Anyone have an Ice Machine (free-standing)?

[Amethyst]

We are going to gut our kitchen and replace everything. One thing I am not sure about is whether to replace the standalone ice machine, an appliance we were not familiar with, or just get a fridge-door icemaker.

The Ice Maker in the island makes clear, fresh-tasting ice like a champ, but is now turned off because the drain pump runs 24/7 and the constant noise was driving me nuts.

Apparently, this is because ice machines aren't freezers, so the ice is constantly melting and being made fresh, unlike a fridge-door ice maker. The ice machine's pump runs constantly to get rid of the melt water. RrrRRRR-er. RrrrRRRRR-er. All Day. All Night.

(It was only after moving in that we realized the ice machine was turned off during the times we were in the house before buying it. Not being familiar with standalone ice machines, we didn't think to check it).

The ice machine's advantages over a fridge-door ice maker are:
1) clear, fresh ice always available. No odor or taste. Cubes don't freeze together in a solid mass that has to be pried or chipped
2) Ice capacity several times that of a fridge-door icemaker.

We've talked with the local appliance store sales people, who say all standalone ice machines are noisy, although this brand (Scotsman) is known to be noisier than most. The only way around it, I was told, was to have a drain specifically drilled through the slab so the water would drain via gravity, instead of pumped into the septic tank. That sounds extremely pricey to me.

YET...they must sell a lot of these machines, or the market would have dried up by now. So, do any of you have one? How do you like it? Is it noisy? Any information is welcome. Thanks!

 

[COcheesehead]

Never even heard of a stand alone home ice maker. We use the one in our frig and for cocktails we have some ball shaped forms that are fun.
If you are redoing your kitchen consider an insta hot dispenser. We use ours all the time for tea, press pot coffee, soups and pasta.

 

[rodi]

We use the one in the fridge door. As well as having some silicon ice trays since our current fridge doesn't have a big capacity.

I want to get some of those sphere ice cube molds.

 

[timo2]

an ice maker might be noisy? I can't imagine it wouldn't be. especially at night? The ones in the older fridges used to bother me at night, but the one we have now is not so bad.

 

[Souschef]

Since our water here tastes so bad, we have a separate ice maker. However, it is in our storage shed, so noise is not a problem. It can make 20 pounds of ice a day, much more than we need.
Funny story, when we got our new fridge 5 years ago, I asked the installer to remove the ice maker. He refused, saying it was wired in. So, after he left, I removed the two screws holding it, and pulled the plug out of the back wall.
It freed up a bunch of freezer space. This is similar to the one we have.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/insign...hF3qldug6tSP5MinUlBoC_YgQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

[calmloki]

I'd need to be way more sociable to imagine generating constant ice. Like run a bar or restaurant in Arizaba?

Rodi - got a couple of the spherical silicone ice molds with a Christmas gift Bourbon pack. They are fun, but don't hold real well in the frig freezer if you aren't using them at least every couple days. Don't notice anything special in the cooling of a drink and I kinda like clinking cubes and crunching them.

 

[NavAir]

We have had a stand alone under-counter ice maker in our FL condo for 32 years. The original one lasted for 16 years, until Hurricane Ivan destroyed our place. We reinstalled one during the rebuild, which has worked well for 12 years now. The ice is great, and there is a lot of it.

The machine makes some noise when it is freezing a new sheet of ice. The small cubes dropping into the bin are only heard if the bin is empty. Ours has a built in drain, so no pump running.

They are expensive - our ice maker was the most expensive appliance in our kitchen.

 

[Bamaman]

Stand alone ice machines just keep making ice and dumping it on top of melting ice. They're not particularly efficient.

And most families don't begin to use as much ice as they produce.

We're just fine with a ice and water in the door in a French Door fridge/freezer.

 

[RunningBum]

If I were to gut my kitchen and had room for it, I think I'd get a chest freezer instead of a standalone ice maker. Or maybe a dedicated upright freezer if a top loading chest freezer wouldn't work well. The reason is that they don't have a thaw cycle, so you don't get that thaw/freeze that makes for ice chunks.

