a major disinfecting of the unit, but it continues to work fine and didn't even get a dent.

We also had the standard size Emerson. It was great while it worked, about three years. Customer assistance was virtually non existent.

I do know, we have gotten so used to having one, we hope we won't have to be without one. Terry

[Johnny M]

Originally Posted by Patbwell

Does anyone use portable ice machines? If so, what's a good brand. Is the self cleaning feature a useful thing?

Yes we had a Danby Ice N Easy that we got off eBay for $29, not bad for a $300 ice maker but with shipping it came close to $100 as it was a rather heavy unit. It was rated to make up to 33 pounds of ice per day. It worked very well with 3 different size cube settings each progressively slower to make as you select a larger size cube. Would take only minutes to make ice (small cubes were faster). We cleaned it by flushing it with distilled white vinegar per the instructions then throw out the first couple batches of ice. The only downside was it was rather heavy, big & bulky and you had to stay close by to dump the ice bucket in a cooler or freezer as it would melt quickly in hot weather. It was really better suited for home use but we did take it with us camping last summer. Walmart has a similar lighter and smaller unit for about $95 I believe which we plan on getting soon as we gave the big unit to Melissa's sister as it was just to heavy for camping trips. The other unit we are looking at is much lighter and makes a fairly comparable amount of ice worthy of the smaller size.

[Johnny M]

Igloo was the one at Walmart for $94 and makes 26 lbs in 24 hours

[ripple]

Do you use campground water, bottled distilled water, or bottled spring water in your ice maker?

[madjack]

I just bought the red igloo at my local WallyWorld for 78 bux on sale...a really good price...I brought it home, cleaned it, filled it, turned it on and it started spitting ice out in considerably less than10min (the larger size)...we bought this for camping and I believe it will be great...
HAPPY FATHERS DAY to me
madjack