I have a chest freezer in my basement. When I put a baggie of newly made ice from my fridge door ice maker in the chest freezer, I can pull it two months later and the cubes are still separate. Frozen meat lasts a whole lot longer in there without freezer burn. I can definitely tell the difference. The only drawback is going downstairs for it. I may move mine to my mud room adjacent to the kitchen.

There is the frost buildup because it doesn't have a thaw cycle. I took my car scraper to mine last week (first time after over a year of owning it) and in 10 minutes had what little buildup there was cleared. The buildup was only toward the top so I just put some of the frozen food in a cooler for a few minutes. I try not to keep mine open very long.

 

[skibum]

I personally do not care for in door ice makers. The cubes seem to fly away from me, they take up fridge space, have small capacity, cubes stick together, and they are by far the highest failure item. The in freezer ice makers do take up freezer space, but typically produce more ice, hold more, stick together less, and have less complexity.

Seems I am an outlier though, most appliances and users seem to favor the in door ice and water dispenser.

Didn't see this mentioned, and does address a few of the concerns noted. My $.02 FWIW.

 

[Sunset]

We just use the in the door ice maker.
Since we don't host parties, we could live with 3 ice cube trays instead, but the fridge was here when we moved in.

No way would I buy a separate ice cube making machine as described by OP, it must use a lot of electricity as well, freezing say 20lbs of water per day.

 

[Koolau]

Just me, but if we ever need more ice than the fridge can make, we buy an 8# or 20# from the store. Our water is filtered prior to freezing and we don't seem to have a taste problem, though the ice looks a bit "cloudy." Melted ice has no residue or "floaters" so I think "unclear" ice is due to entrained air. Sorry not to offer much practical advice.

 

[Amethyst]

As my first post explains, this is not at all like the one in the fridge door. It is a completely separate appliance, and it does not store the ice in a freezer compartment.
The "making" part sounds like the fridge-door icemakers and is not a problem. It is the pump, constantly pumping out the melt water, that makes the irritating noise.

an ice maker might be noisy? I can't imagine it wouldn't be. especially at night? The ones in the older fridges used to bother me at night, but the one we have now is not so bad.

 

[Amethyst]

gaaah - one of my most hated sounds has to be someone crunching ice. To me, it sounds like their teeth are breaking up. Clinking cubes, on the other hand, is a favorite sound. Weird, huh?

I kinda like clinking cubes and crunching them.

 

[Amethyst]

Ours would run about $2000 new. More, if we got a Sub Zero, which supposedly is a little quieter.

I agree that the ice-making isn't bothersome. If your condo has a built-in drain, is it on the ground floor? I'm concerned about what it would take to install a built-in drain in our slab house.

We have had a stand alone under-counter ice maker in our FL condo for 32 years. The original one lasted for 16 years, until Hurricane Ivan destroyed our place. We reinstalled one during the rebuild, which has worked well for 12 years now. The ice is great, and there is a lot of it.

The machine makes some noise when it is freezing a new sheet of ice. The small cubes dropping into the bin are only heard if the bin is empty. Ours has a built in drain, so no pump running.

They are expensive - our ice maker was the most expensive appliance in our kitchen.

 

[Amethyst]

These are so little and inexpensive! I love it. How do they drain? (or do they drain?)

This is similar to the one we have.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/insign...hF3qldug6tSP5MinUlBoC_YgQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

[Bryan Barnfellow]

Our fridge does not have an ice maker, only ice trays in the freezer compartment. At our house I am the ice maker for my wife who needs, it seems, an endless supply.

 

[Time2]

These are so little and inexpensive! I love it. How do they drain? (or do they drain?)

Yes they are little, they only hold 1-1/2 lbs of ice, you would have to remove ice from it 17 times a day to get 26lbs of ice. It seems it will produce a lot of ice, but has no capacity to store it.

We have an old Kenmore side by side with an ice maker that dispenses through the door. Pretty much trouble free, I've made two minor fixes* over the 25 plus years. I don't know how many lbs it hold, but I'm think it would fill between 2 and 3 gallon containers.


* one time a pin slid out of the auger, so it didn't turn, and had to adjust the water level in the ice making tray.

 

[NavAir]

Ours would run about $2000 new. More, if we got a Sub Zero, which supposedly is a little quieter.

I agree that the ice-making isn't bothersome. If your condo has a built-in drain, is it on the ground floor? I'm concerned about what it would take to install a built-in drain in our slab house.

We are not on the ground floor, but it really shouldn't matter as far as requiring a pump. I assume it is in your kitchen, where there should be at least one existing drain line you could tap into. Ours has a 1" clear drain line that feeds into a drain about a foot off the floor. As long as the tip of the drain line is below the bottom of the ice bin, you should be OK.

 

[Midpack]

I want to get some of those sphere ice cube molds.

+1. We have them, in two sizes, well worth the effort for anyone who enjoys the occasional cocktail IMO. Lots of chilling with way less melting (dilution) into the drink.

As for the OP - we never use up the ice our fridge-freezer unit makes, I even dump it occasionally for “fresh ice.” So we’ve never considered a separate ice maker. You must be party central in your neighborhood - good on you.

 

[calmloki]

+1. We have them, in two sizes, well worth the effort IMO.

What do you enjoy about them? Very possible I'm missing something in their use, but can't figure what. Slightly reduced surface area for volume of ice might mean slower melting, but at the cost of slower drink cooling.

 

[Midpack]

What do you enjoy about them? Very possible I'm missing something in their use, but can't figure what. Slightly reduced surface area for volume of ice might mean slower melting, but at the cost of slower drink cooling.

Depends largely on what you drink and whether you care about presentation esthetics and having your drink watered down faster. Chilling spheres vs cubes is about the same, with less dilution. If it’s not for you, no worries. In an Old Fashioned (or other drinks that aren’t “dilute” by recipe to begin with), cubes water down those drinks noticeably faster vs large spheres IME. There’s a reason upscale bars don’t use cubes in those drinks.

https://blog.doingsciencetostuff.com/2013/06/15/on-the-shape-of-ice-spheres-vs-cubes/

 

[LRDave]

We have a standalone ice maker at our family beach house. Is indispensable there, as there is always a crowd and always a demand for ice in coolers. We we are not there, we turn it off and drain it.

It is in a utility room along with the washer and dryer, so no noise issues.

 

[sengsational]

I've had an under-counter ice maker since 1987, and it still works! It was in the kitchen for 10 years, in operation the whole time. When we moved, I put it in the shed and it gets activated in the summer, when I drink iced tea, and need ice to chill wort. The last few summers, I've only activated it in advance of a brew day.

The noises it makes are variable. Most of the time it's a combination of a compressor hum and a recirculation pump hum. Not unlike a refrigerator. But when an ice slab is ready, it gets quieter for a minute, then you hear the ice slab slide down with a clunk, then the hiss of more water getting added to the reservoir, and the process repeats. If the bin gets full, the machine is completely silent. That lasts a while, but when the ice melts, it kicks on again. The drain has always been by gravity. If you (OP) have a drain pump always on, that would be weird because the amount of melt water should just be a few drips. Anyway, we got used to the sounds (like a chiming clock, it's unnoticed once you live with it a few days). I'm more concerned with consuming resources and not using the end product.

 

[euro]

Since our water here tastes so bad, we have a separate ice maker. However, it is in our storage shed, so noise is not a problem. It can make 20 pounds of ice a day, much more than we need.
Funny story, when we got our new fridge 5 years ago, I asked the installer to remove the ice maker. He refused, saying it was wired in. So, after he left, I removed the two screws holding it, and pulled the plug out of the back wall.
It freed up a bunch of freezer space. This is similar to the one we have.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/insign...hF3qldug6tSP5MinUlBoC_YgQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Yes, in my rental properties, I remove all ice makers immediately if I can't buy the "stripped down" appliance. Ice makers are BY FAR the most frequent service calls for refrigerators.

Regarding the OP, I don't understand why, for a gravity drain, you have to drill a separate drain line all the way to the septic tank - can't you just tap into a nearby sink or dishwasher drain? Put a check-valve into the line if there is an concern about backups? Maybe I misunderstood.
In any event, we had a standalone ice maker at my former place of **rk and it was very quiet - don't remember the brand though (happily, it's been a while ).